China, the "bicycle kingdom", saw a drop in bicycle exports in the first five months of this year as a result of anti-dumping barriers imposed by the European Union (EU).

Statistics from Beijing Customs showed that the Chinese capital exported 708,000 bicycles valued at 11.39 million yuan (US$1.37 million) in the first five months of this year, down by 20.5 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively, on a year-on-year basis.

Beijing's export of bicycles to the EU numbered 50,000, accounting for only four percent of the city's total export volume, Beijing News reported on Tuesday.

Officials from the Tianjin Bicycle Association said that the city's bicycle industry will face a hard time if the EU proposal to raise the anti-dumping tariff on Chinese bicycles from the current 30.6 percent to 45 percent is approved.

Tianjin exports more than one million bicycles to the EU each year.

The EU's anti-dumping policy on China's bicycles has been in force for 13 years, and this has affected sales in the European market.

Last year, China produced more than 79 million bicycles, 60 percent of the world's total. It exported 51 million bicycles making US$2.5 million.

Although the country's exported some 7.171 million bicycles in the first two months of this year alone, unit prices averaged US$34.5, compared with US$150 for Japanese-made bikes.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2005)