Importing from China

Written by Global Sources (http://www.globalsources.com/) editorial team With demand exceeding supply, overseas businesses are setting up factories and boosting capacity in China, lured by subsidies and preferential policies.Touted as the world's factory, China is now strengthening its position as a major global manufacturer of LEDs. In recent months, several leading international suppliers have invested in the construction of factories in the Pearl, Yangtze and Minjiang River Delta regions, Bohai Bay Rim Economic Region, and even in some parts of Middle Western China.

Written by Global Sources (http://www.globalsources.com/) editorial team Prohibitive costs limit adoption to tier 1 enterprises, but local governments are doling out subsidies to encourage more factories to upgrade. Raising compensation and benefits to retain or entice workers is not the only approach China suppliers are taking to maintain output levels amid a still challenging labor situation. Many are also turning to automation.

Written by Global Sources (http://www.globalsources.com/) editorial team Escalating production costs in China's coastal manufacturing hubs are pushing some suppliers to relocate to the central and western provinces. The Pearl and Yangtze River Delta regions may soon lose their monopoly over China's export manufacturing sector. Rising costs and the worsening labor shortage are driving companies in these coastal areas to relocate production facilities to the interior. Although the shift started mid-2004, the trend gained pace in 2007, when rapid economic growth in the west surpassed that in the east. Companies leaving Guangdong, Zhejiang and other coastal provinces are now setting up new production bases in Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei, Shanxi and Sichuan to take advantage of lower worker and land expenditure, among other benefits.

By Dan Harris in 'China Law Blog' Yesterday, we did a recommended reading post (http://www.chinalawblog.com/2010/02/china_versus_india_for_sourcin.html#comments) on a China Sourcing Blog post (http://www.chinasourcingblog.org/2010/01/china-and-india-a-comparison-i.html)comparing India (http://www.clear-vantage.eu/blog/2010/01/sourcing-from-india-europe-perspective.html) and China for sourcing, using statistics to do so. We very quickly received a comment (http://www.chinalawblog.com/2010/02/china_versus_india_for_sourcin.html#comment-349229) from Joel Waldbaum making very clear that sourcing product from China is far superior and far cheaper than sourcing product (or really anything) from India (http://www.sourcingline.com/resources/india-most-popular-publishing-sourcing-destination):

By Renaud Anjoran in 'Quality Inspection Blog' This post is about re-inspections following a rejection for quality issues. Not about second inspections that are booked because the first inspection was impossible to carry out (e.g. because a last-minute problem delayed all production, and nothing could be checked).

By Renaud Anjoran in 'Quality Inspection Blog' Some importers have been buying from China for many years, and yet they have never done quality control in a professional manner. The science behind inspection protocols (http://www.smartchinasourcing.com/china-product-quality/quality-control-basics.html) seems complex–nearly intimidating. Buyers don’t know where to start, and they don’t know how their suppliers will react.