THE September quota for vehicle license plates has been set at 6,500, 500 more than last month, the Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co Ltd has announced.

The auction for the plates will take place on September 20.

Among the 6,500 plates, 36 are for motorcycles and 283 are for businesses changing motorcycle plates to car plates.

The average price for a car plate in August rose 1,969 yuan (US$287.71) to 36,460 yuan from a month earlier. The lowest winning bid edged up to 35,900 yuan.

Both the average and lowest bid prices rose for the first time in August after the previous drop for three consecutive months. There were 13,451 bidders last month, a sharp drop from the peak of 63,534 in March.