(Yicai Global) July 22 -- China will improve management of the auto industry in areas such as used vehicles and scrappage standards to release the potential for automobile consumption, according to a commerce ministry official.

The ministry will remove unreasonable restrictions on second-hand vehicle trading, Zhu Xiaoliang, director of its market operation and consumption promotion department, said at a press conference today.

China’s stable economic recovery and the measures to promote consumption will help the nation’s auto market to mitigate adverse factors such as the global chip supply shortage and high raw material prices, Zhu said.

Auto sales in the country are expected to grow this year, ending three years of declines. They reached 12.891 million from January to June, up 25.6 percent year on year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

China’s first-half retail sales of consumer goods rose 23 percent to CNY21.2 trillion (USD3.3 trillion) from a year earlier, and automobile consumption climbed 30.4 percent, said Guo Tingting, director of the ministry’s comprehensive department.

Editor: Tom Litting