China-made auto price down 2.78% y/y in May

Prices of Chinese homemade vehicles went down 2.78% year-on-year in May, partly resulting from the government's measure to cut car purchases after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake and a declining demand, according to the price monitoring center under the National Development and Reform Commission.

The average price of the homemade passenger cars declined 2.26% over the previous year, while prices of commercial vehicles dropped 3.82% year-on-year, according to a government survey which covered 36 big and medium-scale cities across the country.

The homemade vehicles saw the first monthly price decline in April this year, when the average price dropped 1.19% month-on-month, or 3.21% year-on-year. The price of passenger cars declined 0.18% month-on-month and 2.25% year-on-year, while the commercial vehicle price dropped 2.34% month-on-month and 4.31% year-on-year.

Industry analysts predicted that the domestic auto prices would plunge slightly for the whole year.

In May, prices of imported vehicles went up 0.84% year-on-year and down 1.95% month-on-month. The prices rose 1.25% year-on-year in April and 3.09% month-on-month, driven by the rising prices of raw materials such as steel and rubber.

According to the forecast of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the output and sales of the homemade vehicles in China is likely to surpass 5 million units in the first half of this year.