The soaring prices of raw materials and rigid competition in China's auto parts market have encouraged a growing number of car components makers to export their products.

"We are looking for more overseas buyers as the rising prices of raw materials and intensified market competition squeezed our profits a lot," said Lin Xiangfei, general manager of Ju Guang Auto Parts Co Ltd, who was at the Auto Components Shanghai 2006 over the weekend at the Shanghai Automobile Exhibition Center.

China's auto industry has augmented rapidly by an annual average of over 30 percent in recent years, which fuels the fast development of the auto parts sector. In 2005, there were more than 5,000 home auto parts companies and their production scale reached 430 billion yuan. The total sales are expected to reach 850 billion yuan by 2010.

The total export value of auto products jumped 52 percent to US$19.6 billion last year, 44 percent of which were contributed by auto parts. The export value of auto parts hit US$42.5 billion for the first quarter of this year, up 40 percent year on year, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.