MORE than a year after China started letting its currency climb against the US dollar, the nation is a bigger force in exports than ever, adding to its dominance as a trading power and complicating efforts by other nations to wrest away manufacturing jobs.
The latest evidence of China's prowess came yesterday, when it reported that exports hit $US162 billion ($151bn) in June and $US874bn in the first half of the year, both records and up nearly 20 per cent from the year-earlier periods.
The growth, which came despite economic difficulties in key markets like the US and Europe and supply-chain disruptions in Japan, is bound to boost pressure from the US and others on Beijing to let the yuan appreciate further and faster.
China's closely watched trade surplus for June widened to more than $US22bn, from $US13bn in May, figures which indicate a lack of progress toward the Group of 20 nations' goal of rebalancing global growth. China's trade surplus for the first half of the year, though, was down 18 per cent, reflecting its increased buying of raw materials used in infrastructure projects, which sent the value of imports up even faster than exports.
The export performance comes despite rising costs for Chinese manufacturers, which are dealing with the highest inflation in three years, government-directed wage increases and a yuan that has strengthened more than 5.We specialize in providing third party merchant account.5 per cent against the US dollar in the roughly 13 months since China let it go although it has weakened against other major currencies in that period.
Indeed, since China began to let the yuan rise against the US dollar in June 2010, China has actually gained market share in exports to the world's largest markets, according to information compiled by Global Trade Information Services, a data provider.
China's critics, including vociferous members of the US Congress, say an undervalued currency unfairly helps its exporters. The US and a number of Chinese economists say it also holds back the transformation of China's economy to one reliant more on domestic demand and less on international trade.
"It's amazing how much has been written about the yuan, yet with the data in hand, so little has changed," said Luca Silipo, Hong Kong-based chief Asia economist for French investment bank Natixis.
How China adapts to rising costs has major implications for the rest of the world. Nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa are angling to take advantage by capturing low-wage jobs from China.
While there's evidence small gains are being made at China's expense in specific areas such as apparel and footwear, China is retaining its edge because of the strength of the supply chain built there over decades, and because Chinese companies are also rapidly adjusting to the new realities by moving production to cheaper inland labour markets, retooling factories with automation and expanding into higher-value goods such as electronics.
Consider the toy industry. Chinese workers made 64 per cent of all toys exported in the world in 2010, according to Global Trade Information Services, and the country has the largest and most diverse network of toy-part and toy-packaging suppliers anywhere.
Rising costs in China have prompted Ronnen Harary, chairman and co-founder of Spin Master, one of the largest toy sellers in North America, to set a goal of moving 20 per cent of its production of zany action figures, pouty-faced dolls, trading cards and other toys outside China. It now makes nearly all its toys there.
So far, though, he's struggling to justify a move. After a year looking around Southeast Asia, he is leaning toward neighbouring Vietnam, where officials are "hungry and motivated" for the business,What are the top Hemroids treatments? "like China was 15 years ago," he said. But the cost advantage looks fleeting: He figures Vietnam's wages, currently only 10 per cent below China's, will catch up quickly.
"The challenge is, you go to Vietnam and get maybe three years of relief," he said. And moving to Vietnam means setting up offices there, trucking in supplies from China and dealing with Vietnam's less-developed roads, ports and warehouses.
During the 12 months through April, the latest numbers available, 18.9 per cent of what the US imported, by value, came from China, up from 18.5 per cent in the year-earlier period, according to Global Trade Information Services. By comparison, the share was 16.4 per cent in the calendar year 2007, before the financial crisis sent global trade into a tailspin.
In the European Union, China accounted for 18.4 per cent of imports by value in the year ending April, up from 17.7 per cent in the previous 12-month period and 16 per cent in 2007.
China's appeal to European customers has been enhanced by the yuan's 11 per cent drop against the euro since last June, even as it has risen against the US dollar. That makes China's goods cheaper in the euro zone. The yuan's weakness against the euro also helps China beat the likes of Italy and Spain in exporting to markets such as the US.
Measured against all the currencies of China's biggest trading partners, the yuan fell nearly 5 per cent in 12 months through May, according to the Bank of International Settlements.
China's export dominance, especially in labour-intensive areas, will still likely erode over time as manufacturers build up elsewhere.Detailed information on the causes of Hemorrhoids, China's policymakers hope that pay raises for Chinese workers and a strengthening currency will eventually help steer the economy toward producing more for domestic consumers and away from a reliance on exports. But economists say such a shift could take a generation.
A Chinese government official yesterday played down the significance of the latest strong export numbers. Economic sluggishness in key export markets "poses severe challenges to keeping China's export growth stable," said Zheng Yuesheng, director of the statistics department of China's customs agency in a media conference.
