The future of the U.S.-China trade war is uncertain. Textile industry players point out that Taiwanese companies have already moved their production bases in China to Southeast Asian countries. The trade war will not have much impact on Taiwanese factories, and even Benefiting from this, it is estimated that the transfer effect will emerge within half a year to one year.
1111 Labor Bank held a press conference on “Survey on Willingness to Advance Traditional Industries” on May 27, 2019. Huang Weiji, Secretary-General of the Textile Development Association, and Executive Deputy General Manager Ru Hong Wang Shuwen attended the event.
The United States announced that it would formally increase punitive tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese exports to the United States starting from the 10th, and then officially announced the third wave of tariffs on the 13th, that is, the remaining tariffs. More than US$300 billion of Chinese exports to the United States are subject to additional tariffs. The list includes clothing, household products, mobile phones, laptops and other consumer goods.
Secretary-General Huang Weiji pointed out that after China implemented the “Labor Contract Law” in 2008, due to the increase in basic wages, many Taiwanese businessmen who set up factories in China in the early stage accelerated their The production base has shifted to Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
He said that most of the textile factories remaining in China are mainly for the domestic demand market, producing cotton, wool, silk, linen and other materials. The bulk of the relocation of production bases is to produce functional and environmentally friendly clothes. Taiwanese companies have been relocating their production bases for a long time. Coupled with innovation and R&D-driven growth, the US-China trade war has not caused much damage to Taiwanese textile factories, and even Some companies have also benefited from the re-order effect, and manufacturers in Vietnam and Bangladesh have made good profits.
Wang Shuwen said that many industries are still waiting and watching, because it is difficult for US President Trump to predict whether the United States will impose additional tariffs on US$300 billion of Chinese exports to the United States. , it is still unknown. However, Ruhong has almost moved its business to China, and only sells a small amount of fabrics to Chinese garment factories. The US-China trade friction has little impact on Ruhong.
However, Wang Shuwen admitted that it takes about 2 years to develop ready-made garments. Even if it is compressed to one year to complete development, design, and testing, the ready-made garment industry will not be able to benefit immediately from the transfer of orders. Effect, if it is already in production, it “cannot be transferred out”.
He pointed out that there will definitely be a transfer effect, but the actual effect and time of occurrence remain to be seen. It is conservatively estimated that it will take about half a year to a year for Taiwanese companies to benefit. Due to the transfer order effect.
