F REIGN TRADE - 中国国际贸易促进委员会

Blossom of fitness and family healthcare equipmentAnother major feature of the exhibition isthe impressive presence of the fitness and familycare equipment, which took half of the 10,000square meters exhibition space in the New ChinaInternational Exhibition Center.As the natural environment deteriorates,and the work pressure increases, Chinese peopleare growingly aware of the importance of sportsand health, resulting in the blossom of the fitnessand family health care equipment industry. TheU.S. economist Paul Pilzer said the health industryis becoming the 5th wave of wealth after theIT industry. Faced with tough competition, companieshave to focus on innovation and technologydevelopment. The reporter learned from theexhibition that established companiesin the industry are those withinnovative, high-tech products.Chinese sports goodsindustry pressured toupgradeThe Report on China SportsGoods Industry in 2010 and 2011was released during the exhibition,the first one of its kind. According to thereport, China-made products take 65% of theworld’s sports goods market. However, theChinese sports goods industry is big but notstrong.Due to high inventory and rising costs, theexpansion rate of the industry is declining, whichwill intensify competition.A good thing to note is that China’s sportsgoods industry is increasingly concentrated inGuangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces,Beijing and Shanghai, with a concentrationrate of over 85%.The report said that sports equipment hasoutrun sports shoes and clothing in terms of salesand growth rate. In 2010, the eight sports goodslisted companies reported a revenue of 16.146billion yuan in the sports clothing business, anincrease of 25.89% year on year; 13.198 billionyuan in the sports shoes business. While, sportsequipment enterprises above the designated sizerealized a revenue of 83.043 billion yuan. Sportsequipment also made the greatest contribution toChina’s exports of sports goods. In 2011, Chinaexported $15.916 billion worth of sports goods,with a trade surplus of $15.24 billion. Sportsequipment contributed 28.87% to the exportsvolume.The high-end sports shoes and clothingmarket is dominated by foreign brands. But localbrands have started to participate in the competition,and some of them are competitive. The hugemid- and low-end market is dominated by localbrands. In contrast, the sports equipment marketis dominated by local brands, with foreign oneshaving little voice.The report pointed out the challenges facingthe industry. First, Chinese enterprises are in lackof core competitiveness, and recognized brands.They are still at the bottom of manufacturing ofthe global ladder of labor division. Second, shoddyand counterfeit products are rampant, and thecompetition among companies has overheated.With the erosion of the advantages in labor cost,Chinese sports goods producers have to upgradetheir industrial structure.Li Ning, Anta and other Chinese sportsbrands should design more function-specificclothes and shoes, according to Weijishan, chairmanof the World Federation of Sports GoodsIndustry. Currently, the Chinese market doesnot have a huge demand of functional clothesand shoes, which are often expensive. However,with the growth of the economy, people will havemore professional needs and function-specificproducts will be in need. He added that he wasglad to see the growing popularity of mass sportsin China.47