118th Canton Fair Live: African sourcing motorcycle from China

For most African, automobile is considered luxury item to afford, hence motorcycles become local residents’ best choice. At the 118^th Canton Fair, many African customers are spotted at motorcycle booths for export business.

Statistics show that China is the top exporter of motorcycles to Nigeria - one of the biggest economy in Africa – the country has exported over 790,000 motorcycles to Nigeria that hits 38.3 million US dollars, which composes 10.22% of the total amounts of exported motorcycles and 9.21% of the total export revenue.

Mario, an Italian buyer told us at the Fair that, Italy produces various types of high quality motorcycles while the price is relatively high. Since motorcycles made in China has a certain market share in the middle and low-end market, Mario intends to purchase and import diesel motorcycle from Canton Fair to Italy and then export to Africa.

To compete in the global market, a number of domestic motorcycle companies are trying to build up strong international brand image. Lv Yanjun, the Overseas Business Manager of Qingqi, a motorcycle company in Jinan city, told us that their company has invested a lot of money on product innovation and won good reputation in Southeast Asia market for their motorcycles. However, with the influx of other Chinese products and the following price war, Qinqi Company was forced to adjust their sales strategy and switch to developed markets like Europe and the United States, where the product quality is paid more attention than the price.

To expand into international market, China’s motorcycle companies are expected to devise a global strategy, maintain competitive pricing while at the same time bringing innovation into the products to become globally competitive.