Posted on 15 Jun 2021
In May, both China’s auto sales and production reversed down on year after on-year gains since July 2020, respectively slipping by 3.1% and 6.8%, Mysteel Global noted from the latest data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on June 11.
Last month, both the volumes were down on month for the second month too, as the auto sales approximated 2.13 million units, down 5.5% on month, and the output was at about 2.04 million, down 8.7% on month, according to the data.
Over January-May, China’s total auto sales soared by 36.6% on year to 10.88 million units and output surged by a similar degree of 36.4% on year to 10.63 million units, though both being lower than the 51.8% and 53.4% growths for January-April because of the lower May numbers, Mysteel Global noted from the official data.
“Over January-May, China’s auto sales had been steady in general… in the coming months, the steadier and healthier development in the national economy will be supportive to the steady auto consumption,” the association commented.
It added, though, that, “we need to be cautiously optimistic about the auto industry because of the unstable foundation for domestic economic recovery, and the unbalanced global economic recovery due to the complexity in the global pandemic situation.”
Besides, “auto chips shortage may see its growing adverse impact on the auto manufacturing, rising raw materials costs will add on manufacturers’ production costs, and the appreciation of the Chinese Yuan will add pressure on exports,” CAAM highlighted.
Last month, among the total, the sales and production of passenger cars were at 1.65 million units and 1.62 million units respectively in May, with the former down 1.7% on year or down 3.4% on month, and the latter down 2.7% on year or 5.7% lower on month respectively, and such models added up to 8.44 million units in sales, up 38.1% on year, and the output swelled by 39.1% on year to 8.29 million units, the official data showed.
As for the vehicles for commercial use, the sales declined by 7.4% on year or down 12.1% on month to 482,000 units in May, and the output fell more sharply by 19.6% on year or 18.6% on month to 424,000 units, and among the total, truck sales totalled 435,000 units and output at 376,000 units last month.
Over January-May, sales of commercial-use vehicles surged 31.9% on year to 2.44 million units and output grew 27.8% on year to 2.34 million units, the data showed.
China auto-manufacturing sector’s performance up to May
|
‘000 units |
May |
Jan-May |
||||||
|
Sales |
YoY (%) |
Production |
YoY (%) |
Sales |
YoY (%) |
Production |
YoY (%) |
|
|
Auto |
2,128 |
-3.1 |
2,040 |
-6.8 |
10,875 |
36.6 |
10,626 |
36.4 |
|
NEVs |
217 |
159.7 |
217 |
151.7 |
950 |
224.2 |
967 |
224 |
Source: CAAM
Last month, among the new-energy vehicles (NEVs), electric cars accounted for the dominant share in both sales and output, as the former jumped 170% on year to 179,000 units and latter surged 180% on year to 181,000 units, and over January-May, China sold 794,000 units of electric cars, up 250% on year, and output shot up by 260% on year to 818,000 units, according to the official data.
In May, China’s auto exports totalled 151,000 units, up 208% on year but down 0.2% on month, among which, passenger cars jumped 226% on year but eased 1.4% on month to 115,000 units, and the total exports for January-May came in at 670,000 units, or more than doubled, up 107% on year, the CAAM data showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
