Nissancut its full-year profit forecast by 20 per cent yesterday as it acknowledged the impact of an informal boycott of Japanese cars in China, a market that has come to account for one quarter of its sales.

The Japanese carmaker said it expected to end the financial year to next March with a net profit of Y320bn ($4bn), down from its previous projection of Y400bn. It also cut its global sales forecast by 270,000 vehicles to 5.08m.

All of Japan’s carmakers have been hurt by the recent consumer backlash in China, which gathered force in September amid a political dispute over the possession of a group of islands in the East China Sea. The uninhabited islands, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, are controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing.