The value of Taiwan-made bicycles is rising thanks to the government’s efforts to push the manufacturing sector to fabricate high-value products, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
Statistics from the ministry showed that the average price of Taiwan-produced bicycles exported to overseas markets had risen to US$445 per unit in November last year, up 6.7 percent from US$412 the previous year.
Officials at the ministry’s Industrial Development Bureau attributed the growth to the ministry’s efforts to encourage the bicycle manufacturing sector to make high-value products.
The efforts include assisting bicycle makers to develop key technologies that have enabled them to produce lighter and smarter bicycles with low wind resistance, the officials said.
The ministry has also helped manufacturing-oriented enterprises develop into services-oriented businesses to gain a competitive advantage, the officials said.
Taiwanese bicycle brand Giant ranked seventh on last year’s Branding Taiwan Top 10 list, while Merida placed 10th, according to a press release published on Nov. 29 last year.
Branding Taiwan is a Taiwanese brand-promotion project initiated by the ministry to evaluate the value of international brands created by Taiwanese businesses and rank their positions in the global market.
Each year, the 10 best brands are selected in recognition of their high-quality value.
Meanwhile, according to the bureau, Taiwan’s bicycle exports to China by volume grew 6.8 times from 2010 to 2012.
In that same period, the total value of bicycles Taiwan sold to China rose seven times, and the value of parts and components for bikes exported to China grew 1.8 times.
In the first 11 months of last year, the value of Taiwanese bicycle exports to China grew 1.8 times from the same period in 2012, while exports of parts and components surged 15 percent.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
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