The value of China’s electric vehicle exports plunged last month to their lowest level since July 2022, driven by tariff challenges in Europe, large declines in shipments to emerging markets and intensified price cuts.
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Exports were worth US$1.58 billion in November, according to the latest detailed customs data. In July 2022 they were worth US$1.4 billion.
In year-on-year terms, electric vehicle exports were down 42 per cent by value last month, the steepest decline since April 2022, when global supply chains were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic lockdown in Shanghai and the conflict in Ukraine. By volume, exports were down 19 per cent last month, indicating that falling prices were a big factor in the larger decline in export value.
Liang Yan, an economist at Willamette University in the US state of Oregon, said the decline was largely due to the European Union’s implementation of tariffs at the end of October, as the bloc now accounted for around a quarter of the total value of China’s electric vehicle exports, as well as weakening shipments to emerging markets.
The value of electric vehicle exports to the EU dropped 36 per cent year on year in November, while export volume declined by 23 per cent. On October 31, the bloc began to enforce new import tariffs of up to 45 per cent on electric vehicles produced in China.
Domestic sales are going strong, and China’s electric vehicle makers are building supply chains in the EU, Southeast Asia and Latin America
Exports to emerging markets also fell, with the value of China’s electric vehicle exports to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last month down by a quarter year on year and those to Latin America plunging 47 per cent.