China's automobile market has seen a steady growth in sales over the first half of the year, a report released Thursday by the Ministry of Commerce said.

Driven by the rising costs in production materials, the prices of buses and cargo vehicles on China's market have been on increase from January to June while the price declines for home-made sedans were smaller than the same period of last year.

The report on the automobile market of China's 36 large and medium-sized cities said the prices of China-made vehicles edged down 0.71 percent from the end of last year and declined 3.44 percent over the same period of last year, witnessing an average monthly drop of 0.10 percent, about 0.36 percentage points lower over the same period of last year.

Meanwhile, the prices for cargo vehicles grew 0.24 percent from the end of last year but declined 0.32 percent over the same period of last year. In a breakdown, the prices for light and medium-sized cargo vehicles jumped 2.27 percent and 0.35 percent separately from the end of last year while the prices for heavy cargo vehicles fell 0.31 percent from the end of last year.

Besides, the prices of sedans of various kinds plummeted 2.98 percent from the end of last year, with a monthly drop of 0.39 percent on average. In a break-down, the prices of family sedans, mini-vans and sports utility vehicles edged down 3.27 percent, 2.20 percent and 1.73 percent separately from the end of last year.

The import prices of automobiles also registered a decline of 3.57 percent from the end of last year,witnessing a monthly drop of 0.41 percent on average from January to June. In comparison with the same period of last year, the import prices were about 8.14 percent lower, said the report.

Source: Xinhua