Posts tagged ‘Business’

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06/05/2013

* Chinese buyers lured by local goods

China Daily: “Foreign brands no longer top choice for Chinese customers, says survey

Buyers lured by local goods

Chinese customers are no longer swayed by the lure of foreign brands and would instead prefer to buy more brands that are made in China, a survey said.

According to the 2013 China customers’ loyalty study conducted by marketing research firm Epsilon, six out of the 10 Chinese respondents endorsed foreign brands. However, there is a growing preference to buy products that are made in China. Local-brand supporters have grown to 43 percent from 31 percent in 2011, the report said.

Such trends are already visible in the Chinese fashion industry. In March, China’s first lady Peng Liyuan sparked off a craze for Chinese brands after dressing up in Chinese-made apparel for diplomatic visits.

Her elegant dressing code was dubbed by netizens as “Liyuan style”. Analysts argued that Peng’s support for domestic labels had stirred interest in local products and also helped attach a new, sophisticated image to Chinese-made clothes.

“Since local brands started to improve quality, establish appeal and step up their sophistication, they have garnered a bigger share from Chinese shoppers,” said Viven Deng, client services director of Epsilon China.

Chinese brands have started to win hearts not only from buyers pursuing extensive product features, but also from picky local consumers who previously stuck to foreign labels, she added.

Qi Lulu, a Beijing college student, who used to be a customer of leading international clothing brands such as Burberry and Polo Ralph Lauren, said she now focuses more on local brands.

“I buy dresses online, and I have found some domestic brands that have exquisite taste,” the 22-year-old woman said. Recently, Qi fell in love with a Beijing brand called Liebo, which featured traditional Chinese flavors and colorful patterns.

Self-branded products from other industries, such as cars and consumer electronics, are also growing in popularity. More Chinese people said they would support Chinese-made cars, especially after the Diaoyu Island dispute between China and Japan. Currently, Japan is still the major car vendor in the Chinese car market.

With a more than 1.1 billion mobile population in hand, China has grown into the world’s biggest smartphone market. The country manufactured the most number of smart devices, 224 million units, across the world last year.

Four out of the top five smartphone vendors in the Chinese market are domestic brands, with the South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co the only international player in the list.

Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp even successfully ranked as the world’s third and fifth smartphone manufacturer in the fourth quarter last year, according to research firm IDC Corp.”

via Buyers lured by local goods[1]|chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in Affluence, China alert, Chinese labels, Consumer, Economics | Leave a Comment »

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05/05/2013

* China Still Has a Long Way to Go to Build a Service Economy

BusinessWeek: “The bad news keeps coming. Following two days of dismal numbers showing China’s manufacturing sector is slowing, now the service sector has disappointed. The not-so-happy takeaways: Don’t expect an economic recovery soon, and Beijing’s much sought-after goal of rebalancing still looks far off.

Shoppers pick up vegetables at a market in Beijing

On May 3, China’s National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing announced that their nonmanufacturing purchasing managers’ index cooled to 54.5 in April, down from 55.6 the month before. Anything above 50 indicates expansion. The index tallies responses from 1,200 companies in 27 service industries, including retail, catering, construction, and transportation. A separate services index will be released by HSBC (HSBA) on May 6.

“The reading suggests that growth momentum will remain relatively soft” in the second quarter and that China’s economy “has shifted to a weaker growth trajectory,” Crédit Agricole CIB (ACA) economist Dariusz Kowalczyk said to Bloomberg News.

Beijing has set a goal of weaning its economy off excessive reliance on investment and exports and rebalancing toward a cleaner, more sustainable, services and consumption-driven GDP. That requires an end to artificially low interest rates, the undervalued yuan, and subsidized energy prices (three-quarters of energy goes to industry), as well as more government social spending, argue Nicholas Lardy and Nicholas Borst, of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in a February policy brief.

“Higher lending rates lead to less capital-intensive economic development resulting in more job creation, higher household income, and ultimately higher levels of household consumption,” write Lardy and Borst. (Household consumption makes up a very low 37 percent of GDP today, while investment has exceeded 40 percent every year for the past decade). And “an appreciation of the currency would also decrease the profitability of the export-oriented manufacturing sector to the relative benefit of the service sector of the economy, which has languished since 2002,” the authors add.

via China Still Has a Long Way to Go to Build a Service Economy – Businessweek.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2013/04/19/chinas-growth-the-making-of-an-economic-superpower-dr-linda-yueh/

Posted in Economics, Services | 1 Comment »

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03/05/2013

* Credit-Card Companies Battle in China

BusinessWeek: “The Ms. Magic credit card from China Citic Bank (601998) is dotted with Swarovski crystals and offers free beauty treatments and health insurance. Huaxia Bank’s (600015) Pretty Lady card, co-issued with Deutsche Bank (DB), entices women with triple points for cosmetic purchases and fitness club memberships. Citigroup (C), which last year became the first U.S. bank allowed to issue its own solo logo cards in China, offers to waive its first-year annual fee of 300 yuan ($49) for Rewards cardholders applying before March or spending more than 20,000 yuan by the end of December.

