Date: 23:18, May 26, 2016

What changes are coming to China's bicycle industry during the 13th Five-Year Plan Period?

What are the achievements of China's bicycle industry during the 12th Five-Year Plan Period? What are the opportunities and challenges facing China's bicycle industry during the 13th Five-Year Plan Period? The 26th China International Bicycle Exhibition held recently tried to answer the question.

Data released by the China Bicycle Association showed that China's bicycle output in 2015 was 80.26 million, down 3.36% year on year, among which the output of bicycle enterprises above designated size was 55.27 million. The output of electric bicycles was 32.57 million units, down 8.28 percent year-on-year.

"Although the development speed of China's bicycle and electric bicycle industry has reached a new low, the industry scale is still maintained at more than 80 million and 30 million, indicating that the rigid demand of China's bicycle and electric bicycle industry still exists. At the same time, the industry development has returned to the rational, basically in line with previous expectations." Ma Zhongchao, president of the Chinese Cycling Association, said.

Ma Zhongchao said that last year, the production of electric tricycles and the export of electric bicycles maintained a high growth rate, while the proportion of lithium trams increased instead of falling, which constitute a bright spot in the development of China's bicycle industry.

According to statistics from the China Cycling Association, the output of electric tricycles in China reached 11.63 million in 2015, up 9.1% year on year; China's e-bike exports reached 1.339 million units, up 20.4 percent year on year; In 2015, China produced 2.92 million lithium electric cars, an increase of nearly one percentage point.

The reporter learned from the 26th China International Bicycle Exhibition that during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, China's bicycle and electric bicycle industry have achieved good results.

Data show that during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, the scale of China's bicycle industry has always maintained a scale of more than 80 million, without dramatic changes. The average annual income of the main business exceeds 80 billion yuan and the profit has doubled. The product structure was further optimized, and the proportion of production of medium and high-end bicycles increased year by year. Industry concentration further increased, the output of the top ten enterprises accounted for nearly 40% of the industry; The international competitiveness has been steadily improved, and the export scale of independent brands has been increasing year by year.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the output value of electric bicycles in China exceeded 150 billion yuan for the first time, doubling the output. China's social population exceeded 200 million for the first time, approaching 220 million by the end of 2015. Exports exceeded 1 million units for the first time, increasing the export share from 2.5% to nearly 5%. With the acceleration of lithium electrochemical process and the arrival of intelligence ahead of time, the share of lithium electric cars is close to 10% of the total for the first time.

"Looking ahead, China's bicycle industry will face problems of a sluggish market, low technology content, low product quality and low industrial efficiency." Ma Zhongchao said that China's bicycle industry in the "13th Five-Year" period will face five major changes in the development environment: first, the end of ultra-fast growth, rational development, towards the high-end, consumption upgrading; Second, the era of high cost is coming, and the demographic dividend is disappearing. Third, the advance of intellectualization, enterprises across the boundary, industry mix and match, business format boundary is more and more blurred; Fourth, the urban dominated society takes shape, the way people travel will change, and the consumption potential is huge; Fifth, green and low-carbon development will be strengthened. The new generation of consumers will become the main body of low-carbon and green consumption, and their demand for individuality and experience is increasingly strong.

"Facing the new changes, China's bicycle industry should improve the overall efficiency of the supply-side structure." Ma Zhongchao suggested that, on the one hand, we should transform from low-end homogenized products to middle and high-end differentiated products, and take the development mode of technological transformation and connotation oriented to reduce overcapacity; On the one hand, costs should be reduced by further promoting technological progress. At the same time, should also grasp the industry transformation and upgrading, improve the quality and efficiency of the key points to strengthen the weakness.