China's light-vehicle sales fell 12 percent in October, bringing the world's biggest car market closer to an annual contraction not seen since at least 1990. Data from the country's top auto industry association released on Friday showed 10-month cumulative sales falling, amid broader slowing economic growth and a biting trade war between China and the United States. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said overall vehicle sales for January-October totaled 22.87 million, down 0.1 percent from the same period a year earlier. Sales in October were 2.38 million, the fourth straight month of declines and the steepest drop since early 2012. "Maintaining positive growth to the end of the year won't be easy. There could be negative growth," Yao Jie, vice secretary general of CAAM, said at a briefing in Beijing. Yale Zhang, head of Shanghai-based consultancy Automotive Foresight, said the October drop was in line with expectations, but there was little ahead to suggest things would pick up soon.