ski equipment

At present, China imports different kinds of sporting goods. The two leading categories of imported sporting goods are ski equipment and golf equipment. Imports of ski equipment have dropped sharply since 1991 onward, due partly to the chronic economic recession and partly to the end of the skiing boom. Recent times have seen imports fluctuate around the same low level without making any headway. After a mild recovery in 1999, imports of ski equipment fell again for four straight years, falling to approximately ¥13.5 billion (down 20.6％ from the year before) in 2003. They fell by an even larger margin than in the past, as imports shrank to just 62％ of their size in 1999. The decline was especially steep for name brand products from Austria, France and Italy, products that had been preeminent in the market. By product category, ¥7.13 billion for ski, ¥2.83 billion for ski boots, ¥2.49 billion for ski bindings, and ¥1.05 billion for other ski equipment. All ski equipment was considerably down from the year before on both a volume and a value basis.