China says eyes 10 pct of global auto trade by 2020

BEIJING (Reuters) - China aims for its exports of vehicles and parts to make up 10 percent of global trade in those goods by 2020, the authorities said, unveiling guidelines for supporting such exports.

The Commerce Ministry and several other agencies said in an announcement that they were setting a provisional target of $85 billion in vehicle and parts exports by 2015, by which time they hoped to see exports grow at a 20 percent annual clip.

The guidelines, published on Wednesday and carried by state newspapers on Thursday, stopped short of listing detailed measures on how they would support auto exports, laying out instead a general framework for supportive policies.

The mix of exports would shift from primarily commercial vehicles to a mix of cars, other passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles, the agencies said.

The government also aimed to shift from simply exporting vehicles and parts to transferring auto technology overseas and making more investments in the auto sectors of other countries, the statement added.

China, which overtook the United States as the world's No.1 vehicle market in January, posted car sales growth above 20 percent for three years in a row until slowing economic growth eroded demand last year.

Sales have rebounded over the past few months, helped in part by government tax incentives. Car sales jumped 76 percent in October from a year earlier to more than 946,000 units. However, the government has expressed concern about excess capacity in the sector, and exports would be one way to alleviate that pressure.

(Reporting by Aileen Wang and Jason Subler; Editing by Chris Lewis)