BEIJING (Reuters – China’s auto industry sales declined in October, slumping 9.4% compared with a year before, data from the sector showed Wednesday. The reason for this was a global shortage of semiconductors that has been affecting production.

According to data provided by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, total sales on the largest car market in the world were 2.33 Million vehicles in October.

This is the “Golden September Silver October” time of the year. It’s a busy period for the industry with customers making purchases even though they have been avoiding showrooms in summer heat.

A bright spot was found in data: strong sales for new energy vehicles (NEV), up 135% in October from 383,000 units. This is due to the government’s support of greener vehicles that reduce pollution. They include plug-in petrol-electric hybrids, battery-powered electric vehicle and hydrogen fuel-cell cars.

Tesla (NASDAQ) Inc sold 54 391 Chinese-made cars in October. This is slightly lower than the 56 0006 it had in the month before it reached its highest monthly sales since Shanghai production began two years ago. According to the China Passenger Car Association’s (CPCA) export data, it was selling 54,391 vehicles.

Chen Shihua, a CAAM official said that the chip supply has been decreasing in fourth quarter. This is encouraging the country to increase its auto production slowly.

Chinese EV maker Nio Inc (NYSE:) Inc sold 3667 cars and Xpeng Inc (NYSE:) Inc produced 10,138. Volkswagen AG (OTC-:) stated that 12,000 ID were sold. series EVs were sold in China during October.