China Sees Rapid Growth of Sporting Goods Exports

The exports of China's sporting goods and equipment surged 16.7 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2024, outpacing the overall export growth during the same period by a whopping 9.8 percentage points, according to data recently released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Data from the World Trade Organization showed that global trade in sporting goods has nearly tripled in almost 30 years, and China has become the world's top exporter of sporting goods.

In the first quarter of 2024, China's exports of footballs, basketballs, and volleyballs saw a year-on-year increase of 33.57 percent in volume and 17.99 percent in value, while that of table tennis, badminton, and tennis equipment increased 0.93 percent from the same period last year to $204 million, according to GAC data.

In addition, treadmill exports jumped by 44.94 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, while artificial turf exports grew by 15.64 percent from the same period last year.

To boost the pace of "going global," Chinese sporting goods companies need to rely on greener sporting goods with higher technological content, said Bao Mingxiao, director of the China Sports Policy Research Institute at Beijing Sport University.