- Analysis
- World
- Asia
- Global economy
China’s low-tech manufacturers hanging on by their fingernails
China’s new focus on green technology and EVs can’t move quick enough to compensate for anaemic orders, trade restrictions and growing competition in the more traditional clothing, toy and furniture factories.
At a factory in China’s manufacturing heartland, workers manually add small splashes of paint or glitter to printed images of flowers – small tweaks designed to boost dwindling profits in the face of softer global demand.
“We would like to say that if you can go high-end, the better the quality of your paintings, the more classic they will be. But in the current global economy … the more we sell, the lower the price,” says Wang Xiaosha, general manager at Fujian Jie Ao Industrial in Minhou county in China’s south-eastern Fujian province.
Financial Times
Subscribe to gift this article
Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.
Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?
Introducing your Newsfeed
Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.
Find out moreRead More
Latest In Asia
Fetching latest articles