Mumbai: China overtook Germany to become the second largest exporter of automotive spare parts to the United States. China exported $1.936 billion worth of auto parts to the US in the first quarter this year, pipping Germany, which notched up $1.934 billion.

Japan remained the top exporter of auto components to the US with annual exports of worth $3.57 billion.

China exported $1.52 billion worth of auto parts to the US - less than the $1.73 billion exported by Germany - during the same period last year, Shanghai Securities News said quoting statistics from the US department of commerce.

China''s auto parts exports grew at an annual 54 per cent from 2000 to 2005, far outpacing the 29.5 per cent rise in imports, statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show.

In the first three months the current year, China''s auto parts exports grew 36 per cent to $2.57 billion year-on-year while imports rose 27 per cent to $2.42 billion, customs figures showed.

China''s auto parts exports have increased more than six fold in the last five years, nearly topping $1 billion in April and emerging as one of the fastest-growing categories of Chinese industrial products sold overseas. More than half of these auto parts go to the United States; most of the rest to Europe and Japan.

The rise of Chinese auto parts exports is part of a much broader shift. China is moving up from basic goods like textiles, toys and shoes and toward higher-value industrial goods that pay better wages - but also compete more directly with products from countries like Mexico and even from advanced industrialized countries like the United States.

Still, while China has room for considerable growth in auto parts exports to the United States, it is not competitive overseas in bulky products like car seats that are uneconomical to ship or need to be manufactured close to a car factory for quality-control reasons. And China''s rising labor costs and strengthening currency are making automakers leery of becoming too dependent on China for parts that can be shipped.

Analysts, however, said China''s higher exports were not a demonstration of stronger competitiveness, adding that margins on German-made auto parts far exceed those from China.