According to statistics provided by the China Bicycle Association CBA, China’s total bicycle production in 2018 was 73 million units, a significant decrease of 15.3 million units compared with 88.3 million units produced in 2017. The main reason given for the 17%  drop was the impact of the sharp decline in shared bicycles. Total bicycle export volume is 57 million units, with the top three export markets being the United States (16 million units), Japan (nearly 6 million units) and Indonesia (more than 5 million units).

In 2018, the total output of electric bicycles in China was about 32 million, and the export volume was about 1.8 million. In the first half of the year, China's e-bikes were exported to the EU market in large quantities since EU importers expected the EU to introduce anti-dumping and countervailing duties against China's e-bike. During the first six months of 2018, export volume increased by 32% compared with the same period of 2017. However, after temporary duties were imposed in the second half of the year, China's e-bike export volume to the EU dropped sharply.

Faced with trade barriers in Europe and the United States, Chinese players are actively diversifying the market, looking for overseas OEMs or setting up factories overseas, or responding with CKD exports. Both Fujitec and XDS are aiming to assemble bikes in Vietnam and have bought land for factories in Cambodia.