BEIJING — China’s auto sales fell 7.1% in the first half of 2022 from a year earlier but demand in the industry’s biggest global market picked up in June, according to an industry group.

Sales from January to June totaled 12 million vehicles, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported by the official China News Agency. It said that was an estimate based on data from major companies, suggesting it might change later.

June sales rose 20.9% over a year earlier to 2.4 million, CAAM said. The one-sentence report gave no details on sales of electric cars or other vehicle types.

China’s auto sales have suffered from consumer jitters over an economic downturn as well as shortages of processor chips and disruption of global supply chains due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The downturn squeezes cash flow for global automakers that are looking to China to drive sales growth and are spending billions of dollars to meet government sales quotas for electric vehicles.