SHANGHAI car plate prices rose in August after dropping for two consecutive months, reflecting recovering auto sales boosted by government grants for fuel-efficient vehicles.

A total of 9,000 plates went under the hammeryesterday, the same number as last month and also the second largest quota this year.

The average price rose 807 yuan (US$119) from a month earlier to 40,169 yuan (US$5,933), Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co Ltd said yesterday.

The lowest bid also climbed to 39,800 yuan, up 1,400 yuan from July.

The monthlyauction attracted 16,855 bidders, 3,466 or 26 percent more than in July.

The central government announced a 3,000-yuan subsidy for fuel-efficient vehicles in early July. Industry observers said that would boost sales at a time of slow demand and fuel the market for plates.

The 71 fuel-efficient vehicles rolled out by 16 car makers that are eligible for subsidies achieved total sales of 57,353 units in July, an increase of 12 percent from a month earlier, according to the China Automotive Technology & Research Center.

Shanghai General Motors reported a sales gain of 20 percent from a month earlier for its 12 energy-saving models on the subsidy list.

"As the government added another 61 models to the list last week, we are confident it will be a good start to continue the growing sales momentum in the second half of this year," said Shanghai GM dealer Zhang Wei.

Before this month's auction, car plate prices on the used car market were around 41,000 yuan.

• hammer [´hæmə] n.锤子 v.重击 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的，世界的 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• dealer [´di:lə] n.商人 (初中英语单词)
• commodity [kə´mɔditi] n.日用品；商品 (高中英语单词)
• monthly [´mʌnθli] a.每月(的) n.月刊 (高中英语单词)
• confident [´kɔnfidənt] a.有信心的，自信的 (高中英语单词)
• auction [´ɔ:kʃən] n.&vt.拍卖 (英语四级单词)
• august [ɔ:´gʌst] a.尊严的；威严的 (英语六级单词)
• consecutive [kən´sekjutiv] a.连续的；连贯的 (英语六级单词)