China’s auto import, export down in Jan., but up over year earlier

China's foreign trade in motor vehicles stood at 6.16 billion U.S. dollars in January, a bit lower than a month earlier, sources with the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.

The total included 2.17 billion U.S. dollars in import value, down 23.27 percent from December 2007 but up 10.88 percent over January of last year, and 3.99 billion U.S. dollars in export value, down 6.52 percent from a month ago but up 44.63 percent on the same month of last year.

Sources with the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said arrivals of whole vehicles kept increasing rapidly year-on-year, while import volume of engines and spare parts declined drastically from a month earlier.

In terms of export, the association sources said foreign sales of buses and cars grew rapidly over the year-ago level and export of engines and spare parts remained stable.