China has officially launched exports of secondhand cars, with Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai among the first batch of 10 regions allowed to export the vehicles, Economic Daily reported.

The 10 regions are Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangdong province, Taizhou in Zhejiang province, Jining and Qingdao in Shandong province, Chengdu in Sichuan province, Xi'an in Shaanxi province , and Xiamen in Fujian province.

According to the China Automobile Dealers Association, about 13.82 million used cars were traded in China last year, less than half of the new vehicles sold.

Compared with developed countries where sales of secondhand cars are usually twice the number of new car sales, China's used vehicles exports market has huge growth potential.

China is the world's biggest auto market. Currently, domestic automobile market is maturing and has entered a slow-growth period, Bai Ming, from the research department of the Ministry of Commerce, told the newspaper, adding that it is inevitable that in the future China's secondhand cars market will maintain sustainable growth.

Secondhand cars exports is a major measure to stabilize foreign trade, also an important way to deepen the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation and promote the high-quality development of foreign trade, the Ministry of Commerce earlier said.

Luo Lei, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said the new program could promote the circulation of secondhand cars, speed up vehicles upgrading and promote new vehicles consumption.

China's automobile products could enter the international market via the export program, absorbing excess capacity, Luo told the newspaper. Meanwhile, secondhand cars exports can reduce the number of domestic abandoned vehicles and help reduce the pressure from environmental protection.

Earlier, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Public Security and the General Administration of Customs released a guideline in late April which required the development of sound inspection and after-sales services for secondhand cars exports.