China reports rising second-hand car sales

BEIJING - China's second-hand car sales volume climbed 4.3 percent year-on-year in April, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.

The pace went up steadily over the past four months, rising from 3.42 percent in March and 1.68 percent in February, the association said in a market analysis report.

More than 1.2 million used cars were traded in China last month, with the total value reaching 74.5 billion yuan ($10.8 billion).

Sales of various types of second-hand vehicles dropped slightly in April on a monthly basis, but posted increases from a year earlier, the association said.

About 690,000 basic passenger cars were traded last month, with a monthly decline of 3.31 percent but a 1.93 percent increase from the previous year, while trading of SUVs reported a month-on-month decrease of 3.5 percent but jumped 5.78 percent on a yearly basis.

The association attributed the slight contraction of the second-hand car market in April to automobile exhibitions of new cars across the country and the rebound of used car trading in March.

Meanwhile, China launched exports of second-hand cars earlier this month, with Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangdong among the first batch of 10 regions allowed to conduct such trade, according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce.