Bike Europe: Lithuania is becoming the center of European bicycle production

 "Bike Europe, the leading publication of the bicycle business, also paid attention to Lithuania. According to the magazine, the factory being built by Pon Holding in the Kėdainių LEZ allows Lithuania to be on the map of the most important bicycle manufacturers.

 

Not so long ago, the Lithuanian bicycle industry was made famous by a single company. Baltik Vairas, founded in the Soviet era, began to take the lead in the international bicycle industry only after 2013 it was taken over by the Danish investor Niels Peter Preztmann and the Lithuanian capital fund "LIT Capital".

 

  The next step was taken when Pon Holdings decided to transfer part of its production to Baltik Vairas. During the many years of close cooperation between Pon and Baltik Vairas, the Dutch manufacturer must have seen the potential of the country as its next production base, the business publication writes.

 

In addition to these two companies, Chinese investor Steve Zhu of Nantong Dingyu Vehicle Industry decided to open a production base in Lithuania because of its convenient location between his bicycle frame factory near Shanghai, China, and major markets in Europe. The assembly plant was opened after the 2019 The European Union has imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made electric bicycles.

 

"Invest in Lithuania" confirmed to the publication that it aims to activate bicycle production alongside the automobile industry, which is already strongly developed in Lithuania.

 

The Nordic countries and Germany have always been important investors in Lithuania, but the country is also moving towards foreign direct investment from the USA and Asia. Taiwan and its bicycle components industry are also in Lithuania's sights.

 

"This small Baltic state has many advantages over others as a Taiwanese investment base," Bike Europe quotes Waylen Yeh, a Taiwanese investor in Lithuania. in 2020 he founded Fortress Factoring, a financial services company between Taiwan and Central and Eastern Europe that deals with emerging issues such as credit guarantees, factoring and debt collection.

 

In addition to the LEZs and tax benefits established in Lithuania, the authors of the article also distinguish the local Lithuanian market.

 

In 2021 a total of 113,000 bicycles were sold in Lithuania - both conventional and electric. On average, a mechanical bicycle was sold for 200 EUR, and an electric bicycle for 1,650 EUR.

 

According to Bike Europe, this shows that the penetration of bicycles in Lithuania is low, and the potential is only growing with the implementation of more and more infrastructure projects in cities."