Taipei, Taiwan – According to draft statistics recently released by the Taiwan Bicycle Association (TBA), total bicycle and e-bike exports from Taiwan fell by over 17% in 2017. A total volume of 2,556,013 complete bicycle units were exported last year, down from 3,080,471 units in 2016.

Taiwan total bicycle exports by volume (units)

	2017	2016	% Change
Bicycles	2,374,937	2,948,763	-19.46%
E-bikes	181,076	131,708	37.48%
Total	2,556,013	3,080,471	-17.03%

Source: Taiwan Bicycle Association (draft statistics)

The TBA draft statistics show that non-power assisted bicycles exports dropped by over 19% from 2,948,763 units in 2016 to 2,374,937 units last year. This is the second year in a row that Taiwanese manufacturers have been hit hard by a slump in traditional bicycle exports—in 2016, bicycle exports fell by over 26% compared to 2015. The figures are not all gloom, exports of e-bikes once again showed a big jump with a rise of over 37% from 131,708 complete e-bikes exported in 2016 to 181,076 units exported in 2017.

Increasing value of Taiwan's bikes.

The TBA's draft statistics also show quite clearly the rising value of Taiwan's bicycles and e-bikes.The average value of a bicycle exported from Taiwan in 2017 was US$558.76 per unit, and for e-bikes was US$1,365.05 per unit. This represented increases of over 11% and 28% respectively.

Given the increasing value of Taiwanese bikes, the total value of all bicycle and e-bike exports from Taiwan fell by just 2.92% from US$1,621,458,990 in 2016 to US$1,574,191,548 last year. The statistics show that the total value of traditional bicycle exports fell by 10.42% from US$1,481,397,075 in 2016 to 1,327,013,931 in 2017. The total value of e-bike exports once again rocketed by a substantial 76.48% from US$140,061,915 to US$247,177,617 over the same period. E-bike exports now represent nearly 16% of Taiwan's total bike export value.

Taiwan total bicycle exports by value. (US dollars)

	2017	2016	% Change
Bicycles	$1,327,013,931	$1,481,397,075	-10.42%
E-bikes	$247,177,617	$140,061,915	76.48%
Total	$1,574,191,548	$1,621,458,990	-2.92%

Source: Taiwan Bicycle Association (draft statistics)