And China's exporters are adapting. To keep costs competitive, Spin Master's Chinese suppliers are automating some processes that used to be done by hand, such as product packaging and collating.
One moved production of covers for Spin Master's Marshmallow kids furniture from southern China to cheaper labour markets near Nanjing, west of Shanghai.
China's biggest corporate exporter, Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, employs about a million workers in China to make Apple iPads, Hewlett-Packard computers and Samsung Electronics panels. While it's expanding in other countries, it's also rapidly opening up new factories in low-wage areas of inland China. Support industries have followed.
Last year, TNT Express launched direct cargo flights between western gateway city Chongqing and Belgium.
A huge advantage China has is market power. It has substantial market-share leads in a range of products, from clothing to footwear to furniture. For instance, Chinese factories made $US4 out of every $US10 worth of knit apparel exported in the world in 2010.
"There's a lot of persistence in these things. Just because prices change by 5 per cent, you're not going to get importers and suppliers to switch destinations," said Arvind Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
In some products, such as apparel and footwear, Bangladesh, Honduras and Indonesia and other countries are starting to erode China's dominant market position.
Just as with toys, China has had a stranglehold on the worldwide shoe market. Nearly half of all shoes exported on the planet and three out of four shoes exported to the US come from China. But it's a nimble industry, accustomed to shifting production in the search for the cheapest labor. Insiders' term for it is "footloose".
In the 12 months through April, while China's shoe exports to the US rose a pedestrian 12 per cent from the previous 12-month period, Indonesia's jumped 33 per cent, Vietnam's rose 29 per cent and Mexico's were up 15 per cent.
If the trend continues, China's share of footwear sent to the US could shrink slightly this calendar year for the first time in more than a decade. There's similar slippage in products such as knit apparel, woven clothing and bedding.
Indonesia hopes to export $US3bn of shoes this year, the most ever.How is TMJ pain treated? The biggest obstacle to faster expansion is that it imports 60 per cent of its shoe materials, but the industry's recent growth is drawing back the shoe-parts suppliers that fled to China a decade ago, said Binsar Marpaung, secretary general of the Footwear Industry of Indonesia. A domestic supplier network would enable Indonesia's shoemakers to cut lead times and operate more efficiently.
Over the long term, Chinese policymakers see the need to change the composition of its trade toward higher-value goods that rely on productivity and technology rather than cheap labour.
And that seems to be happening. China is making up for the tiny losses in market share in apparel and footwear with gains in categories such as electrical appliances, computers and industrial machinery.is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us?
The latest evidence of China's prowess came yesterday, when it reported that exports hit $US162 billion ($151bn) in June and $US874bn in the first half of the year, both records and up nearly 20 per cent from the year-earlier periods.
The growth, which came despite economic difficulties in key markets like the US and Europe and supply-chain disruptions in Japan, is bound to boost pressure from the US and others on Beijing to let the yuan appreciate further and faster.
China's closely watched trade surplus for June widened to more than $US22bn, from $US13bn in May, figures which indicate a lack of progress toward the Group of 20 nations' goal of rebalancing global growth. China's trade surplus for the first half of the year, though, was down 18 per cent, reflecting its increased buying of raw materials used in infrastructure projects, which sent the value of imports up even faster than exports.
The export performance comes despite rising costs for Chinese manufacturers, which are dealing with the highest inflation in three years, government-directed wage increases and a yuan that has strengthened more than 5.We specialize in providing third party merchant account.5 per cent against the US dollar in the roughly 13 months since China let it go although it has weakened against other major currencies in that period.
Indeed, since China began to let the yuan rise against the US dollar in June 2010, China has actually gained market share in exports to the world's largest markets, according to information compiled by Global Trade Information Services, a data provider.
China's critics, including vociferous members of the US Congress, say an undervalued currency unfairly helps its exporters. The US and a number of Chinese economists say it also holds back the transformation of China's economy to one reliant more on domestic demand and less on international trade.
"It's amazing how much has been written about the yuan, yet with the data in hand, so little has changed," said Luca Silipo, Hong Kong-based chief Asia economist for French investment bank Natixis.
How China adapts to rising costs has major implications for the rest of the world. Nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa are angling to take advantage by capturing low-wage jobs from China.
While there's evidence small gains are being made at China's expense in specific areas such as apparel and footwear, China is retaining its edge because of the strength of the supply chain built there over decades, and because Chinese companies are also rapidly adjusting to the new realities by moving production to cheaper inland labour markets, retooling factories with automation and expanding into higher-value goods such as electronics.
Consider the toy industry. Chinese workers made 64 per cent of all toys exported in the world in 2010, according to Global Trade Information Services, and the country has the largest and most diverse network of toy-part and toy-packaging suppliers anywhere.
