HANOI, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Vietnam said it is considering pleas by motorcycle makers, including dominant Honda Vietnam, to relax quotas on component imports, but that the assemblers must fulfil conditions of their licensing pacts with the government.
These include the disbursement of investment capital, the proportion of locally made components, technology transfer pledges and production capacity, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Dinh Khien was quoted as saying in Monday's Saigon Times daily.
"The petitions of (motorcycle assembly) companies will be studied" based on those conditions, he said at a news briefing for local journalists held in the capital on Saturday.
It was the first detailed public comments from Hanoi on the controversy since the government abruptly imposed 2002 limits on the import of parts for making motorcycles, resulting in Honda saying it had stopped local production due to a parts shortage.
Two other Japanese motorbike makers -- Suzuki and Yamaha -- may follow suit if the quotas aren't relaxed.
Motorcycles are the most common vehicle in the Southeast Asian country of 80 million, with about nine million motorcycles in use.
Vietnam has set quotas on motorcycle components at 1.5 million sets this year versus 1.8 million in 2001. Of those, 600,000 sets are reserved for foreign invested producers and the balance for roughly 50 local firms.
Honda , the world's biggest motorcycle maker and the largest foreign assembler in Vietnam, had a limit imposed on it of 280,000 imports of motorcycle component sets in 2002 but has already built 281,629 motorcycles this year.
It is seeking permission to import another 306,000 component sets to meet rising demand.
Khien referred to Honda during the briefing, saying the company had been licensed to assemble 450,000 bikes per year, but that it had registered with the trade authority in Vinh Phuc province, where its facility is located, to put together 600,000 units.