Taiwan's bicycle industry is expected to register a five to 10 percent increase in export this year in terms of revenue, predicted King Liu, chairman of Giant Mfg. Co., Ltd. Last year, Taiwan exported 7.90 million bicycles, a decrease of 15.76 percent compared with the year before. In terms of value, the decline represented a fall of only 1.02 percent. In 1998, bicycles exported from Taiwan numbered 9.07 million. An executive of Merida Inc. Co. said bicycle export units from Taiwan for 2000 would at best achieve the same as that registered last year in view of the fact that the New Taiwan dollar is continuing to strengthen against the U.S. dollar, a phenomenon not conducive to export from Taiwan.

However, statistics from early in the year so far have not fulfilled these predictions. Taiwan's bicycle exports for January 2000 were down 12.82 percent, compared with the same month a year ago, figures released by the Taiwan Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers Association showed. In terms of revenues, January bicycle exports amounted to NT$2.64 billion, a decrease of 14.67 percent from the same month last year.

The U.S. was the biggest destination, buying 190,711 bicycles from Taiwan in January, comprising 27.43 percent of Taiwan's total bicycle shipments. Japan and Germany were the second and third biggest markets, purchasing 90,636 units and 66,444 units, or 13.03 percent and 9.56 percent respectively.