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Follow on Google News | TUV Rheinland Supports Chinese Bicycle DevelopmentCycling becomes the trend of green transportation / TUV Rheinland supports Chinese bicycle development
By: TUV Rheinland Greater China According to the research from Euromonitor, China tops in the production of bicycles and invalid carriages. In 2011, Chinese production value exceeded US$ 28.4billion and growth was estimated at 13% year-on-year. It also 4.4 times larger than the runner-up, Indonesia, which dishes out US$ 6.4 billion worth of bicycles each year. The Asia Pacific region and North America were the main destinations for Chinese bicycles, accounting for nearly 40% and 31% of China’s or US$ 3 billion worth of exports. China‘s export growth has remained in double digits for last five years except for 2009 after financial turmoil. The Asia Pacific region is considered as the prime high-growth market, with growth ranging from 16 to 51% in 2011. The Yangtze River Delta Region (Shanghai, Suzhou, Ningbo) and Tianjin area are the major bicycle production hubs which account total over 80% China’s bicycle export. In terms of purchasing, the US wears the yellow jersey as the largest single country importer for the last 10 years and accounts for over 30% of China’s export except in 2011. In 2011, US imported over US$ 828 million worth bicycles from China which declined 8.7% year-on-year. In terms of bicycle ownership in the US, 45.8% of households are said to own a bicycle. Although this figure is lower than the world average on 53.4% in 2011, the bicycle ownership rate has grown steadily in last 6 years from 43.7% to 45.8%. Elsewhere in the world, Asia Pacific and Western European pedal at around 63% of ownership, topping the ownership rate. Within these two regions, over 80% of households own bicycles in Netherlands (92.4%) , Taiwan (86.6%), Sweden (85.1%), Finland (85.0%), Japan (83.3%) Norway (81.3%) and Germany (81.0%). For the Greater China region, the trend of bicycle ownership is different in mainland China and Taiwan. Cycling was once the most popular form of transportation in China – a country which was known as the "capital of bicycles" in the world. However, this trend switched in the 1990s as more people could afford cars. Thus, the overall trend of household bicycle ownership has been slightly decreasing in the last 6 years. However, some interesting phenomenon has been observed in China’s more developed Eastern regions – say areas around Beijing, Guangdong, and Shanghai - as the trend of household bicycle ownership has followed Western patterns placing ownership from less than 60% to nearly 70% in last 6 years. Similarly, bicycle ownership in Taiwan grew 5% to 86.6% in 2011 and was the highest in Asia Pacific region. Overall, the combination of initiatives to promote bicycles along with changes in lifestyle has created a trend towards increased bicycle purchases. Yet, in order to continue to promote cycling for work or leisure, manufacturers must play their role to assure high quality of bicycles. “The high quality bicycle test takes numerous things into account, including product safety, functionality, durability, handling, workmanship and corrosion,” indicates Benson Guo, a senior expert from TÜV Rheinland . “For bicycles, we are not only concerned about mechanical safety, but also chemical safety of plastic and metal components that come in to contact with the rider‘s skin as well as regular factory audits to monitor that manufacturer’ Press Contact End
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