Insurance and Finance Blog

Importing From Low-Cost Countries {By: Davina Cruella Sandwich}

Organisations have been having their products mass produced in and around Southern China (now recognisable world-wide as the manufacturing capital of the planet) for more years than I care to remember.

But why do these big producers insist on having their products made so far away from home? Well, one answer to that question is that because of the exchange rates between our country and most Asian countries, which works out very much in our favour.

So that’s the main reason people source their products from China. Well, what more reason do you need to do something other than the fact that it will save you lots of money? There a a couple of minor disadvantages, and a few more advantages to boot.

As far as the advantages go they are few, but pretty big. The price I have already mentioned, but there is a severe difference in the currencies. For every one British pound you get 11.2 Chinese Yuan, so you really can pay peanuts for what you want.

Another advantage is the close proximity you gain to their local trading environment. If you can get your company recognised in the Chinese trading industry it can only benefit your organisation. Also there is a good chance that you will end up a lot closer to the raw materials you need to make your product, therefore saving on the acquisition of your raw materials as well.

One of the main disadvantages of this, is the cost of importing the products from China. This can be seen as extra expenditure, but compared with the money saved on the manufacturing, I would say this bares an insignificance.

Also there’s the time that the shipping takes, this could be seen as a greater disadvantage as, depending on level of demand, it could result in loss of turnover. Another disadvantage is that there may be some issues with production quality nearer the beginning of manufacturing as the factory staff become acclimatised to your product, but if you get a good sourcing company to do the communications for you, then you should end up with a high quality production line from start to finish. As well as that, it is difficult to predict what the local conditions are going to be like, financial or otherwise.

In summary, it is my personal belief that sourcing form low cost countries such as Southern China is far more advantageous to businesses than domestic sourcing.

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