By Guo Xiaolong, Dou Hao, People’s Daily
Driven by surging interest in winter sports, China’s winter sports equipment industry has expanded rapidly in recent years. Supported by a maturing industrial ecosystem, Chinese manufacturers continue to deliver high-quality products and steadily strengthen their competitiveness and brand recognition in overseas markets.
Customs data reveal that since the latter half of 2025, China’s exports of ice skates to Central and Eastern Europe and ski apparel to North America have recorded double-digit growth. Globally, Chinese ice and snow equipment is gaining broader acceptance and increasing trust among consumers.
This trend was on evident at the Harbin International Ice and Snow Economy Expo 2026. At a booth from Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, Belarusian ski enthusiast Sergeyevich examined a pair of competition skis. “They offer better responsiveness in turns, improved flex, and rebound — comparable to leading international brands.”
According to Li Zhibo, general manager of the exhibitor, this pair of skis, emblazoned with a five-star red flag, were developed for the Chinese national aerial skiing team. The product has passed four rounds of rigorous testing and is expected to appear at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
The skis utilize aerospace-grade composite materials and precision 3D printing technology, achieving superior toughness-to-weight ratios at half the cost of comparable imports. Its R&D team adjusts core materials to match athlete’s power application and technique, shifting from “athlete adapts to equipment” to “equipment adapts to athlete.” This ensures top-tier performance, with multiple technical metrics meeting leading international standards.
“Using equipment development for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics as a springboard, we plan to expand into elite-grade snowboards and alpine skis, so that our homegrown products can gain traction both on the global circuit and and in overseas markets,” said Li.
Not just skis — Chinese-made ski poles are also gaining popularity among international consumers.
At the showcase of Ninghai Better Outdoor Products Co., Ltd. (Better) in Ninghai county, Ningbo, east China’s Zhejiang province, a wide variety of ski poles are displayed — foldable, telescopic, ultra-lightweight.
A training pole designed for beginner alpine skiers has emerged as a star product, especially popular overseas. Exceptionally light and constructed from aerospace-grade aluminum alloy, each pole weighs under 200 grams. Besides, it offers reliable stability, featuring an ergonomically designed grip made from a special anti-slip material that ensures a firm hold even when wearing gloves.
“To align with European and American consumers, we enlarged the grip size and refined the telescopic mechanism,” said Guo Jinlong, the company’s foreign trade manager. During the 2025 snow season, overseas orders for this model exceeded 400,000 pairs, a 30 percent increase from a year ago.
The company currently exports over 5 million pairs of sports poles annually, primarily to Europe and North America, and is actively expanding into new markets, including South American countries like Chile and Colombia.
Better is not alone in Ninghai. In fact, about 70 percent of China’s exported ski poles originate from this county. Centered around products like ski poles, the local winter sports equipment industry has built a complete supply chain covering tubing, locks, grips, and assembly, with an annual output value approaching 1 billion yuan ($143.96 million).
Today, the journey from an aluminum alloy tube to a finished ski pole can be completed entirely within the county. “We can deliver a sample from a client’s idea in just seven days and move into mass production within 30,” said Zhu Xuefeng, the company’s general manager.
Thanks to a well-developed industrial cluster and highly efficient, flexible production systems, manufacturers in Ninghai maintain robust capacity and a strong price-performance advantage. For comparable performance, Better’s offerings are priced at around 60 percent of what European or American brands charge.
To succeed in global markets, products must align with international rules and practices. Customs officials frequently visit factories during peak seasons to expedite clearance, offering technical guidance, establishing priority clearance channels for ski equipment exports, and providing compliance briefings to help companies navigate regulatory risks.
“To help enterprises seize opportunities and expand international markets, we actively promote customs clearance models like ‘advance declaration’ and implement facilitation measures to accelerate processing and reduce costs,” said Tian Mingchao, an official with Ningbo Customs.
