Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday that its sales in China continued the decline in October as anti-Japanese-product anger at Japan’s illegal “purchase” of China’s Diaoyu Islands remained strong.

The Japanese automaker sold 45,600 vehicles in the world's largest market, a 44 percent year-on-year decline from last year. The downtrend followed its 48.9 percent year-on-year sales decline in September.

In the first 10 months, Toyota’s vehicles sales in China dipped 1 percent to 685,900 units.