China’s car sales in January drop 16 percent, marking seven months of decline

China’s car sales in January dropped 15.8 percent from last year.

China’s automobile sales in January dropped 15.8 percent from a year previously, the country’s top auto industry association stated, marking the seventh straight month of reducing sales in the world’s largest auto market.

China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) stated in an emailed statement to Reuters that sales declined to 2.37 million vehicles last month. This follows a 13 percent drop in December and a 14 percent drop in November.

China has been grappling with decreasing economic growth and the fallout of trade frictions with the United States, forces which added to its auto market contracting for the first time in more than two decades last year.

Beijing is now attempting to persuade customers to loosen their purse strings and has vowed to provide subsidies to increase rural sales of some vehicles and purchases of new energy vehicles.

Industry executives also say China’s car sales in January and February tend to be impacted by the Lunar New Year holiday, as customers hold off on their car purchasing plans around the festival.

The holiday’s dates change yearly but tend to take place in either month. It took place in the first week of February this year.

China’s sales of new energy vehicles, however, continued to buck the trend, amounting 95,700 in January, a year-on-year boost of 140 percent, CAAM stated.