The Taiwan Bicycle Association (TBA) has released draft statistics of bicycle and e-bike exports for the first eight-months of 2019. The data shows huge continued growth in exports of e-bikes to both Europe and North America.

E-bike exports
Between January and August of 2019, 404,050 e-bike units were exported globally from Taiwan, this was an increase of 132% from the 73,906 units exported in the same period of the previous year. The total value of those exports also more than doubled rising by 112% from US$ 242 million in the first eight months of 2018 to US$ 514 million in the same period of this year. The average export value of Taiwanese e-bikes was US$ 1,272.

To Europe:
The European Union was the largest receiving region for Taiwanese e-bike exports. A total quantity of 274,016 e-bikes worth a total value of US$ 337,528,473 were exported from Taiwan to the EU between January and August of this year up a staggering 138% and 123% respectively from the 115,066 units worth a total value of US$ 150,968,721 exported during the equivalent period of 2018. The average value of each e-bike unit was US$ 1,231.78.
Within the EU, The Netherlands was by far the largest recipient of Taiwanese e-bike exports, with 140,180 units exported there in the first eight months of 2019 a whopping 214% increase over the same period in 2018. The total export value of e-bikes shipped to the Netherlands likewise skyrocketed by over 200% from US$ 61 million between January and September of 2018 to US$ 187 million in the same period of 2019. The average export value of e-bike units shipped to the Netherlands from Taiwan was US$ 1,337.29.
According to the TBA draft statistics, export of e-bikes from Taiwan increased to nearly all EU countries during the first eight of 2019. Most notably, exports to the UK, Spain and Denmark all increased more than threefold with 29,990, 15,465 and 10,374 e-bikes exported from Taiwan to each of these countries respectively.
Outside the EU, and outside the effects of anti-dumping issues, Taiwanese e-bike exports to both Norway and Switzerland both more than doubled with exports of 8,507 and 9,197 e-bikes respectively.

EU anti-transshipment action
The Taiwan Bicycle Association (TBA) and Taiwan Board of Foreign Trade (MOEA) have joined forces to cooperate with the EU's Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to ensure that e-bikes are not illegal transshipped from China to the EU via Taiwan. The TBA will be taking charge of the issuance of Country of Origin certificates starting in November of this year, and a mechanism for monitoring e-bikes with an export price of under US$800 or traditional bicycles under US$300 has been drafted.

To North America
Like most other countries in the world, Taiwanese e-bike exports to the USA also skyrocketed in the first eight months of 2019. According to the draft statistics, 88,174 e-bikes were exported there during that period representing a growth of 154% compared to the same period a year earlier, pushing the USA to now stand as the second largest export destination for Taiwanese e-bikes. The total value of e-bikes exported from Taiwan to the United States was US$ 105,198,219, up 111% from the US$ 49,640,960 total value exported there in the first eight months of 2018. The average unit export value dropped slightly but nevertheless still stood at US$1,193 for the period.

Traditional bicycles
Globally, the first 8 months of 2019 have seen Taiwanese exports of traditional (non-power assisted) bicycles stabilize after several successive years of dwindling shipments. According to TBA figures Taiwan exported 1,465,614 complete bicycles in this period, approximately the same quantity as in the same period a year earlier. These exports had a total value of US$ 885,922,000, a drop of 6.73% from the US$ 949,848,800 total value of exports in the first eight months of 2018.
Although exports to Europe and other regions of the world fell throughout this period, these drops were made up for by a large 40% increase in exports to the United States.

To Europe
For a long time, the European Union has been the largest region for Taiwanese bicycle exports. In the first eight months of 2019, bicycle exports to the EU fell by 4% to 689,778 units from 720,662 units in the same period of last year. In terms of total export value, complete traditional bicycles worth US$ 319,131,820 were exported from Taiwan to the EU between January and August of this year, down 14% from the US$ 373,745,323 exported from Taiwan in the same period of 2018.
According to the data, the largest single country destinations within the EU for Taiwanese traditional bicycle exports were the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. In the first eight months of 2019, 156,245 bicycles were shipped to the UK with a total export value of US$ 63,674,758 and an average unit value of US$ 407.53. The Netherlands saw 130,929 traditional bicycle units shipped with a total value of US$ 113,659,781 and an average unit value of US$ 868.10. Exports to Germany totalled 105,855 units with a total export value US$ 30,324,104 and an average unit value of US$ 286.47. 92,953 bicycles were exported from Taiwan to Sweden at an average unit value of US$ 147.17 for a total export value of US$ 3,680,038.
In most EU countries the quantity of bicycles exported from Taiwan decreased, however, there was a significant increase in the quantity of Taiwanese complete bicycles exported to Germany (+40%), Italy (+60%) and the United Kingdom (+9%).

To North America
Taiwanese exports of traditional (non electrical-assist) bicycles to the United States of America increased dramatically from January to September of this year. A total of 492,281 bicycles were shipped to the US in that period, up over 40% from the 350,855 units shipped there during the same period of 2018. While the average unit export value of these bicycles decreased by US$ 663.19, the total export value of all traditional bicycles shipped to North America rose by nearly 11% from US$ 294,174,906 to US$ 326,475,818.

To other markets
So far in 2019, Taiwanese exports of traditional bicycles to most other global markets have fallen compared to the first eight months of last year. Exports to Japan and Australia dropped to just over 63,000 and 36,000 complete bicycles, while exports to China fell to a mere 14,660 units.