Gasgoo.com (Shanghai September 18) - Following a very slight recovery in July, Chinese truck manufacturer Sinotruck's sales fell once again in August. According to a report appearing on Caijing today, the manufacturer sold a total of 5,420 vehicles last month, 12.44 percent less than the number it sold in July and 23.16 percent less than last August's sales result. It manufactured 4,010 vehicles over the month long period.
Dump trucks, which are used for mining work and construction projects, are Sinotruck's most sold heavy truck type, accounting for 70 percent of the manufacturer's total heavy truck sales. Transport trucks are also a major source of revenue for Sinotruck. Sales of both of these truck types have been very poor this year.
Sinotruck's sales have been in a decline since March, with its sales falling nearly 60 percent in April. Despite the fact that sales have been better since then, year-on-year growth rates have still been below negative 20 percent. In July, the manufacturer managed to finally eke out positive sales growth by selling one more vehicle than it did the previous year. At that time, several outside consulting firms predicted that Sinotruck would manage to maintain positive sales growth for the third quarter. August's poor performance has now dashed those hopes.
Poor sales have hurt Sinotruck's financial performance, with the manufacturer reporting a fall of 34 percent in its total business revenues and 87 percent fall in net profits over the first half of the year.
Over the eight month period from January to August, Sinotruck has produced and sold 51,000 and 51,800 vehicles, respectively. The eight month sales figure represents a year-on-year decrease of 30.73 percent.
Southwest Securities Automotive Analyst Liu Feng attributes Sinotruck's subpar performance to the overall state of the economy. According to Mr. Liu, China is still in a period of restructuring several of its industries, making it unreasonable to expect Sinotruck to turn a strong performance within the next year or two.
