Market evolution: Other sports equipment (CN 950699) — 2015–2025

Introduction

This report examines the evolution of EU trade in products classified under customs code CN 950699 — a residual category covering articles and equipment for sport and outdoor games not elsewhere specified, as well as swimming and paddling pools. It is the broadest sub-heading within CN 9506, encompassing everything from fitness accessories and camping gear to garden pools, making it a useful barometer of consumer trends in leisure and physical activity.

Over the 2015–2025 period, three dynamics dominated the EU's trade in this product. First, an extraordinary pandemic-era import surge — driven by the home-fitness and outdoor-recreation boom — was followed by an equally sharp correction in 2023. Second, EU exports grew steadily and substantially, with the United States emerging as the most dynamic destination and domestic production more than doubling. Third, China's dominance as a supplier deepened during the crisis years and was accompanied by a severe price shock in 2022, highlighting persistent supply-chain concentration risks. By 2025, the trade deficit had narrowed considerably relative to its pandemic peak, but the structural reliance on Chinese manufacturing remained firmly in place.

1. The Pandemic Boom and Its Abrupt Reversal

A stable pre-pandemic baseline gave way to an extraordinary demand shock

Between 2015 and 2019, EU extra-EU imports of CN 950699 grew at a moderate pace, with import values rising from €894 million to approximately €1,033 million and volumes expanding from 173,750 t to roughly 229,000 t. Unit import prices actually declined during this period, from around €5,144/t to €4,497/t, reflecting the competitive pricing of Asian suppliers and the secular decline in manufacturing costs.

The COVID-19 pandemic then triggered an unprecedented demand surge. Confined to their homes and with limited access to gyms and organised sport, European consumers turned en masse to home fitness, outdoor recreation, and garden swimming pools. Import volumes climbed sharply, peaking at 372,121 t in 2021 — more than double the 2019 level. Import values followed suit, reaching €1,608 million in 2021 and a record €1,851 million in 2022, as surging freight costs and supply-chain disruptions pushed unit prices higher.

The 2023 correction was as dramatic as the preceding boom

The unwinding was abrupt. By 2023, EU imports of CN 950699 collapsed to €945 million in value and just 149,995 t in volume — the lowest quantity in the entire 2015–2025 window and a decline of over 50% from the 2021 peak. The correction reflected a combination of inventory destocking by EU importers, normalisation of consumer demand as lockdowns ended, and the inflationary squeeze on household budgets across Europe. By 2025, imports had partially recovered to €1,009 million and 182,810 t — broadly back to their pre-pandemic trajectory, suggesting the boom was a temporary displacement rather than a structural shift in demand.

The trade deficit followed a pronounced boom-and-bust cycle

The EU has consistently run a trade deficit in CN 950699, reflecting its reliance on extra-EU (predominantly Asian) manufacturing. The deficit widened steadily from €374 million in 2015 to €451 million in 2019, then surged during the pandemic:

The deficit peaked at over €1.06 billion in 2022 — nearly three times its 2015 level — before collapsing to just €172 million in 2023. By 2025, at €208 million, the deficit had narrowed by 44.5% relative to its 2015 starting point. Net import reliance — which had spiked to 34.1% at its peak — fell back to 8.8% by 2025.

2. The EU's Steady Rise as an Exporter of Sports Equipment

EU exports grew consistently, unaffected by the import-side volatility

In contrast to the dramatic swings on the import side, EU extra-EU exports of CN 950699 followed a steady upward trajectory throughout the decade. Total export value grew from €520 million in 2015 to €802 million in 2025 — a cumulative increase of 54.3%. Volumes rose from 72,355 t to 101,674 t (+40.5%), while unit export prices edged up 9.8%, from €7,182/t to €7,885/t.

Notably, EU exports command a significant price premium over imports — roughly 43% higher on a per-tonne basis in 2025 (€7,885/t vs. €5,521/t). This is consistent with the EU specialising in higher-value, branded, or technically differentiated sporting goods, while importing mass-market products manufactured at lower cost in Asia.

The United States became the EU's most dynamic export market

The most striking geographic shift was the surge in exports to the United States. US-bound shipments more than doubled from €57 million to €141 million (+148.6%), making the US the EU's second-largest export destination after the United Kingdom. Other fast-growing markets included Australia (+60.5%), Switzerland (+41.4%), and China (+38.3%), while exports to Japan declined modestly (−10.8%).

