FROM CHINA TO SOUTHEAST ASIA?

CHINA'S MANUFACTURING EXODUS

Denise Tsang

South China Morning Post, October 17, 2011

As overseas buyers flood China's largest and most established trade show, the Canton Fair, change is afoot in the world's largest exporter.

Relentless inflation in production costs and wages had forced many manufacturers to relocate production from the Pearl River Delta or Yangtze River Delta to Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, some buyers said at the 110th China Import and Export Fair at the weekend.

They said moving offered a solution for manufacturers, who had limited room to raise costs for buyers at a time of a possible double-dip recession in the United States and European Union, China's largest trading partners. It also came at a time when Beijing's policy was to force factories to upgrade or migrate.

Despite the economic turmoil abroad, the trade fair, held each spring and autumn in Guangzhou since 1957, was packed with visitors from across the globe on Saturday, the first day of a 15-day show.

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