China: The bearing industry keeps rapid growth

Recently, the statistics of China Bearing Industry Association (CBIA) and the investigation of bearing industry all showed that the bearing industry of China is keeping rapid growth. CBIA has more than 107 advanced bearing manufacturers as its members, the investigation result represented almost half of total export volume of trade. The time was from Jan, 2003 to May ,2003. During the period manufacturers announced their output was 4.98 billion units, increased 10% compared to 2002.In fact, sales volume was 4.83 billion units, also increased 8%. Corporations announced the export volume was 1.85 billion units, increased 4.5% compared to 2002. While consumer market of China increased more than 10%¡ª29.8 billion units. For the combination of all types of bearing, the average sales price was 15.8 RMB/unit (1.91$/unit), compared to 13.6 RMB/unit (1.64$/unit)in 2002,the increased volume reached more than 35%. Estimated by the government that the output of 2005 would reaches 5 billion units.