News: Value increase in cycle imports attributed to e-bikes, say BA

[Pedelecs]

The Bicycle Association, the UK’s cycle industry trade body, this week released the latest UK import and export data to its members, which shows the average imported unit value rising markedly due to the increased demand and cost of electric bikes, compared to ordinary cycles.

The BA say the “value of imported e-bikes is still on a significant upward trajectory” with electric bikes representing 7% of the total value of all bikes imported to the UK in 2016.

Full story: http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/news/increase-cycle-imports-attributed-e-bikes-ba/

 

[Woosh]

electric bikes representing 7% of the total value of all bikes imported to the UK in 2016.

7% in value, would that be less than 3% in units?

As the average e-bike costs more than double a normal bike, I am not surprised at the slow progress in the uptake of e-bikes in the UK.

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

The Bicycle Association just used numbers given to them by various brands to try and build up a representative picture.

If you want a more accurate number I suspect HMRC's data might be better, as they record how many bikes were imported into the UK, and what their value was.

The figures, which come from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), reveal that unit imports fell by nearly 11 per cent during the year to 3.1 million, down from 3.5 million in 2015.

So the number of units dropped quit a bit, but:

In terms of value, imports held up rather better, falling 1.5 per cent from £389 million to £383 million, which Bike Europe (link is external) – which describes the decline in volume as “unexpected” – says suggests that premium products are outperforming the market as a whole.

 

[Woosh]

so as an estimate, 7% of £383 mil = £27 mil. import value for e-bikes.
imports from outside the EU: 87% in units
imports from inside the EU: 13% in units
is there a way of looking up import statistics for single product code?

My rough estimate: about 55,000 units at £500 per unit.

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

imports from outside the EU: 87% in units
imports from inside the EU: 13% in units

Where did you get this split from?

But in answer to the question, no I don't think you can look things up by single product code.

 

[Woosh]

from your link.

http://www.bike-eu.com/sales-trends/nieuws/2017/3/unexpected-decline-in-uk-bicycle-imports-10129231

A breakdown of 2016 total import units show that 87% came from outside the EU and 13% from inside the EU. Around 90% of non-EU imports originated in ‘Asia and Oceania’ according to the HMRC figures.

I have just signed up with uktradeinfo.com (run by HMRC) to get some stats but have not got time to do any digging yet.