HANOI, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Over 21,700 enterprises specializing in trading or repairing automobiles and motorbikes stopped operation in the first eight months of this year, the country's Business Registration Management Agency said on Wednesday.

Specifically, 6,821 firms ceased operation for a short period of time, up 14.7 percent year-on-year, and 11,990 others did the same but for a long period of time, up 14.5 percent.

Meanwhile, 2,921 enterprises, which engaged in vehicle wholesales, retails or repair, were dissolved due to business difficulty, said the agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Vietnamese experts said that the situation was partly attributed to the fact that import taxes on automobiles imported to Vietnam from other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been slashed from 50 percent in 2015 to 40 percent in 2016, to 30 percent in 2017, and to zero percent by 2018, according to the ASEAN Free Trade Area.

Between January and August, 7,754 enterprises operating in various fields in Vietnam were dissolved, up 3.7 percent, said the country's General Statistics Office.

Meanwhile, 85,357 enterprises with total registered capital of 822,100 billion Vietnamese dong (nearly 36.4 billion U.S. dollars) were set up.