As pickleball becomes increasingly popular, its market demand continues to expand, and China has become one of the world's largest producers of pickleball equipment. According to the "China Pickleball Sports Survey Report," there are approximately 300 companies in China currently producing pickleball-related products, and this number is growing rapidly. These companies mainly produce rackets, nets, and other equipment, and many internationally renowned brands have their products manufactured in China. However, domestic consumption of pickleball equipment has not yet kept pace, and the products are primarily sold to overseas markets.
The first China Pickleball Tournament – Jiangxi Shangyou Station – was held on-site. In recent years, domestic pickleball equipment brands have also begun to emerge.
Ren Maocheng, General Manager of the Badminton and Tennis Division of Li Ning (China) Sports Goods Co., Ltd., explained that although the Chinese pickleball equipment market is still in its early stages of development, the potential market demand is huge due to increasing social awareness. Li Ning has launched a full range of professional pickleball products and is actively promoting the sport through competitions.
Ren Maocheng said, "In North America, the market size of pickleball-related products is growing at an annual rate of nearly 30%. In China, pickleball, as an emerging sport, started later, but its popularity is growing significantly faster. The annual growth rate of the Chinese pickleball equipment market is estimated to be between 20% and 25%."
(Image caption: Some pickleball sports products showcased at the 2024 Li-Ning Company order fair) While the equipment manufacturing industry is developing rapidly, there is still considerable room for growth in the popularity of pickleball in China.
Zhang Yan stated that in Shanghai, the growth rate of pickleball participants is far slower than the opening rate of new courts. Some courts attract customers with low-price or free trials, leading to cost pressures on clubs. Zhou Bei believes that the current number of pickleball courts in Beijing is far from meeting the demand, often resulting in the embarrassing situation of "it's hard to find a court."
On one hand, the number of participants is insufficient to support the operation of the courts; on the other hand, the shortage of courts cannot meet the demand for the sport. Regarding the supply-demand mismatch caused by uneven regional development, Wang Yun stated that the China Pickleball Sports Working Committee will further promote infrastructure construction, encourage qualified regions and enterprises to build or renovate pickleball venues, strive to build a certain number of pickleball venues in key cities of each province (autonomous region, municipality), and explore the construction of pickleball facilities in parks, squares, and communities to drive public participation through venue construction and promote balanced development of the sport.
Promoting Pickleball in Commercial Areas "The popularization of pickleball will drive the continuous development and expansion of the pickleball industry, forming a complete industrial chain," said Wang Yun. "We will fully utilize China's advantages in pickleball equipment production to create an industrial model with Chinese characteristics, achieving integrated development of pickleball with tourism, culture, education, media, and other fields."
