BEIJING - Toyota Motor Corp's global recall of vehicles due to safety problems is not causing a major drop in its sales in China, Masahiro Kato, president of the company's China operations, told a media briefing on Monday.

The automaker's president Akio Toyoda earlier in the day apologized to Chinese consumers over its massive recall, which has had limited impact in the Chinese market.

China has overtaken the United States as the world's largest car market, although Toyota had only a 5 percent share of the market in 2009.

(Reporting by Michael Wei and Doug Young; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

Toyota Recall China