(Reuters) -Honda Motor is scaling down its full-time production workforce in China, with roughly 1,700 employees having agreed to leave thus far, as sales in the world's second-largest economy decline, the Nikkei reported on Wednesday.

GAC Honda Automobile, a joint venture between Honda and Chinese state-owned automaker GAC Group, began seeking employees this month to leave the company, according to the report.

The roughly 1,700 workers amount to 14% of the production staff at the venture, the Japanese business daily said.

Honda Motor did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Passenger vehicle sales in China, the world's biggest auto market, fell 5.8% in April from a year earlier, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association, amid intensifying price competition and consumers' caution about spending on big items during a shaky economic recovery.