U.S. Bicycle Imports In 2020 Increase By 32% Year-on-year

According to data not released by the US Department of Commerce, the United States imported US$1.4 billion worth of non-electric bicycles in 2020, an increase of US$200 million or 16% over 2019. On a unit basis, bicycle imports increased by 31.9%. Imports of other key bicycle products such as tires, inner tubes and seat cushions have also increased significantly from 2019.

Despite the exceptionally strong sales and demand in 2020, it is worth the 16% year-on-year increase only because imports in 2019 are very small (due to the uncertainty of China's import tariffs, this may be the lowest in 20 years). Due to the bottleneck of the Asian coronavirus, imports in the first quarter of 2020 have started to be very slow. Compared with recent years, the total import volume in 2020 is no exception. In terms of the dollar value of non-electric bicycles, 2020 is only the fifth largest year since 2010.

Although the 2020 figures are no exception, the fourth quarter figures show that the industry has broken away from the usual year-end declines. Compared with the last quarter of 2019, imports in 2020 have increased by 86%. In December 2020, 1.7 million bicycles were imported, an increase of 180% from the 620,000 bicycles imported in December 2019.

In most categories, retail sales of bicycles and other bicycle products have increased by 50% or more, which means that suppliers and retailers have emptied warehouses and in most cases are still far from being able to replenish them or even complete orders. As there is little talk about increasing production capacity, inventory may not return to normal until mid-2022.

Parts shortage

Parts are in short supply in 2020, including retail repairs, aftermarket upgrades and bicycle manufacturers. Of course, most of the manufactured parts are sent to bicycle factories, not after-sales dealers. For example, the United States imported 9.6 million aftermarket tires and 2.8 million aftermarket saddles last year. But we also imported 17 million bicycles, and probably installed 17 million saddles and 34 million tires. In 2020, 29.1 million aftermarket tires were sold, and 34 million tires were included in bicycles. Historically, annual imports are no exception: in terms of inner tube imports, 2020 is the sixth largest year since 2010.