Car plate quota set at 7,700 for June

By Chen Qian  |   2008-6-12  |     ONLINE EDITION

A TOTAL of 7,700 license plates will be auctioned this month in Shanghai, Oriental Morning Post reported today.

Insiders predicted the average price will drop even though there are 500 fewer plates available this month compared to May, the report said.

June will have the smallest quota this year, said Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co Ltd.

A car salesperson told the newspaper that sales have tumbled 50 percent at his company this month, thus the 7,700 quota is plenty for new car owners.

Bidders can register at the city's six outlets from June 14 to 20. The organizer has canceled the outlet at Bank of Communications on 766 Pudong Road S. and another at 55 Huanlong Road in Pudong.

The average price for a private car plate dropped to 36,047 yuan (US$5,150) in May compared to 37,659 yuan in April. Only 26,341 bidders attended the auction, the report said.

The lowest price dropped 7.8 percent to 34,400 yuan last month compared with 37,300 yuan in April.

The Shanghai government announced in February that it took in 3.59 billion yuan through car-plate auctions in 2007. Most of the money was spent on infrastructure to develop public transport.