The volume of replacement lead batteries shipped in the North American market in February fell 13% from January, Battery Council International data showed Wednesday.
A total of 8.533 million replacement batteries were shipped in February, down from 9.810 million batteries shipped in January.
However, February's volume was nearly flat compared with the amount of batteries shipped in February 2013, with last year's total at 8.499 million, a 0.40% increase.
Cumulatively, the volume of batteries shipped in January and February of this year -- 18.343 million -- represented a 3% rise compared with the 17.794 million batteries shipped in the first two months of 2013.
On a rolling 12-month basis through the end of February, BCI's numbers showed a 1.9% year-on-year drop, with 107.607 million replacement batteries shipped between March 2013 and February 2014, compared with 109.680 million batteries shipped from March 2012 through February 2013.