Chinese Workers Pay &Nbsp; American Consumers Pay?

This year's Christmas stockings will be presented with the same gift: high prices. Thank you very much indeed for China.

As the target of decades of low cost consumer goods in the United States market China is undergoing profound changes. The rapid economic development and the decrease in the number of young migrant workers are pushing up labor costs. Coupled with the rising cost of raw materials (mainly driven by China's demand), and the continued strength of the renminbi, made in China. commodity It's no longer a bargain.

Chief of Michaels Stores Inc., crafts retailer implement John Menzer said that in the past year, the labor cost of the Chinese supplier increased by 15% to 20%. Menzer said his company spent most of the year looking for ways to offset costs, such as integrating goods from different suppliers into a container to reduce shipping costs.

Nevertheless, Michaels Stores has to raise prices for some commodities this year, including artificial Christmas trees. Mr Gates has predicted that the "battle" to cope with China's rising costs will continue. He said that our suppliers are very worried about the change of labor costs, and we will have the same pressure next year.

The Labor Department announced on Wednesday that the price of Chinese imports increased by 3.9% over the same period last month, or the same as in October, the biggest increase since 2008.

The labor department's report on Wednesday showed that the price increase was particularly obvious for a variety of goods that China is a major supplier. About 80% of the footwear imported from the United States comes from China. Import footwear prices rose 6.1% in November. 60% of furniture imported from the United States comes from China, and the price of imported furniture has increased by 6.1% over the same period last year.

Despite the weakness of the US economy, the rise in costs is only one reason for the increase in consumer prices this year. Economists predict that the inflation report released by the Ministry of labour on Friday will show that in addition to fluctuating prices of food and energy commodities,

In November, the consumer price index rose by 2.1% compared with the same period in October.

Historically, such gains are relatively low, but this is the biggest year-on-year increase since October 2008.

In the past two years, Thomas, chief executive of Hooke Furniture, Virginia (Martinsville, Va.), Martin Sverre, said that the cost of furniture purchased from China has risen steadily in the past year (Hooker Toms). In September, Hooke furniture company raised its 2/3 product by 5%.

Because the company's Chinese suppliers raised wages to retain staff, Thomas thought the price would go up further. He said that we are in a labor-intensive industry, and we believe that the cost of labor for our suppliers will increase by 20% to 30%.

According to the Ministry of human resources and social security, as of October, 21 provinces and municipalities nationwide raised the minimum annual salary by 22%. Officials in Shenzhen, China's manufacturing center, said last month that the minimum wage would increase by 15% in January next year, hoping to attract more workers.

In the coming months, American companies may be relieved of the price of imported goods. Commodity prices have fallen sharply from the high point in spring. China's previous measures to cool down the economy, coupled with weak demand in Europe, caused economic growth to slow down, and the slowdown slowed the Chinese authorities' desire to revalue the renminbi.

However, the increasing wealth and opportunities in China and the growing aging of the population will bring upward pressure on China's manufacturing wages, and the momentum of wage increases will be difficult to contain.

Until a few months ago, most of the Eugene Running Co. prices were still up and down 100 dollars. But as shoe makers launched new shoes in October and November, they also passed higher prices to retailers for the first time since 2007. Most of the shoes sold in this shop are made in China.

The store in Oregon is run by Cole (Laura Coll) and her husband. Cole said that every manufacturer's shoes had risen by 5 or 10 dollars, and Mizuno shoes had risen by 15 dollars.

Harris, an economist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, said that the rise in wages in China is not new. China's wages have been rising for many years. He said that what is different now is that the cost of labor has risen to a level that a Chinese exporter can hardly absorb easily, so he passed it on. This is especially true for shoemaking and other labor-intensive industries.

In a customer report earlier this year, Harris roughly estimated that labor costs accounted for about half of the export prices of a pair of Chinese sports shoes.

He said, I think, this seriously squeezed their profit margins, so they shifted the pace of cost began to accelerate.

Big Agnes Inc., a Colorado based camping equipment company, combined with Campo Bill Gamber, said their company had such an experience. He said that our suppliers had done a good job for a long time and absorbed their own cost, but suddenly they said that we could not continue.

The company has found ways to reduce some of its costs, such as finding a cheaper cloth for tents. However, the company will still increase its price. Over the years, the company has priced $199 in a popular sleeping bag priced at $239 when the 2012 launch.

Campo is not worried that rivals will sell at a lower price than he does. He said that Chinese suppliers are dominant in the industry, so every retailer will be hit by price increases. But he was worried about how consumers would react, so he had less stock of high-end products.

He said people could choose to spend more than 100 dollars on a light weight pound tent, but they might be more willing to spend less.