Giant and Merida Report Sales Drop in January

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwan’s two main bicycle manufacturers, Giant and Merida both saw their sales revenue decline in January year on year due to logistic problems and Chinese Lunar New Year holidays.

Giant’s Taiwan factory sales in revenue in January decreased by 6.19% to NT$1.531 billion (€ 39.2mn) compared to the same month in 2011. According to Giant this was due partly to fewer working days during Chinese Lunar New Year and partly due to shipment delays.

Merida Taiwan saw a steep drop of 35.9% in sales revenue to NT$ 805 million (€ 20.6mn) in January. Merida emphasized that it had to postpone a part of the planned production at the factories in Taiwan to February. This caused its overall output to be around 20,000 units less than planned originally.

Despite the considerable decline in revenue in Taiwan, Merida enjoys a strong increase in sales in China. According to the company, the market surged by a huge 64% in value driving its combined (Taiwan and China operations) revenue for January up to hit NT$1.177 billion (€ 30.1mn).

Source: CENS, China Economic News Service