China's auto industry saw a profit fall of 48.8 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2005, as against a 12.6 percent growth in the same period last year, a spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said at a press conference in Beijing Tuesday.

The profit of China's auto industry plunged by 20.6 billion yuan (US$2.54 billion), which was a major reason for the profit downslide of the machinery industry, NDRC reported.

China's car output reached 1.34 million in the first half of this year, up 5.2 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

China's car output reached 275,100 in June, up 26 percent from the same period last year, after the seasonal adjustment in May.

(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2005)