About 96 percent of the mobile phones imported to Viet Nam in 2013 are from China, a report shows.

Hai Quan newspaper quoted its source as reporting that Viet Nam imported approximately 20 million mobile phones in 2013 through the official channel, worth $1 billion. In the first 10 months of 2014 alone, another 20 million mobile phones came to Viet Nam.

The figures show Viet Nam is a lucrative market for mobile phone manufacturers and distributors. Gfk, a market survey firm, noted that mobile phones bring the highest turnover and highest growth rate in the hi-tech product market. In the second quarter of 2014, the revenue from mobile phones reportedly reached VND11.4 trillion.

Analysts noted that the major markets from which Viet Nam imports mobile phones are those which can enjoy a preferential tariff of zero percent. Of these, China is the largest supply source: 19.2 million out of the 20 million phones imported in 2013 were from China.

By the end of October 2014, about 17.5 million mobile phones from China had entered the Vietnamese market.

The Circular No 162 dated in 2011 by the Ministry of Finance on the implementation of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) stipulates that the phone imports from the country bears the import tariff of zero percent. The same tax rate is applied to imports from Malaysia and India.

Market analysts believe that smartphone models have witnessed the highest growth rate in recent years. The products are priced at between VND10 million and VND20 million.

However, Hai Quan’s reporters have found that the majority of the phone imports to Viet Nam are low- and medium-cost phones.

In 2013, for example, Viet Nam imported 19,243,729 products from China, a large number, but the value of the imports was $933.732 million only. This means that a Chinese-sourced phone costs less than $50, or less than VND1 million. The phones from Malaysia and India are even cheaper.

Meanwhile, the average phone import price from the UK is around $6,000. However, Viet Nam only imports several hundreds products from the market every year.

Some analysts commented that Vietnamese bought Chinese phones because of their low prices. However, they believe the “Chinese phone era” is over, as Chinese phones have been found as having low quality and suspected of containing viruses and Trojans.

Most recently, Lookout, a mobile security firm, warned that a Trojan, DeathRing, has been found in many low-cost phones and tablets sold in Asian markets, including Viet Nam.

Of the phone models believed to contained the malware, Haier H7 has been sold in Viet Nam since 2010, while Gionee GN800 has been available in Viet Nam for three years.