Credit-Card Companies Battle in China

They’re all part of a battle for affluent consumers in the world’s fastest-growing market for plastic, even as delinquencies have tripled in the past five years and profits remain elusive. “Credit cards are the ultimate growth area and also the battlefield for banks in China,” says Rainy Yuan, an analyst in Shanghai for Taipei-based Masterlink Securities. “Some may never earn a profit out of it, but they have to join the fight, as that’s the most efficient way of grabbing deposits and cross-selling other financial services.”

With interest rates fixed by the government at 18 percent annually, China’s banks can’t compete by lowering rates, so they differentiate themselves by offering merchant discounts and gifts, including Coach (COH) wallets, Hugo Boss (BOSS) quilts, and free Starbucks (SBUX) upgrades to a larger coffee. Chen Junjun, a marketing manager at China Guangfa Bank, spends 10 hours a day, seven days a week trying to lure customers to his roofless booth outside a subway station in Shanghai’s Pudong district. Among the gifts he offers: a wireless mouse, storage boxes, and coffee mugs. “No annual fees, buy-one-get-one-free for Starbucks coffee, and you get a free Coach wallet, too,” Chen says to a female passerby. “If you have a job, you are qualified. If you have a credit card, you are qualified.””

via Credit-Card Companies Battle in China – Businessweek.

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03/05/2013

* China Factories Try Karaoke, Speed Dating to Keep Workers

WSJ: Third in a Series: China’s Changing Work Force

“After years of offering production bonuses and other financial incentives to boost employee loyalty, TAL Group this year tried an unconventional tactic at its factory here in southeastern China: holding a “Sewing Olympics.”

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The manufacturer for such companies as Burberry Group BRBY.LN +1.21% PLC and Brooks Brothers Group Inc. had workers race to cut, stitch and fold raw fabric into high-end dress shirts. The 10 winners received small cash prizes and had their life-size images hung at an outdoor location where thousands of workers pass on the way to meals.

Cheng Pei Quan is a winner of the ‘Sewing Olympics’ at a factory. Manufacturers are looking beyond bonuses to retain workers and boost production in China.

First in the Series: China Manufacturers Survive by Moving to Asian Neighbors

Second in the Series: A Billion Strong but Short on Workers

“Chinese people put quite a lot of value on ‘face,’ ” says 23 year-old winner Cheng Pei Quan, who earned the nickname “The King of Collars” because he can sew 95 collars an hour, a third more than average. “This competition gives me a sense of pride that other benefits such as rising wages cannot give me.”

After boosting pay to compete with other manufacturers, factory owners are finding money alone no longer is enough to attract and retain a generation of workers that demand a greater work-life balance than their parents did.

Companies are holding “American Idol”-esque singing contests, sponsoring dating events, constructing libraries and karaoke rooms on campus, and organizing small dinners between managers and top workers.

Businesses also are sending postcards to workers who visit their families during the Lunar New Year—when manufacturers can lose 20% or more of their staff—urging the employees to return to work.

The measures are a response to an unprecedented shortage in China’s workforce. Demand for workers exceeded supply by a record in the first quarter. China’s working-age population, defined as people from ages 15 to 59, fell last year for the first time in decades, a result of the national one-child policy that was implemented in 1980.

While the number of migrant workers in China rose 3.9% last year, manufacturers face stiff competition from construction, mining and other industries for staff. The average monthly wage for such workers has increased 74% in the past four years, to $395 in the first quarter.

For factory owners, the ability to recruit workers is a matter of survival. If plants can’t find or replace staff quickly enough, they won’t be able to fill customer orders on time. Those that can’t will be forced to turn elsewhere in Asia to manufacture goods—or go out of business.

via China Factories Try Karaoke, Speed Dating to Keep Workers – WSJ.com.

Posted in Affluence, China alert, Economics, employment, Labour, labour reform, labour shortage, Low income, Manufacturing, Migrant workers, wage rises | Leave a Comment »

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01/05/2013

* China Manufacturers Survive by Moving to Asian Neighbors

WSJ: First in a Series: China’s Changing Work Force

“In a corner of a sprawling factory in this coastal southern city, sewing machines that stitched blouses and shirts for Lever Style Inc.’s clients now gather dust. As the din on the factory floor has dropped, so, too, has the payroll. Over the past two years, Lever Style’s employee count in China has declined by one-third to 5,000 workers.

