China and Korea win on auto parts imports from the US
China and South Korea gained shares in total imports of auto parts to the United States in the first two months of 2021.
In that period and at the interannual rate, China shipped auto parts to the US market for 2,422 million dollars, an increase of 9.5%; while shipments from South Korea in the same direction totaled 1,529 million dollars, 7.5% more.
Globally, the automotive industry is a complex, high-tech manufacturing industry.
In particular, Tier 1 automotive suppliers design and manufacture components, assemblies, systems, subsystems, and modules for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs or “automakers”) of vehicles and light trucks.
On the contrary, another three of the large external suppliers of auto parts in the US market, Mexico, Canada and Japan, registered falls in the first two months.
Imports of auto parts
In the same way, at interannual rates, shipments of auto parts from Mexico to the United States were for 9,951 million dollars (-5.1%), those from Canada added 2,653 million (-9.3%) and those from Japan totaled 1,953 million (- 9.5 percent).
Tier 1 vendors obtain tier 2 subcomponents and other subsuppliers, which are integrated into products sold by tier 1 vendors directly to OEMs.
The global auto industry is cyclical and sensitive to a wide range of macroeconomic, political and other trends.
As a result of Covid-19 and according to Magna International, 2020 was an exceptionally challenging year for the automotive industry.
Particularly in the first half of 2020, car production volumes deteriorated significantly due to mandatory stay-at-home orders that crippled production from OEMs and suppliers.
For example, while virtually all of Magna International‘s own production facilities had resumed operations in the third quarter of 2020, disruptions in the supply of certain critical components, such as semiconductor chips, are affecting automobile production volumes in 2021.
Imports of auto parts to the United States fell 1.1% year-on-year in the first two months of 2021, to $ 24.905 million.
