Special coverage: Auto China 2006
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Statistics from Guangzhou Customs showed that during the first 11 months of last year, the city's import value of auto parts hit US$1.41 billion, up 19.2 percent year on year.

Japan's three leading automakers, Honda, Toyota and Nissan, have successively established production bases in Guangzhou. Guangzhou is experiencing a robust growth in auto parts demand, however, the supply of auto parts with high technical content, such as automatic transmissions and brakes, still depends on imports.

There were some notable trends in auto parts imports in Guangzhou in the first 11 months of 2006. First, auto parts were mainly imported from Japan, accounting for 92.4 percent of the total import volume. Guangzhou also imported US$42.63 million in auto parts from the European Union, an increase of 38.4 percent year on year.

Second, the import of auto parts was mainly focused on ordinary trade, while processing trade experienced a rapid growth. During the January-November period, import value via ordinary trade stood at US$1.35 billion, accounting for 95.5 percent of the total import volume. Import value via processing trade doubled to US$62.29 million.

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The full text is available in the February Issue of AutoChina.

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