Bicycles have become the latest hit imports from China in European and U.S. markets following the popularity of face masks, toilet paper, and respirators, Chinanews.com reported.

Chinese bicycles targeting the Spanish market were almost sold out on AliExpress. (Data from AliExpress)

Bike stores in the U.S. are struggling to keep up with demand, with low-priced bicycles being quickly snapped up, according to foreign media and cross-border e-commerce platforms.

Data from American market research company NPD Group, Inc. showed that sales of basic leisure bikes in the U.S. grew 121 percent year on year last March, while sales of electric, commuter and fitness bikes, as well as children’s bikes, rose by 85 percent, 66 percent, and 59 percent respectively.

Bicycles are also becoming increasingly popular in European markets. Italy has approved a bike subsidy of up to 60 percent for the cost of a bike, which translates into as much as 500 euros for consumers.

Financial support from the government has also allowed French employers to provide 400 euros of travel subsidy for staff members who commute by bike.

The UK government also announced last month that it will spend 2 billion pounds to build more spaces for cyclists and pedestrians to relieve the pressure on public transportation systems in big cities.

These moves have led to a rapid surge in China’s bicycle exports.

French citizens ride bikes on the first weekend since the country lifted the lockdown across the country, May 17. (Photo by Li Yang/Chinanews.com)

According to data from AliExpress, Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce platform, the value of Chinese bicycle sales in the Spanish market rose over 22 times last May compared with the same period last year.

The sales value of bicycles made in China grew by around four times year on year during the same month in Italy and the UK, the data indicated.

On AliExpress, Chinese bicycles targeting the Spanish market have almost sold out, according to Chinanews.com, indicating that there are only 53 left in stock and their prices ranged from $7,600 to $14,113.

Skyrocketing orders for bicycles have resulted in many new players seeking to enter China’s bicycle industry.

The country has more than 510,000 companies whose scope of business includes bicycles, with many located in south China’s Guangdong province, east China’s Jiangsu province, Zhejiang province, Shandong province, and Fujian province, as shown by data from TianYanCha.com, China’s online query platform for enterprise information.

From January to May, China’s industrial and commercial registration bureaus saw over 50,000 newly registered bicycle-related companies, representing year-on-year growth of 41.1 percent.

The number of newly registered companies engaging in business connected to bicycle manufacturing rose by 135.4 percent in March alone from the same period last year, making it the month with the highest growth rate of newly registered bicycle-related companies.

The number of newly established bicycle-related enterprises in China reached 15,000 in April, representing the largest number of newly established companies in the industry since the beginning of the year.