It looks like most of the $100 bills lying on the sidewalks of China have been picked up already.
That's how I tend to think about a tremendously important phenomenon that is the subject of a KPMG study released today:
Consumer Companies Look Beyond China for Sourcing as China’s Low-cost Advantage DiminishesRead Full Article »
With increasing labor costs and an aging workforce, China is losing its foothold as the world’s lowest cost manufacturer of consumer goods. Rising costs are forcing companies to take a closer look at new sourcing locations across Asia, according to a new report from KPMG International.
A number of countries in South and Southeast Asia are set to benefit from this recent shift, the report notes. While hard goods ranging from consumer electronics to furniture are still being sourced from China, apparel and footwear production is widely dispersed and more mobile across the Asia Pacific region (ASPAC). Clusters of specialized production are emerging, such as footwear in Indonesia and Vietnam and hand stitched fabrics and metalware in India.
“Sourcing goods in China purely because of ultra-low costs is a thing of the past,” said Nick Debnam, KPMG’s Asia Pacific chair, Consumer Markets and a partner in the China firm. “With demand still soft in many Western consumer markets, it is also proving difficult for companies to pass on higher costs to consumers. This changing environment is forcing companies to reassess sourcing strategies.”
