Taiwan’s bike business with European customers is booming again. The volume of the country’s total bike exports for the second quarter of 2010 jumped by 31 percent to $289 million after 2009 saw disappointing results. Export to the EU alone surged by 66 percent to $147 million, led by a 69 percent increase in the Netherlands to $33 million and a more than doubling in Spain to $11 million. Giant and Merida, the big Taiwanese bicycle companies, both have subsidiaries in these countries.
Bicycle production and export looks set to climb in Vietnam as well as the EU has dropped the 34.5 percent anti-dumping duty for bikes from the country last month. Many manufacturers who had shut down their facilities are now reopening them, and the Vietnamese government worries that this could prompt the EU to reinstate the duties. The concern is that some companies will illegally mislabel bicycles from other countries as being made in Vietnam to avoid paying the tariffs imposed on their own countries. Vietnam’s Competition Authority, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Vietnam Customs are working together to prevent this from happening.
Meanwhile, the EU is investigating Malaysian exports to Cyprus, citing just such faked certificates of origin. The Cyprus importer now thinks the bikes were originally from China, and Malaysia was cited as the place of origin because it pays just 10.5 percent in duties. The regular tariff is 14 percent, but the anti-dumping duty on Chinese bikes is currently 48.5 percent.
