Statistics show that Guangdong province in south China handled the export of nearly 18 million bicycles valued at 530 million US dollars last year alone, up 11.2 percent and 10.9 percent, respectively.

Exports via Guangdong mainly targeted the north American and Asian markets, with the United States absorbing more than 9.78 million, or 54.6 percent of the total.

In many developed countries, bicycles are increasingly viewed as a daily necessity. In recent years, in both Europe and the United States, the demand for bicycles has maintained steady growth.

In the United States, for example, 260 million people purchase an annual average of 15 million bicycles, one for every 16 people.

China manufactures more than one-third of the world's bicycles and it contributes some 60 percent of the world's bicycle trade.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2003)