According to the General Administration of Customs (GAC) for the People's Republic of China, the country's bearing manufacturers exported over 162 million sets in May 2002.

Those 162.2 million sets had a total manufacturer's export value of USD $54.6 million.

For the first five months of 2002 - January through May - the GAC reports 683.85 million sets were exported, down 0.6% from the same period in 2001.

The value of those five months' shipments, however, fell over 4.3% from 2001, to USD $236.7 million.

These official reports bolster other analyst findings that China's bearing manufacturers have been fighting the worldwide economic downturn with pricing. Aggressive price cuts have allowed China's bearing manufacturers to not only keep volumes high but also capture additional market share.