China Fair Exhibitors Say Clothing Exports Difficult to Exceed 20%

The business club reported on March 2 that the 21st China East China Import and Export Commodity Fair was held in Shanghai on March 1st. A number of participating apparel foreign trade companies told the China Business News that although cotton prices and labor costs have soared by 30% Above, but the price increase of export clothing is difficult to exceed 20%. An excessively high price increase will result in the outflow of orders to countries such as Turkey, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia.

According to a person from the Zhejiang Kaixiya Group, the current labor cost is at least 30% higher than in 2009, and the cotton price is more than 30,000 yuan per ton, which is twice as high as the previous low, but the average price increase of clothing exports is 15 % to 20%. Manufacturers are concerned that prices are too high and orders may be transferred to other countries. At present, the combined cost of producing the same products in countries such as Turkey and Pakistan is only 60% to 70% of that of Chinese companies.

Jiangsu Guotai International Group is a large-scale export company in China. An exhibitor of the company said that because of the increase in the price of Chinese apparel products, many orders went out to lower-priced countries such as India and Bangladesh.

A salesman from Zhejiang Busen Clothing Co., Ltd. stated that the current pressure on clothing foreign trade is relatively high, and price increase should be very cautious. The company's average export price of apparel is controlled within 20%. The exhibitors of the China Export Commodities Fair stated that the increase in garment exports was hard to exceed 20%.