Over May 1-20, China’s 11 major automakers produced 983,000 vehicles, according to new data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), representing an on-year fall of 10.7% which it blamed on the shortage of auto semiconductors and on robust input materials prices. The carmakers report their output statistics to CAAM every ten days which the association summarizes and publishes, Mysteel Global notes.
Other data from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that during January-April, the gross profits of China’s auto sector rose by 157.5% on year to around Yuan 180 billion ($28.2 billion), mainly reflecting the low base number during the first four months of 2020 when China was struggling with the coronavirus epidermic.
Over this year’s same four months, the operating revenue of China’s auto sector totaled Yuan 2.88 trillion, or up 51.7% on year, which was also higher than the 33.6% average growth achieved by all China’s sizable industrial firms, the NBS data showed.
However, the growth in the carmakers’ profits during January-April was lower by a massive 685.9% from January-March, underscoring the significant impact that the on-going chip shortage and higher costs is having on the makers, Mysteel Global notes.
For the auto assemblers, the price of SPCC 0.5mm cold-rolled coil, for example, averaged Yuan 6,937/tonne in May, higher by Yuan 623/t on month or higher by Yuan 2,673/t on year, Mysteel’s assessment shows, indicating that the domestic carmakers have been bearing considerable pressure from high production costs.
Last year, the coronavirus badly battered China’s auto market but this year thanks to the strong impetus of stimulus measures and market demand, the country’s automobile market is maintaining a steady upward climb, especially in the new-energy vehicle (NEV) sector, said Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). This will encourage automakers will produce more NEVs, he added.
In April, CAAM data shows that NEVs output refreshed a ten-month high to reach 216,000 units, with the volume jumping 1.6 times on year.
Written by Rong Zhang, zhangronga@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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