China's Cost Advantage Disappears And Garment Manufacturing Shifts To Southeast Asia.

"Made in China" was once cheap. clothing Pronoun, but in recent years, with the rise of China's labor costs, many foreign brands and even domestic brand clothing production has been transferred to Bangladesh, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. The T-shirts and shirts of "Made in Bangla" and "Made in Sri Lanka" have replaced Made in China in the domestic and foreign markets, and become the main source of cheap clothing.

　 T-shirts in the US are 20 yuan each.

Miss Lee is a buyer of a gift company in Beijing. Her company mainly provides various souvenirs and gifts to business customers, and she will buy a group of T-shirts for a customer some time ago. Miss Li inquired several suppliers, and to her surprise, the price of domestic T-shirts was even higher than that of imported T-shirts.

"We are buying the most common white T-shirts. The prices of several imported products from domestic manufacturers are priced at around 30 yuan, and the price quoted by an American clothing brand agent is only 20 yuan". Miss Li inquired after this agent in detail and learned that these T-shirts were produced in Bangladesh. Because of the relatively low price, she finally chose the product of this agent.

After getting the T-shirts produced in Bangladesh, Miss Li found that the quality was somewhat defective, but it was not bad enough, and the fabric was not bad. "The key is that the price is cheap, so the last customer is satisfied."

In fact, not only ordinary T-shirts, many foreign big suit also began to produce in Southeast Asian countries. Reporters searched on Taobao, and many brands of T-shirts, such as "wolf claw", "GAP" and "Levis", were sold in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

　 Workers in Bangladesh earn only 600 yuan a month.

Nantong new high is the first batch of domestic companies to set up garment factories in Bangladesh. Tang Qun, chairman of the company, said that in 1994, he went to Bangladesh for clothing business, when Bangladesh's clothing industry was very backward, and it also produced some beach pants and T-shirts, and no domestic clothing enterprises would want to invest and build factories there.

In 2009, as domestic labor costs continued to grow and Bangladesh's clothing industry grew faster, the government used many preferential policies to attract foreign investment. Tang Qun tried to invest $23 million in an export processing area near the capital of Dhaka, Bangladesh, to set up a wholly-owned factory, mainly producing T-shirts, shirts and other clothing.

"Shirts can make 18 dollars a dozen (12 pieces), and factories in Bangladesh can also make money, and they will lose money if they change factories in China." Tang Qun told reporters that the cost of manpower in Bangladesh is very low, with a monthly salary of only 70 to 100 dollars (equivalent to 430 yuan to 614 yuan), almost 1/5 of the domestic garment workers.

According to a survey, Bangladesh clothing workers earn the lowest wages among the 16 garment producing and exporting countries in the world. According to the actual purchasing power, the wage of garment workers in Bangladesh even dropped by 2% from 2001 to 2011.

With cheap labor and Bangladesh government's support for garment processing industry, Bangladesh has surpassed India in 2011 to become the world's second largest exporter of knitwear after China. Bangladesh is replicating the pattern of the rise of China's garment industry (000902, stock bar) processing industry in the 1980-1990 era, challenging China's manufacturing industry.

　　 The costumes of Chinese clothing gradually fade away.

Since last year, through the domestic suppliers, fan Ke Cheng has ordered some T-shirts and shirts to go to Bangladesh's clothing enterprises. Although the price is cheap, customers have not transferred large quantities of orders to these Southeast Asian countries.

Van customer told reporters that at present, suppliers of all customers have factories in Bangladesh, Vietnam and other countries. "The cost of labor in these countries is low, but it is calculated that logistics, tariffs and so on are imported into the country for re sale, and the overall cost is only about 15% lower than domestic production".

Fans found that the biggest problem of these Southeast Asian manufacturers is that the delivery cycle often takes two or three months, which is a fatal flaw for some seasonal clothing. "Take the summer women's clothing, every year and even every month there are fashionable and popular colors. When the main customers are playing fast, they must react quickly. If they are delivered only in two months, the summer will fall, and they will not be sold at a lower price."

However, Southeast Asian countries can produce some clothes that are not very seasonal, such as underwear, classic shirt, casual pants, etc., even if we can't catch up this year, we can still sell them next year.

"The cost advantage of the domestic garment enterprises is disappearing. Now the garment workers in the southeastern provinces have to pay 2000-3000 yuan a month, and there are four risks, one gold, room and lodging, etc., but this is the case, many enterprises still can not recruit workers." All customers said.

　 Tariffs have advantages in Southeast Asian countries.

In recent years, careful consumers have found that more and more clothing stores in China are growing. clothes Origin is no longer China, but Southeast Asian countries, especially ZARA, H&M, such as parity fashion.

In fact, China's clothing production capacity and efficiency are still far ahead of these Southeast Asian countries. Although the cost of manpower is much higher, the overall cost is not high enough to accept. Clothing brands and their foundries are constantly moving to Southeast Asian countries. Besides production costs, there are also tariff reasons.

In 2011, the European Union introduced the GSP to the least developed countries. Some Southeast Asian countries entered the European market and could be exempt from customs duties. Clothing from China was subject to a 12% tariff.

This 12% profit is not a big temptation for domestic garment processing enterprises, because the gross profit margin of garment processing is very low, usually less than 3%. "We will consult with our customers to produce some products in Southeast Asian countries, so that we can get rid of 12% customs duties and divide them equally, so we will have 6% profits."