The company in April began moving apparel production for Japanese retail chain Uniqlo to Vietnam, where wages can be half those in China. Lever Style also is testing a shift to India for U.S. department-store chain Nordstrom Inc. JWN -0.34% and moving production for other customers.

It’s a matter of survival. After a decade of nearly 20% annual wage increases in China, Lever Style says it can no longer make money here.

image

A board shows workers’ statuses at each production line at Lever Style’s factory in Shenzhen, China.

“Operating in Southern China is a break-even proposition at best,” says Stanley Szeto, a former investment banker who took over the family business from his father in 2000.

Companies from leather-goods chain Coach Inc. COH -0.53% to clogs maker Crocs Inc. CROX -0.94% also are shifting some manufacturing to other countries as the onetime factory to the world becomes less competitive because of sharply rising wages and a persistent labor shortage. The moves allow the companies to keep consumer prices in check, although competition for labor in places such as Vietnam and Cambodia is pushing up wages in those countries as well.

At Crocs, 65% of its colorful shoes are expected to be made in China this year through third-party manufacturers, down from 80% last year. Coach will reduce its overall production in China to about 50% by 2015 from more than 80% in 2011 so the handbag maker isn’t too reliant on one country, a spokeswoman says.

Some migration of apparel manufacturing from China is expected, and even encouraged by the government, as the country’s economy matures. As other Asian nations become efficient at mass manufacturing, China must embrace research and high-technology production to transform its economy as South Korea and Japan once did. But healthy economic growth requires that China expand its service sector and create higher-skilled manufacturing jobs at a rapid clip to compensate.

“If costs continue to rise, but China is unable to become more innovative or develop home-grown technologies, then the jobs that move offshore won’t be replaced by anything,” says Andrew Polk, a Beijing-based economist for the Conference Board, a research group for big American and European companies.

China continues to be the developing world’s largest recipient of foreign direct investment, attracting $112 billion last year. But that was down 3.7% from a year earlier. And exports still are rising in the double-digit percentages. Growth is slowing.”

via China Manufacturers Survive by Moving to Asian Neighbors – WSJ.com.

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27/04/2013

* China Haidian may buy more watchmakers after Corum

Corum

Corum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reuters: “China Haidian Holdings (0256.HK) may not stop at this week’s acquisition of Swiss watchmaker Corum as it seeks a foothold in high-end timepieces popular with Chinese consumers.

Chinese appetite for Swiss luxury watches has exploded in recent years, boosting sales at industry leaders Swatch Group (UHR.VX) and Richemont (CFR.VX).

But growth, particularly in top-end watches, has ground to a halt as the Chinese economy loses steam and a crackdown on giving expensive gifts as favours hurts demand.

China Haidian, which bought Swiss watch brand Eterna in 2011, said on Wednesday it was acquiring Corum Watches for 86 million Swiss francs ($90.8 million) to develop its Swiss brand portfolio and attract more Chinese customers.

“We may consider additional acquisitions in the future to grow our business if an opportunity arises,” Hon Kwok Lung, chairman of China Haidian, said on Friday in written answers to questions from Reuters.

He said no purchases were planned for now.

Hon said China Haidian wanted to use its retail network in China to help distribute and market Corum watches in China, as it did with Eterna.

Eterna has said its revenue grew in 2012, but product and market development costs brought it a net loss of HK$69.28 million. It expects Eterna to break even in a couple of years.”

via China Haidian may buy more watchmakers after Corum | Reuters.

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10/04/2013

* Lloyd’s building sold to Ping An

Insurance Times: “The Lloyd’s building will be sold to Chinese insurance firm Ping An for about £260m.

Lloyd's building

There is no sign that the Lloyd’s market would need to leave the building.

Commerz Real was the firm appointed to selll the building, helped by CBRE and Savills, according to The Times.”

via Lloyd’s building sold to Ping An | Latest News | Insurance Times.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/02/13/pattern-of-chinese-overseas-investments/

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10/04/2013

* Fitch Lowers Rating on China Local-Currency Debt

WSJ: “Fitch Ratings Inc. lowered one of its key ratings on China’s government debt, in one of the most prominent warnings to date over a credit buildup in the world’s second-largest economy.

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The downgrade applies only to China’s yuan-denominated debt, which is primarily traded domestically—not the foreign-currency debt that it issues in international financial markets, so it is unlikely to have a big impact on global financial markets.

Nevertheless, it is the first outright downgrade in years of debt that is widely seen as buffered by China’s vast foreign-exchange reserves, highlighting a growing perception that massive lending by China’s banks, as well as shadowy nonbank lenders that operate under little regulation, could seriously disrupt China’s economic recovery.

