Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

April vehicle sales growth slows to 14%

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-12 17:25

China's vehicle sales rose 14 percent in April, the slowest pace in almost two years, as a combination of inflation and a slumping stock market curbed demand for passenger cars.

Sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles rose to 922,600 in April, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in a statement today. Vehicle sales grew at a rate of 21 percent in the first three months of the year.

China's inflation rate is running near an 11-year high forcing people to pay more for food and other daily necessities. The nation's falling stock market also helped curb demand for luxuries including automobiles.

Consumer prices rose 8.5 percent in April from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, after gaining 8.3 percent in March. Central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said May 5 that there's a possibility interest rates will rise. The benchmark one-year lending rate is at a nine-year high of 7.47 percent after six increases last year.

Vehicle production rose 20 percent to 981,300 units last month. In first four months, production rose 16 percent to 3.5 million vehicles, while sales increased 19 percent to 3.5 million vehicles.

Passenger car sales rose 11 percent last month, also the slowest pace since July, 2006. Sales of commercial vehicles including buses and trucks rose 21 percent to 317,700 units in April.