To dodge trade war, Chinese exporters shift production to low-cost nations!

YANGON: Pressured by a labour crunch and rising wages in China, Shu Ke’an, whose company supplies bulletproof vests, rifle bags and other tactical gear to the United States, first considered shifting some production to Southeast Asia a few years ago, but nothing came of it.
When trade tensions flared into a tariff war last year, however, it was the final straw.
A day after US President Donald imposed additional tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods in September, Shu, 49, decided to start making vests for his US clients in Myanmar instead.
Since then, the Trump administration has further hiked tariffs on Chinese imports, raising the US taxes on Shu’s Guangzhou-made bulletproof vests to 42.6 per cent.
With more than half of his company’s income reliant on orders from the United States, Shu was happy with his Myanmar decision.“The trade war was actually a blessing in disguise,” he said.
With Trump poised to slap 25 per cent tariffs on another $300 billion-plus of Chinese goods, no exporter in China will be unscathed.
In recent years, some Chinese manufacturers had already started to relocate some of their capacity to countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia, due to high operating costs at home. The trade war is now pushing more to follow suit, especially makers of low-tech and low-value goods.
A few Chinese exporters have also tried to dodge the trade war bullet by quietly transhipping via third countries.
Nine months on, Shu’s firm, Yakeda Tactical Gear Co, is relying on his new Myanmar factory, which started operations in December, to produce new orders for its US clients.
The 220 workers at his original Guangzhou plant, in China’s Pearl River Delta manufacturing powerhouse, now mostly supply clients in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
In Yangon, meanwhile, Shu’s Myanmar factory turns raw materials imported from China into backpacks, kit bags and pouches for rifles and pistols — all labelled “Made in Myanmar” — almost all of which are exported to the United States.
“Our factory is receiving many orders. The products are being exported to the US and Europe. So, I believe our future will be improved from working in this factory,” said Marlar Cho, 36, a supervisor at the factory.
The factory manager, 40-year-old Jiang Aoxiong from eastern China, said they were constantly rushing to keep up with orders, despite its 600-strong workforce.
Though international criticism of Myanmar’s handling of the Rohingya crisis has crimped Western investment, the Southeast Asian nation has become the choice destination for some Chinese firms, drawn to its cheap and abundant labour.
The former British colony, located on China’s southwestern border, exports some 5,000 products to the United States duty-free under a US trade program for developing nations — another big plus.
In the 12 months through April, approved Chinese projects increased by $585 million, the latest data from Myanmar’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration shows.  — Reuters