Posted on 05 Sep 2022
Sales of heavy trucks in China last month could have fallen by as much as 12% compared with August last year, according to a preliminary study released on September 1 by Commercial Vehicle World (CVWorld), a well-recognized market intelligence provider on China's truck manufacturing sector. The Beijing-headquartered researcher suggested that the gloomy domestic economy, COVID containment measures and steep oil prices caused sales to plummet.
During last month, the early data suggests China's heavy trucks sales reached around 45,000 units, representing the fifteenth consecutive monthly on-year decline and making for the lowest August total since 2016, CVWorld noted.
If the estimate for last month's sales proves correct, this would mean the country's total truck sales over January-August reached 470,000 units, lower by a large 60% compared with the first eight months of last year.
The downtrend of China's macroeconomy is the fundamental reason for the sluggish market demand and the weaker-than-expected recovery of heavy truck sales, CVWorld said.
Last month as Mysteel Global reported, China's Purchasing Managers' Index for its manufacturing industry remained in the contraction zone at 49.4%, according to the release by the country's National Bureau of Statistics on August 31.
During August, the resurgence of COVID-19 cases across China and central- and local-government pandemic containment measures further dampened both demand and supply of heavy trucks, according to CVWorld, as buying interest among end-users had become dull, cargo deliveries delayed, and the resumption of operations postponed.
Meanwhile, with the decline in the volumes of goods requiring truck transportation, many logistics companies showed little interest in buying new trucks. Their poor margins and higher operation costs amid climbing oil prices also dissuaded them from considering replacements for their truck fleets.
Moreover, CVWorld also warns that demand for heavy trucks is unlikely to recover quickly in September and predicts that combined sales over September-October will be around 70,000-80,000 units.
It also estimates that China's total sales of heavy trucks this year may fall to 700,000-750,000 units, an on-year decrease of 46%-50%, or 640,000-690,000 units fewer than the total in 2021.
Source:Mysteel Global
