The top two bicycle manufacturers in Taiwan, Giant Manufacturing and Merida Industry, saw revenues from domestic Taiwanese factories drop in January, according to a report by Taiwan Economic News. Although, it appears that seasonal issues were to blame for the decline rather than any fundamental challenges in market demand.
Giant’s sales revenue for January declined by 6.2% to NT$1.531 billion, due partly to fewer working days in the month, during which the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday lasted nine days, and partly due to shipment delays.
Merida saw a bigger decline with a 35.9% year on year drop in revenue to NT$805 million. Here, seasonal factors, i.e. fewer working days in the month, also had an impact. Merida emphasised that to counter the long public holiday in the month, it postponed part of planned production at its factories in Taiwan to February. This caused Merida’s overall output to be around 20,000 units less than originally planned.
