The only segment that saw growth in 2013 in China were electric bikes. The China Bicycle Association reports that 36,950,000 e-bikes were produced; 5.4% more than in 2012.

Production of regular bikes reached 82 million units in 2013; 0.9% down on the 2012 total. Bicycle export stayed flat when comparing the 2012 total with the one for 2013 and stood at close to 57 million units. Also export value levelled and stood at USD 3,169 million. This indicates that the average value per exported bike stood at 55.64 US dollar (€ 43.19) in 2013.

EU import figures

According to Eurostat figures, the EU imported 420,000 bikes from China in 2013; a big 35% up from the 2012 total of 311,000 units. This big increase could be initiated by the outcome of the anti-dumping interim review on bikes imported from China into the European Union which was announced on June 4, 2013.

The European Commission decided to maintain the dumping measures with 48.5% anti-dumping duty to be levied on complete bikes imported from China. However, to anyone's surprise three Chinese companies were exempted from the 48.5% dumping duty: Zhejiang Baoguilai Vehicle Co. Ltd.: 19.2% duty; Oyama Bicycles (Taicang) Co. Ltd.: 0% duty and Ideal (Dongguan) Bike Co., Ltd.: 0% duty.

Ideal shifts to China

The outcome of the anti-dumping interim review prompted Ideal Bike Corporation to shift its production destined for the EU markets from Taiwan to China. Ideal produces for, among others, Advanced Sports International (ASI) that markets the brands Breezer, Fuji, Kestrel, Oval Concepts and SE. Ideal also produces bikes for, among others, Ridley and BMC.

'Obtaining foothold on EU markets'

The other completely from dumping duties exempted company, Oyama Bicycles (Taicang) Co. Ltd., is also targeting the EU markets right now. The company said at Eurobike: "We are currently taking full advantage of this to obtain a firm foot-hold on the European market. We had serious interest from dozens of major European players and have set our export target to Europe for MY 2016 on 200,000 units. To satisfy more customers' demands, we will relocate our facility to Huai An, to the north of Jiangsu province. This new factory will have a capacity of 2 million bikes per year."