Photo taken on May 22, 2018 shows an import vehicle exhibition hall in Nantong, east China's Jiangsu Province. China will cut import tariffs on vehicles and auto parts starting July 1, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced Tuesday. For car imports, the 25-percent tariff levied on 135 items and the 20-percent duty on four items will both be slashed to 15 percent, down 40 percent and 25 percent respectively. Import tariffs for 79 items of auto parts will be reduced to 6 percent from the current levels of 8 percent, 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent, and 25 percent, down 46 percent on average. (Xinhua/Xu Congjun)

Vehicle sales in China, the world's largest auto market, recovered in May with a 1.8-percent increase, ending 11 months of decline. Data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed on Monday that sales of passenger cars reached 1.609 million units last month.

The market has been recovering as the coronavirus has been effectively controlled in the country. Sales plummeted 78 percent in February, the lowest so far this year, and then fell 40 percent in March and 3 percent in April.

In the January-May period, 6.05 million vehicles were sold, down 26 percent year-on-year, due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Buoyed by stimulus measures to boost auto consumption in many cities and the orderly resumption of economic activity in the country, inelastic demand for autos has been released, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the CPCA, told the Global Times on Monday.

Demand for high-end products picked up along with a consumption upgrade, as seen by a 28 percent sales increase year-on-year for luxury models in May.

The industry's output is also resuming, which helped sales rise last month, Cui added.

He forecast a solid recovery in the second half of this year, and said that the full year's sales could be flat with those of 2019.

In 2019, vehicle sales fell 7.4 percent, compared with a 3-percent drop in 2018, to some 20.69 million, according to data from the CPCA.

As overseas markets are still battling the pandemic, China has become a major force in lifting the global auto market, taking a 42 percent stake in world sales in April, Cui said.

"Some countries such as the US, Germany, Japan and South Korea are still struggling sharp falls in auto sales," Cui noted.

Global Times