Commodity Trading Updates

New European passenger car registrations continued their downward trend, falling for the twelfth straight month in September. Demand for new cars was down 10.8%, amounting to 1,099,264 units, compared with September 2011. Nine months into the year, the downturn reached 7.6%, with a total of 9,368,327 new cars registered in the EU.

In September, the EU recorded a total of 1,099,264 new cars, or 10.8% less than in the same month a year ago. Looking at the major markets, the British was the only one to expand, while Germany (-10.9%), France (-17.9%), Italy (-25.7%) and Spain (-36.8%) all faced a double-digit downturn according to Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA

From January to September, the EU market shrank by 7.6%, compared to the first nine months of 2011. Results were diverse across markets, as the UK posted growth (+4.3%), while Germany saw its demand fall by 1.8% and Spain (-11.0%), France (-13.8%) and Italy (-20.5%) contracted more severely.