China's auto storage has increased by 118,000 since the end of last year, among which 105,000 were cars, accounting for 89 percent of the auto storage increase, statistics from a news briefing here Tuesday by China's State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) show. 

Industrial analysts believed the decline of the automobile production and consumption and the rise in storage indicate China's auto industry growth was shifting from a previously "skyrocketing" to "normal".

A research paper from the SDRC forecast that the current increase of the Chinese auto production would be around 15 percent, noting the strong growth would be maintained at least 10 years.

The SDRC statistics also show that about 2.6771 million automobiles were produced in China in the first half of this year, and 2.5536 million were sold. The production grew 2.5 percent to 215,600 in June, and the sales declined by 5.84 percent to 167, 300 during the time.

The paper attributed the drop to a reasonable fluctuation of market demand, refuting the market rumor that the drop was caused by the ongoing macro economic readjustment process.

(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2004)