China’s automobile exports tumbled in the first half of this year to 340,000 units, 10.8% fewer than in the first half of last year. Exports of vehicles, chassis and auto parts brought in a total of USD27 billion, a fall of 6.3% on last year’s figure. They dropped 5.6% year-on-year in June. Commercial vehicle exports slumped by 33.4% in the first half of the year to around 114,000 units, while passenger car exports dipped by 6.5% to about 200,000 units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). “If Chinese car makers can grasp a 20% to 30% share in the international market, then we can say the industry has matured,” said Deputy Secretary General of CAAM, Shi Jianhua. CAAM found that Latin America, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia were the major automobile export destinations. Research by Deloitte Consulting showed that Iran was the leading destination for Chinese vehicles last year, accounting for 14% of the country’s auto exports, followed by 10% to Vietnam, and 5% to Egypt, Chile, and Venezuela respectively. Many Chinese carmakers opted to build factories abroad to reduce export costs due to the host countries’ import tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and drastic currency fluctuations, according to Deloitte. In contrast to the export situation, China’s domestic market achieved higher than expected growth for both June and the first half of the year. However, CAAM maintained its 6% annual growth rate prediction for market volume this year. Nationwide, vehicle deliveries jumped 8.14% year-on-year to 12.8 million units from January to June, and this was accompanied by a 9.23% rise in the volume of passenger car sales to 11 million units, the China Daily reports.