Polish car production fell an annual 7 percent in May, industry monitor SAMAR said on Monday, saying weak European demand and a run of public holidays had reversed a rise in the previous month.

The scale of the decline, however, was significantly smaller than at the beginning of the year when output fell more than 20 percent in annual terms.

The number of passenger cars and trucks rolling off Polish production lines in the first five months of the year fell 17 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2012, SAMAR also said.

"Car sales in Europe are still at a low level, which is reflected in the output of factories in Europe, including Poland," SAMAR said in a statement.

Fiat, General Motors and Volkswagen make cars in Poland, accounting for about 7 percent of Polish industrial output, but the industry has been hit by weak demand in the euro zone.

Fiat, the largest carmaker in the country, was forced to lay off around a third of its workers in Poland.

In Poland, nearly 99 percent of cars assembled are for export, mostly within Europe.

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