Analysis and Studies - Products analysis
Tennis balls: import and export
January 17th 2023
Back in the 12th century, French people started to play a game called “tenez”, the earliest version of today’s Tennis. Part of the Olympic Games, this sport has now become popular all over the world and it is played by people of all ages and skill levels.
There are a few game tools that are crucial to play tennis: rackets, balls, a net and a court.
The history of tennis balls goes back to over 700 years ago. Before the modern game of tennis, people used to play a game called Real Tennis, which used balls made of cork, fabric, and even animal intestines.
In the 1870s, rubber balls were introduced, and were eventually covered in flannel, which made playing better. During World War II, companies replaced rubber with reclaimed rubber and black seams, due to its shortage. It was in the 1972 that the traditional white balls were replaced with fluorescent yellow ones for better visibility on TV.
Today, tennis balls come in different sizes for different levels of play, and they’re mostly, but not only, produced in the Far East. In fact, in 2020 the top exporters of tennis balls were Thailand ($89.9M), China ($69.2M), Philippines ($28M), France ($18.2M), and Germany ($15.5M). In the same year, United States ($51.1M), Germany ($29.5M), France ($22.4M), Japan ($17M), and Spain ($15.3M) were the top importers.
The total trade of this playing tool represents 0.0015% of total world trade. In 2020, tennis balls were the world's 3337th most traded product, with a total trade of $255M, which marked a decrease of -8.12% from the $278M total of 2019.
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