Much of China’s debt came from a surge of lending in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, which helped Chinese growth rebound in part with the help of massive infrastructure projects but weighed down local governments and banks with loans. Analysts at Fitch have been part of a chorus of analysts and market players consistently sounding alarms about the run-up in China’s debt.

Saying that “risks over China’s financial stability have grown,” the credit-ratings firm lowered China’s long-term local-currency rating to single-A-plus from double-A-minus, with a stable outlook. It was its first downgrade of Chinese debt since at least 1997. It kept China’s foreign-currency debt rating unchanged at single-A-plus, saying it is well supported by China’s foreign-exchange reserves, worth $3.387 trillion at the end of 2012.

Bank credit extended to the private sector was equivalent to 135.7% of China’s gross domestic product at the end of 2012, the highest level of any emerging-market economy rated by Fitch, it said.”

via Fitch Lowers Rating on China Local-Currency Debt – WSJ.com.

Posted in Banking, China alert, Economics, loans | 1 Comment »

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25/03/2013

* Wages Rising in Chinese Factories? Only For Some

Working in these Times: “If we are to take recent news reports at face value, the collective conscience of the worlds consumers can be eased, because conditions at Chinese factories are improving.

Last year, The New York Times told us that these workers are “cheap no more,” and just this February, the Heritage Foundation, touting the virtues of global free trade, claimed that Chinese factory wages have risen 20 percent per year since 2005. Foxconn, Apples major supplier and the manufacturer of approximately 40 percent of the worlds consumer electronics, says it will hold free union elections every five years.

But Pollyannas should take pause: The average migrant workers $320 monthly salary in 2011 was actually 43 percent less than the $560 national average, according to government statistics. And though its true that Foxconn will permit the election of union leaders, we have yet to see how much Chinas so-called democratic unions can empower the workers they purport to represent.

Skepticism and caveats aside, the reality is that the lot of formal production workers in China is indeed advancing, however slowly and painfully. But that is true only for formal workers. What many consumers and observers fail to note are the perilous conditions of Chinas temporary production workers and the increased tendency among Chinese factories to use such workers to manufacture the brand-name products that fill your home.

Factories supplying Apple and Samsung, for example, make heavy use of temp workers. According to official statistics, temp workers make up 20 percent of Chinas urban workforce of 300 million, though the proportion in individual factories often tops 50 percent. As China turns into a land of short-term workers, there are grave implications for labor, companies, and Chinese society.”

via Wages Rising in Chinese Factories? Only For Some – Working In These Times.

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19/03/2013

* China heads back to the ’90s in economic reform drive

Reuters: “China is poised to launch its most serious economic reform drive since the 1990s after a series of top appointments at the weekend put the architects of Zhu Rongji‘s clash with state owned enterprises in charge of key economic agencies.

China's Vice Premier Ma Kai attends the sixth plenary meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing in this March 16, 2013 file photo. China is poised to launch its most serious economic reform drive since the 1990s after a series of top appointments at the weekend put the architects of Zhu Rongji's clash with state owned enterprises in charge of key economic agencies. Picture taken March 16, 2013. REUTERS-Jason Lee-Files

Vice Premier Ma Kai, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei and central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan were all Zhu lieutenants at the State Commission for Restructuring the Economy, which drew up the blueprint to sever the army’s ties with business and make millions jobless as state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were reformed.

They headline a clutch of officials in Premier Li Keqiang’s new line-up, who are broadly considered pro-business economic reformers able to finish the work started by arch-reformer Zhu when he was premier in a way that meets the different economic conditions of today.

“China is about to bring on the structural reforms that will ultimately reduce the old SOEs to ashes,” Paul Markowski, President of New York-based MES Advisers and a long-time adviser to China’s financial authorities, told Reuters.

“This is changing the economic policy team in a way that would be akin to bringing back the Clinton economic team to run President Obama’s economic initiatives,” said Markowski, who met with senior officials – including those at the central bank and the powerful planning agency the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) – during China’s annual parliamentary meeting this month.

Zhu was credited with getting China into the World Trade Organisation in a move that required shutting thousands of inefficient businesses and ultimately set the nation’s exporters on course to become the world’s most prolific, driving the economy to No.2 spot behind the United States in the process.

The pace of reform hasn’t been matched since, allowing SOEs to expand their share of economic activity and retain their preferred borrower status at the nation’s banks, which critics say starves the private sector of capital and chokes innovation.

The need for an energetic push on economic reform is acute, not least because easier reforms have been done and China’s economy, now more than five times the size it was when Zhu left the stage, will respond in more muted fashion.”

via Analysis: China heads back to the ’90s in economic reform drive | Reuters.

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