While China’s industrial prowess benefits global consumers by providing affordable products such as clothing, electronics and smartphones, it is also a double-edged sword, says Associate Professor Marina Yue Zhang.
File photo of a vendor sitting in her booth at the Yiwu wholesale market of general merchandise in Zhejiang province. SYDNEY: The Yiwu International Trade Market in Zhejiang, China , is a sprawling 4 million square metre complex housing more than 75,000 shops. As theThe market is currently abuzz with French-themed products catering to the Olympic fever. Yiwu’s exports to France soared by 42 per cent in the first two months of 2024 compared to the previous year, reaching nearly €75 million .
Yiwu’s export resilience is fuelled not just by its low-cost products but also by a sophisticated network of information exchanges and collaborative production across enterprise boundaries. Its rapid production and delivery capabilities allow it to handle small orders efficiently. This flexibility starkly contrasts with large manufacturers, which rely on highly organised, large-scale production.
Yiwu demonstrates China’s capacity for large-scale collaborative production involving multi-layered supply chains. Though export revenues from products like lighters may seem modest, their production is underpinned by complex supply chains incorporating over 30 components, including materials, precision moulds and electrical automation. With rising labour and material costs, maintaining cost competitiveness requires innovation.
By harnessing big data and AI algorithms, SHEIN quickly adapts to market trends. SHEIN introduces between 700 and 1,000 new products daily, and updates around 50,000 new items weekly, compared to Zara - which introduces 25,000 new products annually.While China’s industrial prowess benefits global consumers by providing affordable products such as clothing, electronics and smartphones, it is also a double-edged sword..
In an interconnected world, the resilience of China’s supply chains serves as a reminder of the importance of global specialisation and the need for collaborative efforts to address shared challenges.
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