China EV exports, slammed by West’s trade barriers, find greener pastures with free-trade partners
- Customs data for January and February shows how anti-subsidy probes and trade restrictions are taking a toll on China’s new-energy sector
- Some domestic firms are seen at risk of being squeezed out of the saturated electric-vehicle market, and so might some producers in the European Union
China is looking to its Asian neighbours to compensate for a declining market share of its electric vehicles (EVs) and lithium batteries in Europe and the United States amid ongoing anti-subsidy probes and heightened trade restrictions.
In the first two months of the year, China’s EV export volume to the European Union fell by nearly 20 per cent – to 75,626 units, from 94,102 units a year prior, Chinese customs data revealed on Wednesday. The export value also declined by one-third.
The EU and RCEP are China’s major EV buyers, with each accounting for around 30 per cent of China’s total EV exports by volume, the official trade data showed. However, for the EU, that marked a steep drop-off from when the bloc took about 53 and 54 per cent of China’s EV exports in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
In total, China’s EV export volume increased by 8 per cent to 248,211 units in the last two months, but its EV export value decreased by 13 per cent, year on year.