Sporting goods go beyond fun and games

The manufacturer produces 10 major categories of fitness equipment, including more than 600 varieties for both household and commercial use.

Its aerobic equipment includes fitness bikes, elliptical machines, spinning bikes, treadmills, rowing machines and step machines. Anaerobic equipment includes professional strength building-related equipment for middle-aged and senior consumers.

"Compared with local products overseas, our products boast higher quality and more reasonable prices. We basically export products to overseas agents and they will sell them locally, mainly to gyms," said Wei Qifan, special assistant to the general manager of Xiamen K-Power Sports.

"This year, we have seen higher export volumes of products to Europe, North America and Australia, and we mainly target the gym community. In particular, sales of stair climbers, commercially used exercise bikes and rowing machines jumped 5 to 10 percent year-on-year," Wei said.

Wei added that it's important for the company to maintain its client base and foster more new customers, and it will make more efforts to boost domestic and international sales simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Xiamen Xinkai Composite Materials Technology Co Ltd, a contract processing firm that helps manufacture products for renowned global firms, said all of its products, such as carbon fiber tennis rackets, have been exported overseas.

Leveraging the combined positive impact of multiple major sports events such as the Paris Olympics, the French Open and the Wimbledon championships, the company expects order volumes of its products — such as tennis rackets, bicycles and other sports products — to increase in the latter half.

Tennis has garnered wider attention in China after Chinese tennis player Zheng Qinwen made history by defeating Croatia's Donna Vekic and clinching the gold medal for women's singles at the Paris Olympic Games.

Xiamen Xinkai said that thanks to the huge popularity of the rising tennis star, the company believes that playing tennis is expected to become more commonplace in China, which will help drive sales of tennis rackets.

"We are bullish on the sales growth potential of tennis rackets in China, but we don't have plans to expand production capacity for now," said Chen Lizhan, manager of the management department at Xiamen Xinkai.

Tongda Smart Tech (Xiamen) Co Ltd, another manufacturer of sporting goods in Xiamen, has also seen its export business grow. The company's products cover more than 40 categories such as jump ropes, silicone water bottles, ice skates and archery gear.

Besides developing organically, the company cooperates with French sporting goods retailer Decathlon to jointly develop and design some products such as bluetooth intelligent jumping ropes, grips, luminous and windproof badminton equipment, and other products popular among consumers.

In the first quarter, the export value of sporting goods and equipment from Tongda Smart Tech jumped by 46 percent year-on-year, the company said.

In response to this year's growing export volume of fitness-related products, local Customs bureaus have established a specialized services counter to help resolve related issues. Xiamen Customs said it has continued to optimize its daily 24-hour appointment services for Customs clearance, and helped exporters achieve on-demand inspections upon arrival.

In addition, Xiamen Customs has launched various explanatory sessions for domestic companies to help them boost exports.

"Customs officials have introduced China's preferential trade agreement policies with other countries and regions to help guide domestic fitness equipment manufacturers clear Customs smoothly and enhance their competitiveness in exporting," Zheng of Xiamen Jitong Customs said.