- Total demand for bicycles in Japan amounts to approximately 10,000,000 units annually. One-third of these bicycles are imported and the rest produced domestically. 20% of all imports are used as parts by domestic manufactures. Today 3 million bicycles are produced annually on Sakai city, Osaka prefecture.
- In 1994, the total number of bicycles produced was 6,700,000 units. 110,000 units were exported to other countries, while 2,340,000 bicycles were imported. 108.4 billion yen worth of parts were produced, 68.7 billion yen of which was exported. The total amount of imported parts amounted to 11.4 billion yen.
- The total amount of bicyclesparts exported in 1994 was as follows;
- East and South Asia US $302,284,248
- Europe US $252,395,234
- North and South America US $118,719,314
Export destinations were as follows;
Taiwan 29.8%, U.S.A. 15.5%, Germany 10.7%, Holland 4.7%, Belgium 3.8%, Switzerland 3.7%, Singapore 3.6%, France 3.3%, China 3.2%, Hong Kong 3.1%, Others 18.6%
- 20.1 billion yen worth of bicycles were imported in 1994, with imported parts amounting to 11.4 billion yen. Import totals are as follows;
| Country |
Complete bicicles
|
Parts |
Total Amount
|
| Taiwan |
14.9 billion yen |
4.1 billion yen |
19.0 bilion yen |
| China |
1.9 billion yen |
2.3 billion yen |
4.2 billion yen |
| U.S.A. |
0.9 billion yen |
1.0 billion yen |
1.9 billion yen |
| Korea |
1.3 billion yen |
0.4 billion yen |
1.7 billion yen |
| Singapore |
6 million yen |
1.1 billion yen
|
1.1 billion yen |
Malaysia, Indonesia, Italy, Hong Kong and Thailand follow the above mentioned countries.
* All figures have been taken from Japan Bicycle Manufacturer's Association.
- As you can see from the data shown above, bicycles and bicycle parts are mostly imported from Taiwan at present, however Taiwan is expected to be overtaken by China in the near future.
- Bicycles prices are rasonably low all around the world. Furthermore they have been reducing by about 1,000 yen annually due of price splashing caused by competition with overseas products. The reason that only reasonably priced bicycles are popular in Japan is due to the fact that they are often lost or stolen. How to sell more bicycles is the first consideration. Using new high-priced parts such as carbon black brings the price up, making the end products less salable.
- Half of imported bicycles are finally examined after being brought into Japan, to makke them more durable and long-lasting. However, this procedure brings the price up by 2,000 or 3,000 yen per unit. The other half are sold without such a final examination, and are not likely to last as long.
- Japanese manufacturers failed to compete with other manufacturers last year, which lead to a series of bankruptcies, however many have tried to enter the mainland-China market, and about 50 of those have reported finding new markets around shenzhen.
- In China, total domestic demand for bicycles is 30 million units annually, 10 million units of which are exported. Currently, a total of 40 million bicycles are produced annually. It appears that many Chinese have 2 types of bicycles, one for rainy days and another for fine days. There are 2,000 bicycle manufacturers in China.
- All Japanese manufacturers are covered by PL insurance, however few importers are. Fortunately, there have not been many serious lawsuits to date.
- Production of mountain-bikes has been gradually decreasing yearly having peaked in 1991.
- To develop new types of bicycles and popularize electric bicycles is a large issue being faced by this industry.
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