China reports bearing exports for 2002

China Reports Bearing Exports for 2002 The General Administration of Customs, Peoples Republic of China, reported bearing exports for December 2002 and for the full year 2002. In 2002, the PRC exported 1.72 billion finished bearings, up 12.7% from 1.53 billion sets in 2001. Separately, the agency reported December 2002 exports hit 168.4 million sets, worth USD $60.4 million. At that rate, the PRC is on track to increase its bearing exports by more than 18% in 2003, to over 2 billion sets, worth more than $725 million. While the official count shows strong growth, the actual volumes are likely much higher -- the PRC has been widely criticized for under-reporting its actual export volumes of bearings and other commodity and semi-commodity goods. Note also that the counts include only bearings shipped separately, not including those shipped as components of other finished goods such as drawer slides, roller blades, electric motors (26 million in December 2002 alone), appliances and other mechanical devices.