A drop in non-ignition lead-acid battery imports into China meant month-on-month figures were down, based on information announced by Chinese customs.
And the story could have been a lot worse except for an increase of 18.7% month-on-month in ignition batteries as 452,700 units were imported in April.
However, the news was not all bad. Although lead-acid battery imports into China were down 18.73% month-on-month to 729,400 units, the country did report a year-on-year increase of 47.48%.
Other types of batteries accounted for 452,700 units, a month-on-month decline of 31.87%.
The big winner in the Chinese lead-acid market was US firm Johnson Controls, which doubled its imports to more than 100,000 units in April.
The growth of imports was due mainly to growing demand for high-end products with slow battery replacement in domestic market, reported Shanghai Metals Market (SMM).
Meanwhile, China’s lead-acid battery producers in Zhejiang’s Hangzhou are set to start stockpiling units ahead of halt of production later this year.
Operations are set to stop for 1-2 months for the 2016 G20 Summit due on September 4-5.
Those battery firms set to halt production are Zhejiang Narada Power Source Co., Zhejiang Just Electrial Appliances Co., Zhejiang Wolong Beacon Electrical Source Co., Zhejiang Guyue Battery Co. and Shangyu Aolong Power Supply Co, reports SMM.
