Fitness equipment produced in Ningjin, a small county in Dezhou City of east China's Shandong Province, has become the country's largest commercial fitness equipment production base nationwide, with the advantages of a complete and mature industrial chain.
At present, there are nearly 3,000 sports equipment companies in Ningjin, with an annual output value of 13.9 billion yuan (about 1.93 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024 and more than 40,000 employees. The county has gained more than 70 percent of the domestic market share, and its products are exported to more than 170 countries and regions around the world.
In the county's industrial park, every corner is busy with foreign procurement, new product launches, research and recruitment, and orders from leading firms have already been scheduled until August this year.
In the production workshop of MBH Fitness, workers and more than 300 robots are busy producing treadmills through welding, spraying, and assembly processes.
High self-production rate is a common feature of local sports equipment companies, according to industrial insiders.
"A total of 95 percent of important parts are produced locally. From order placement to delivery, it takes only half an hour to get to our factory warehouse," said Liu Xinli, general manager of MBH Fitness.
Ningjin has formulated a full industrial chain of designing, developing, manufacturing, packaging and selling, and a full set of accessories of various kinds of fitness equipment can be collected within half an hour.
"The upstream and downstream of the industrial chain are complete. Some companies have stepped up research and development in response to market demand and have produced snowmobiles, simulated ice and other ice and snow equipment. Our industrial categories are increasing," said Zhang Qiang, director of Education and Sports Development Center of Ningjin County.
The fitness equipment produced in the county has also won recognition overseas. In addition to actively participating in international fitness exhibitions, local companies have also set up showrooms in their own factories to display fitness equipment to overseas customers.
Recently, DHZ Fitness Equipment received customers from Brazil. They are old patrons who come to purchase twice a year. Each time, they visit Ningjin and surrounding industrial parks of all sizes to inspect new products and negotiate orders, and often stay for a month.
"Every year, when I come here, these guys show up with a lot of different things, different solutions. We've seen some new machines, even for your house, to use in your home," said Daniel, a fitness equipment buyer from Brazil.
At present, the company's daily production capacity is about 1,300 units, and their sales in the first quarter exceeded 200 million yuan.
Among them, domestic sales increased by 90 percent year on year, and foreign sales increased by 40 percent, according to Liu, adding that the company is currently expanding a new exhibition hall covering an area of 10,000 square meters to reserve space for larger domestic and foreign markets.
Fitness equipment producer in Shandong county enjoy order boom with complete industrial chain
