Giant and Merida Expect to Sell 3.3 M. Bicycles in China This Year

Taipei, March 22, 2012 (CENS)--The top-two bicycle manufacturers in Taiwan, Giant Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Merida Industry Co., Ltd. expect to sell some 3.3 million bikes in China this year, due to strong demand for medium- to high-end models.

Ike Tseng, Merida's chairman, recently said that his company's sales in China doubled to some 560,000 units in 2011, stressing that the Chinese bicycle market is seeing unprecedented expansion and sales growth, and that China has become the largest single market for Taiwanese makers, while the European and U.S. markets are expected to grow 3% -5% and 5%-10%, respectively, this year.

Tony Lo, Giant's CEO, pointed out that this year will be good for the bicycle industry. After successfully expanding manufacturing capacity in China in 2011, Giant hopes to also raise the number of dealers there to about 2,500 in the future from bout 2,000 currently. In 2011, Giant sold about 5.7 million bicycles globally and expects to sell about six million this year, Lo said.

Institutional investors said that the high-end bicycle market in China has been growing fast in recent years, predicting that both Giant and Merida to report over-30% sales gains in China this year, with the Chinese market to be the biggest driver for Merida.

In 2012, the investors said, Merida's annual revenue is expected to grow double-digit; while Giant is to have additional capacity of about 1.5 million units (one million from the new factory in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, and 500,000 from Tianjin factory). Giant sold about two million bicycles in China in 2011 and expects to sell 30% more this year.

Merida is constructing a factory in Nantong, Jiangsu Province for about US$100 million, which is scheduled to kick off mass production in 2013 with initial annual capacity of 500,000 units, and a maximum of 1.5 million to 2 million units.