BEIJING/NEW YORK, June 17 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's

Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK/A ) has again trimmed its stake in BYD

, the Chinese company that last year

surpassed Tesla as the world's largest electric vehicle

maker.

Berkshire sold 1.3 million Hong Kong-listed BYD shares

for HK$310.5 million ($39.8 million), according to a filing on

Monday with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The sale reduced Berkshire's stake in BYD's issued H-shares

to 6.90% from 7.02%.

Berkshire began investing in Shenzhen-based BYD in 2008,

paying $230 million for about 225 million shares, then equal to

a 10% stake.

It began selling shares in 2022, by which time BYD's

share price had risen more than 20-fold. The share price has

fallen about 30% since peaking in June 2022.

Berkshire's investment in BYD investment was the brainchild

of Charlie Munger, Berkshire's late vice chairman.

Munger said at the 2023 annual meeting of publishing and

software company Daily Journal ( DJCO ) that he had "never helped do

anything at Berkshire that was as good as BYD."

Though Berkshire also invests in Japan's five largest

trading houses, Buffett said at its annual meeting in May that

his Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate will keep investing

mainly in the United States. BYD was an exception.

"Charlie twice has pounded the table with me and just said,

you know, 'Buy, buy, buy,'" Buffett told shareholders. "BYD was

one of them, and Costco was the other.... He was right,

big time, in both companies."