Rising costs in China have prompted Ronnen Harary, chairman and co-founder of Spin Master, one of the largest toy sellers in North America, to set a goal of moving 20 per cent of its production of zany action figures, pouty-faced dolls, trading cards and other toys outside China. It now makes nearly all its toys there.
So far, though, he's struggling to justify a move. After a year looking around Southeast Asia, he is leaning toward neighbouring Vietnam, where officials are "hungry and motivated" for the business,What are the top Hemroids treatments? "like China was 15 years ago," he said. But the cost advantage looks fleeting: He figures Vietnam's wages, currently only 10 per cent below China's, will catch up quickly.
"The challenge is, you go to Vietnam and get maybe three years of relief," he said. And moving to Vietnam means setting up offices there, trucking in supplies from China and dealing with Vietnam's less-developed roads, ports and warehouses.
During the 12 months through April, the latest numbers available, 18.9 per cent of what the US imported, by value, came from China, up from 18.5 per cent in the year-earlier period, according to Global Trade Information Services. By comparison, the share was 16.4 per cent in the calendar year 2007, before the financial crisis sent global trade into a tailspin.
In the European Union, China accounted for 18.4 per cent of imports by value in the year ending April, up from 17.7 per cent in the previous 12-month period and 16 per cent in 2007.
China's appeal to European customers has been enhanced by the yuan's 11 per cent drop against the euro since last June, even as it has risen against the US dollar. That makes China's goods cheaper in the euro zone. The yuan's weakness against the euro also helps China beat the likes of Italy and Spain in exporting to markets such as the US.
Measured against all the currencies of China's biggest trading partners, the yuan fell nearly 5 per cent in 12 months through May, according to the Bank of International Settlements.
China's export dominance, especially in labour-intensive areas, will still likely erode over time as manufacturers build up elsewhere.Detailed information on the causes of Hemorrhoids, China's policymakers hope that pay raises for Chinese workers and a strengthening currency will eventually help steer the economy toward producing more for domestic consumers and away from a reliance on exports. But economists say such a shift could take a generation.
A Chinese government official yesterday played down the significance of the latest strong export numbers. Economic sluggishness in key export markets "poses severe challenges to keeping China's export growth stable," said Zheng Yuesheng, director of the statistics department of China's customs agency in a media conference.
And China's exporters are adapting. To keep costs competitive, Spin Master's Chinese suppliers are automating some processes that used to be done by hand, such as product packaging and collating.
One moved production of covers for Spin Master's Marshmallow kids furniture from southern China to cheaper labour markets near Nanjing, west of Shanghai.
China's biggest corporate exporter, Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, employs about a million workers in China to make Apple iPads, Hewlett-Packard computers and Samsung Electronics panels. While it's expanding in other countries, it's also rapidly opening up new factories in low-wage areas of inland China. Support industries have followed.
Last year, TNT Express launched direct cargo flights between western gateway city Chongqing and Belgium.
A huge advantage China has is market power. It has substantial market-share leads in a range of products, from clothing to footwear to furniture. For instance, Chinese factories made $US4 out of every $US10 worth of knit apparel exported in the world in 2010.
"There's a lot of persistence in these things. Just because prices change by 5 per cent, you're not going to get importers and suppliers to switch destinations," said Arvind Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
In some products, such as apparel and footwear, Bangladesh, Honduras and Indonesia and other countries are starting to erode China's dominant market position.
Just as with toys, China has had a stranglehold on the worldwide shoe market. Nearly half of all shoes exported on the planet and three out of four shoes exported to the US come from China. But it's a nimble industry, accustomed to shifting production in the search for the cheapest labor. Insiders' term for it is "footloose".
In the 12 months through April, while China's shoe exports to the US rose a pedestrian 12 per cent from the previous 12-month period, Indonesia's jumped 33 per cent, Vietnam's rose 29 per cent and Mexico's were up 15 per cent.
If the trend continues, China's share of footwear sent to the US could shrink slightly this calendar year for the first time in more than a decade. There's similar slippage in products such as knit apparel, woven clothing and bedding.
Indonesia hopes to export $US3bn of shoes this year, the most ever.How is TMJ pain treated? The biggest obstacle to faster expansion is that it imports 60 per cent of its shoe materials, but the industry's recent growth is drawing back the shoe-parts suppliers that fled to China a decade ago, said Binsar Marpaung, secretary general of the Footwear Industry of Indonesia. A domestic supplier network would enable Indonesia's shoemakers to cut lead times and operate more efficiently.
Over the long term, Chinese policymakers see the need to change the composition of its trade toward higher-value goods that rely on productivity and technology rather than cheap labour.
And that seems to be happening. China is making up for the tiny losses in market share in apparel and footwear with gains in categories such as electrical appliances, computers and industrial machinery.is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us?
沒有留言:
張貼留言