Truck Sales in China to hit 1 million

Sales of heavy-duty commercial vehicles in China surged to 316,725 units in the second quarter of 2010, an 83 per cent jump year-over-year according to a report published by ACT Research Co. and China's State Information Center. According to leading Chinese truck and bus radial (TBR) tyre manufacturer Giti Tire, demand for TBR tyres in the People’s Republic equates to 30 million units/year – more than three times the 9 million tyres consumed in Europe annually.

ACT’s recently released China Commercial Vehicle Outlook also provided an update to the forecast for commercial vehicle sales for the remainder of 2010 through 2014. Due to very strong demand in the first half of 2010, the forecast of full year heavy-duty truck and tractor sales has been boosted above a million units, a 62 per cent increase over 2009 sales. However, the sales volume is expected to decline from the second quarter peak over the second half of the year and into 2011 as China’s economy eases towards slower growth.
 
China’s construction market is expected to cool further in the latter half of 2010, ACT said, as the pipeline of new projects slows and existing projects are completed. Despite new policies designed to reduce speculative real estate investment, rapid growth continued in the second quarter of 2010.

Road freight volumes are up 16.3 per cent year-over-year through June. While demand for freight transportation has not yet decelerated, capacity in the industry has definitely increased, ACT said.

 “The overall size of the China commercial vehicle market continues to amaze,” said Kenny Vieth, partner and senior analyst with ACT. “While 2009 was the first year for the entire medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicle market to eclipse one million units, in 2010 the heavy-duty segment alone is projected eclipse last year’s full market total. This growth is due to subside somewhat in coming quarters as infrastructure investment and curbs on real estate development take hold.”

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