The time when China produced cheap stuff is over!

milenss

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I think a lot of people are fooled by this arguing that since China has cheap labour it's economically justifiable to order stuff from China (or other developing Economy from South-East Asia).
I'll give you an example. Yesterday went shopping here in Sofia. I've found running sneakers for like 29,6$ made in Poland. They are good, nothing worse than any Nike, Puma, Assics which cost no less than 60$ if not 70-80$. We pressume that the western brands which order their production from abroad overprice the items by lets say 20-30$ like a commision just for the sake of having the certain established brand. Finally you are still getting a more expensive product with the same quality.

We have been taken to the point where all of the production has been shut in our countries (USA, UK) and want it or not we are forced to order from China, India, Pakistan. There are no other options. That's an economic bullying in my book. And no rant of "ohh... but they are using cheap labour" can explain it.

What you care is the final price of the item. And it's still very expensive. And I can argue that the quality is getting worse and worse.
My point is that USA must start exploring new markets (like East Europe) or just start production at home (even for a slightly bigger price tag). The quality will be all worth it.
 
Sofia isn't that cheap on the whole, in my experience.
 
I was reffering to the imported sneakers from Poland.
Never said Sofia is cheap as a whole.

I'd guess you can buy cheap shoes of decent quality in about 95% of western cities too.

Our company does a fair bit of manufacturing in Bulgaria and the cost is only 10-20% cheaper than the UK. Nowhere close to the prices China can offer. In our industry being UK made, people are prepared to pay a premium, but for a lot of everyday commercial products people don't give a shit.
 
that is the reason why slave labor is most likely to switch from China to Bangladesh
 
I prefer items made in sweat shops. Quality is better.
 
Prices in China are slowly increasing, but are still very very low compared to most places in the world. In the coming decades, Vietnam will become the next big hub for cheap labor.
 
The point is for shareholders (1% of the population) to take in huge amounts of money.

That’s why this happens. Cost of products etc will be as high as people are willing to pay.
 
Prices in China are slowly increasing, but are still very very low compared to most places in the world. In the coming decades, Vietnam will become the next big hub for cheap labor.

I'm guessing the big shift might be to Africa to fill the kind of capacity China currently has.

Honestly I think outsourcing most of our manufacturing to China, India, etc makes a lot of environment quota's meaningless, western nations patting themselves on the back for just shipping there Co2 numbers to the other side of the world.
 
Cost of production has never necessarily translated to low cost to the consumer. In the 90's some economist I think crunched the numbers and Nike was paying more to Michael Jordan than the totality of their chinese workforce.
 
Prices in China are slowly increasing, but are still very very low compared to most places in the world. In the coming decades, Vietnam will become the next big hub for cheap labor.
yup and plenty others. Tons of underdeveloped countries to go to, unfortunately.
 
Disagree.

I worked for Restoration Hardware for years. They used to have quality, hard wood american-made furniture crafted by Michaels. In about... 2008, they acquired Michaels, shut it down, and outsourced everything to China. And as a side note, the quality of their furniture is now shit. Their leather, their wood, etc.

Apple also CHOSE to do the same with their production around the same time. Their choice, because the savings produced more revenue for shareholders. End of story.
 
I think a lot of people are fooled by this arguing that since China has cheap labour it's economically justifiable to order stuff from China (or other developing Economy from South-East Asia).
I'll give you an example. Yesterday went shopping here in Sofia. I've found running sneakers for like 29,6$ made in Poland. They are good, nothing worse than any Nike, Puma, Assics which cost no less than 60$ if not 70-80$. We pressume that the western brands which order their production from abroad overprice the items by lets say 20-30$ like a commision just for the sake of having the certain established brand. Finally you are still getting a more expensive product with the same quality.

We have been taken to the point where all of the production has been shut in our countries (USA, UK) and want it or not we are forced to order from China, India, Pakistan. There are no other options. That's an economic bullying in my book. And no rant of "ohh... but they are using cheap labour" can explain it.

What you care is the final price of the item. And it's still very expensive. And I can argue that the quality is getting worse and worse.
My point is that USA must start exploring new markets (like East Europe) or just start production at home (even for a slightly bigger price tag). The quality will be all worth it.

There will always be cheap labor available somewhere. What is the figure "29,6$" supposed to represent?
 
Who is Sofia?

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