KARACHI, Jan 24: Chinese and Japanese bike assemblers have again pushed up prices to fully cash in on strong demand from customers.

A Honda dealer said in September 2010, CD-70, CD-100, CG-125 and CG-125 Deluxe were selling at Rs62,900, Rs70,900, Rs84,900 and Rs107,900, respectively.

He said Honda's mainly 70cc and 125cc standard models are hot selling brands in Punjab and interior Sindh and would give a tough time to low-cost Chinese bikes in these areas.

In Karachi, the situation is totally reverse where Chinese two-wheelers dominate major market share.

DYL Motorcycle Limited has enhanced rate of 70cc Dhoom to Rs46,700 from Rs46,100 on Jan 18, while prices of other models had been unchanged. However, dealers are demanding Rs47,000 for Dhoom.

Pak-Suzuki Motor Company Limited (PSMCL) had issued new price from Jan 1. Earlier they increased prices in September 2010. The new prices of GS-150, GS-125, Sprinter and Sprinter ECO are Rs88,000, Rs81,900, Rs71,000 and Rs67,500, respectively.

The government has never taken up the price hike matter with bike assemblers who claim to have achieved 70-90 per cent parts localisation which should have made products less sensitive to currency devaluation and inflationary factors.The price gap between 70cc Chinese bikes and Honda 70cc had been rising as both the assemblers had been jacking up prices for the last few months to offset rising cost of production.

There is a huge difference of over Rs24,000 between Chinese made 70cc bike and Honda CD-70cc.

Chairman, Association of Pakistan Motorcycle Assemblers, Mohammad Sabir Shaikh, said Chinese bike makers had raised the price by Rs1,500 per bike in January 2011. Their wholesale price now hovers between Rs40,500 and Rs42,500 depending on the brand. He said production of Japanese bikes in 2009-2010 was 622,366 while Chinese bike makers rolled out 764,634 units.

Taking the average price of Rs60,000 of Japanese bike and Rs37,000 of Chinese bikes, the sale of bikes in 2009-2010 was estimated at Rs65 billion or Rs5.5 billion per month, he said. A Japanese bike maker linked the bike prices to rising production cost in view of hike in utility charges and surging rates of plastic, tyres, aluminum, steel etc.

He said rural buying, which enjoys 60-70 per cent share of total bike sales, had accelerated after good crops of wheat, cotton, rice and other minor crops, while urban buying depending on salaried class and business people had also improved.