Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover will close its Solihull plant for two weeks later this month after it reported a nearly 50 percent fall in sales to China as import duties and trade tensions with the United States hurt demand.

China's automobile sales have been falling in recent months, with a slowing economy and trade frictions making consumers cautious about spending, an industry body said last month.

Jaguar Land Rover sales figures for September showed a 46.2 percent slide in the Chinese market, with the company suffering a 264 million pound (345.3 million US dollars) loss in the second quarter up to June. 

A statement from the company blamed low consumer demand on "ongoing market uncertainty resulting from import duty changes and continued trade tensions."

North America sales were also down in September, falling by almost seven percent.

China is Jaguar Land Rover's largest market, with 2017's sales of 146,399 units in the country a record for the company.

"As part of the company's continued strategy for profitable growth, Jaguar Land Rover is focused on achieving operational efficiencies and will align supply to reflect fluctuating demand globally as required," a spokesman said in a statement.

The UK plant, which employs 9,000 staff, will close for two weeks from October 22, with the Unite Union saying no jobs would be lost as hours would be banked.

Jaguar Land Rover, which built nearly one in three of Britain's 1.67 million cars in 2017, said last month that another of its UK-based factories, Castle Bromwich, will go down to a three-day week from October until the beginning of December.

About 45 percent of the firm's sales are diesel models, which have been hit by clampdowns and tax rises in some countries as governments try to cut air pollution.

It has also warned about the impact of any Brexit-related loss of free and unfettered trade with the European Union.

(With inputs from Reuters)