The nation’s exports of bicycle parts are expected to grow this year on the back of a Chinese bike-sharing boom, the Taiwan Bicycle Exporters’ Association said yesterday.
“In comparison with bikes, the demand for bike components has remained steady the past few years,” association secretary-general Gina Chang (張蕙娟) told reporters ahead of the Taipei International Cycle Show.
Taiwanese makers of bike parts are likely to benefit from China’s craze for bike-sharing services, as the need for after-sales components is expected to remain robust in the near term, while and the entry threshold is not very high, Chang said, citing lower tariffs.
She declined to provide an annual growth forecast for this year, saying that political uncertainty around the world might affect customers’ willingness to purchase new bikes.
For the whole of last year, the nation’s exports of bicycles totaled US$1.48 billion, a 21.76 percent decline from the previous year, with overseas shipments down 26.18 percent to 2.95 million units, association data showed.
Giant Manufacturing Co Ltd (巨大機械), the nation’s largest bicycle maker, saw its sales decline 5.57 percent year-on-year to NT$57.01 billion (US$1.87 billion) last year, while Merida Industry Co’s (美利達) sales declined 18.78 percent to NT$22.83 billion, according to company filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
However, exports of electric bikes and bike components bucked the downward trend, association data showed.
Last year, electric bike exports skyrocketed 158.04 percent year-on-year to US$139.82 million and sales of bicycle transmissions also soared 28.94 percent to US$33.65 million.
The average selling price of bicycles shipped across the Taiwan Strait last year improved from US$473.98 to US$502.38 year-on-year, indicating that Taiwanese makers are producing more high-end products, the association said.
“Apart from the European and US markets, we hope to introduce Taiwanese products to Southeast Asian nations [during the show],” Taiwan External Trade Development Council (外貿協會) executive president Walter Yeh (葉明水) said.
More than 1,100 firms are taking part in the show, which starts today and runs until Saturday.
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