China's truck sales have picked up since late 2009

Shanghai, March 16 (Gasgoo.com) Sales of medium- and heavy-duty trucks have picked up in China since the fourth quarter of last year, pushing annual figures to over one million units for 2009, according to a joint report by ACT Research and China's State Information Center (SIC), truckinginfo.com said.

Fourth quarter truck sales grew year-over-year from a weak fourth quarter of 2008. Thanks to strong demand for construction vehicles and improving transportation infrastructure, each vehicle segment posted strong growth for the full year, led by heavy-duty straight truck's 22% growth, according to the China Commercial Vehicle Outlook.

The report anticipates that China's heavy-duty tractor sales will grow 27% in 2010, as there's a shift from construction towards freight hauling in the country. The current China Outlook report has raised the forecast in each commercial vehicle category for the full year of 2010.

"A slight recovery in global trade and increasing domestic consumption in China are boosting demand for freight services," said Ken Vieth, senior partner with ACT. "The need for more freight hauling capacity ... is having the effect of keeping overall commercial vehicle demand high."

In the first two months of this year, China's commercial vehicle sales leapt 77.87% year on year to 616,800 units and output surged 88.02% to 657,700 units, according to the latest data released by an industry association.