How much is the bike industry worth?

Banca Ifis analyzed the Italian bicycle ecosystem, a supply chain of around 2900 companies with 17 thousand employees, showing mind-boggling figures.

The two-wheeler industry has reached a value of approximately 9 billion euros in our beautiful country.

The passion for cycling, therefore, remains a great Italian cornerstone and is destined to grow.

The sector has only experienced a decline in more recent years which was recorded approximately from the 1990s to 2017, when many companies decided to relocate their production chains.

This choice was the result of a decline in domestic demand, which has grown exponentially in recent years.

From 2018 to today, therefore well before the arrival of the pandemic that hit the entire world, Italian production has recorded a +20%, especially thanks to the great diffusion of the e-bike driven, in turn, by new policies to promote cycling mobility and by greater attention to the creation of new infrastructures suitable for cycling and by environmental policies.

In the two-year period 2021-2022 the bike industry expects an increase in revenues.

These signs of growth are due, in addition to the various proposals at national level for the implementation of cycle paths and velo stations, also to the technological wave.

In 2020, in fact, Italy produced 3 million bikes.

The next step will be to direct PNRR funding towards a further push for the creation of infrastructure dedicated to mobility.

Companies included in the sector include bicycle manufacturing machinery manufacturers (5%), bicycle and component manufacturers (21%) and wholesale distributors, retailers and rental companies (74%).

These reside mainly in Lombardy (22%), Veneto (19%), Piedmont (14%) and Emilia Romagna (10%).

A very important issue is that of imports, especially with regards to components: more than half of the manufacturers and wholesalers, in fact, import material from abroad.

The latest problems with the supply of raw materials have led to major delays in the manufacturers' roadmap, pushing them to return to producing components in Europe.

However, innovation continues and is destined to grow over time: in 2020 the 90% of Italian manufacturers increased or left the share allocated to investments unchanged.

Among these, the world of digital, sustainability and research stand out as relevant.

Always according to the research of Ifis Bank for the near future the 45% of entrepreneurs will expand the reference markets with a 29% which will tend to renew the offer of products and services.

The eBike drives the bike market and there is no doubt about this: in the last 5 years, in fact, sales have quadrupled, going from around 50,000 bikes per year to over 280,000 in 2020, equal to 14% of the total sold.

According to the manufacturers 90%, the eBike is and will be a real one lasting revolution in mobility, also thanks to incentives and research and innovation, which always lead to the creation of lighter and more performing models.