Czechia and Spain emerged as the EU's fastest-growing exporters

Among EU member states, the traditional exporting powers — Italy, Germany, and France — continued to dominate in absolute terms. However, the fastest growth came from Czechia (+141.7%, from €38 million to €92 million) and Spain (+130.0%, from €30 million to €69 million). By 2025, Czechia had overtaken France to become the EU's fourth-largest exporter of CN 950699. Specialisation data confirms Czechia's revealed comparative advantage in this product (RSCA of 0.42), alongside Latvia, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

Domestic production more than doubled, reinforcing export capacity

The expansion of exports was underpinned by a substantial increase in EU domestic production. Production value rose from €858 million in 2015 to €2,021 million in 2025 — a 135.6% increase that significantly outpaced the growth of imports over the same period. Export propensity — the share of EU production exported to non-EU markets — climbed from 30.3% to 37.2%, indicating that EU manufacturers increasingly oriented their output toward extra-EU markets. Overall trade intensity also rose, from 51.5% to 57.3%, confirming that the EU market for sports equipment became more open and globally integrated over the decade.

3. China's Dominance, the 2022 Price Shock, and Supply-Chain Risk

China's share of EU imports remained overwhelming — and grew during the pandemic

Throughout 2015–2025, China was by far the EU's largest source of imports of CN 950699. Chinese shipments accounted for €600 million (roughly 67% of total extra-EU imports) in 2015 and reached a peak of approximately €1,467 million during the pandemic years. By 2025, China's share stood at €725 million — around 72% of all extra-EU imports in this category, a higher proportion than at the start of the decade.

Other suppliers grew from low bases but remained far behind: EU imports from India rose 88.1% (to €16 million), from Pakistan 52.2% (to €25 million), and from Taiwan were broadly flat (−4.3%, at €25 million). Imports from the United Kingdom (−31.9%) and the United States (−34.5%) both declined, partly reflecting the post-Brexit trade reorientation and the shift of sourcing toward lower-cost Asian producers.

A major price shock hit EU–China trade in 2022

The year 2022 saw a severe price shock in EU imports from China. Import unit prices from China surged by 33.2% in a single year, with an abnormality score of 8.1 — the highest detected in the dataset. This shock contributed to a sharp increase in overall EU import prices for CN 950699, which rose from around €4,311/t in 2021 to €5,617/t in 2022 and peaked at €6,301/t in 2023.

The likely causes were a combination of elevated global shipping costs, the lingering effects of China's zero-COVID policy on production and logistics, and broader inflationary pressures across commodity and energy markets. A comparable price shock was detected on the export side: EU export prices to the United States jumped by 33.6% in 2022 (abnormality 5.7), suggesting that cost pressures were at least partially passed through to downstream markets.

Import price volatility varied considerably by partner. Pakistan (coefficient of variation 0.09) and Taiwan (CV 0.20) showed the most stable import prices, while Vietnam (CV 0.65) and Hong Kong (CV 0.58) were the most volatile — partly because smaller trade volumes amplify the effect of year-to-year fluctuations.

Import concentration remains elevated despite a narrowing deficit

Despite the narrowing trade deficit and rising domestic production, the EU's import concentration in CN 950699 remains structurally elevated. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) by import value stood at 5,281 in 2025, having risen 13.2% from 4,666 in 2015. An HHI above 2,500 is generally considered indicative of a highly concentrated market; at over 5,000, EU imports in this category are firmly in the highly concentrated range.

The export side is markedly more diversified, with an HHI of just 853 by value in 2025. However, concentration by export volume increased more steeply (+44.1%), suggesting that while EU exports reach a broad range of value-destinations, physical shipments have become somewhat more geographically concentrated.

Net import reliance fell from 11.9% in 2015 to 8.8% in 2025, a 25.6% improvement. However, this metric partly reflects the surge in domestic production (from €858 million to over €2 billion) rather than a true diversification of import sources. The fundamental structure of EU import dependence on China has not materially changed over the decade.

Conclusion

The EU market for CN 950699 — articles and equipment for sport, outdoor games, and swimming pools — underwent a dramatic cyclical journey between 2015 and 2025. The COVID-19 pandemic created an extraordinary demand shock that more than doubled import volumes within two years, before an equally abrupt correction in 2023 brought trade flows back close to their pre-pandemic trajectory. The trade deficit, which peaked at over €1 billion in 2022, narrowed to €208 million by 2025.

Beneath this cyclical volatility, several structural shifts took hold. EU exports grew by 54% over the decade, powered by strong gains from Italy, Germany, Czechia, and Spain, and by surging demand from the United States (+148.6%). Domestic production more than doubled, and the EU's export orientation strengthened markedly. These developments point to a European sports equipment sector that has become more competitive and outward-looking.

Yet significant risks remain. China continues to supply roughly 70% of the EU's extra-EU imports in this category, and the import-side HHI stands well above conventional thresholds for market concentration. The 2022 price shock demonstrated how vulnerable the EU is to supply-chain disruptions originating in a single country. Going forward, the key question is whether the gains in domestic production capacity and export diversification can be sustained — and whether they will be sufficient to reduce the EU's structural exposure to a concentrated and occasionally volatile supply chain.