COVID-19 is Disrupting Global Bike Manufacturing

Last month, Coronavirus (COVID-19) wreaked havoc amongst supply chains operating in East Asia, particularly China, where a large percentage of bikes and e-bikes are still produced. By late March, it seems that the COVID-19 figures in East Asia have plateaued while Europe and North America figures are now growing exponentially.

Due to the mandatory shut down of many factories, the bike manufacturing industry will be significantly affected. At the same time, with brands from Europe and America under forced shut down, trade has come full stop and even factories that are still producing will have trouble collecting payments prior to shipment. At the same time, Taiwan has announced this week that it will ban the entry of all foreign nationals as a means to stem the spread of COVID-19. As a result the rescheduled 2020 Taipei Cycle Show and TAISPO have again officially been cancelled.

Perhaps the most alarming issue is the amount of delays that will build up. Shimano has just announced a few days ago that it will shut down production in various Southeast Asia facilities including Malaysia and the Philippines. Such a delay will cause many production planning to come to a halt for at least several months.

Down the road, depending on how long the COVID-19 will affect the European and North American countries, it is likely to see many more events cancelled. At the same time, if Asian countries are able to stem the spread of COVID-19 from travelers coming to Asia, manufacturing can at least resume in various countries. Their production however, will heavily rely on their customers having the financial capital to pay for product and arrange for sales and distribution in Europe, America, and the rest of the world.