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China exporters, hit by slump, see potential at home

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-05 11:06

DACHEN -- China's exporters are returning home to sell their products as global economic gloom takes a toll on their overseas orders.

Yet exporters of goods ranging from apparel to electronics are hardly finding a fatted calf laid out for them. 

Two women sleep on an idle production line of the small private firm Nangang Shoemaking Factory in Foshan, Guangdong province. [China Daily]

Despite a track record in manufacturing products to global standards for leading brands, many are finding it tough to tap into the domestic market due to cut-throat competition, lack of local brand names and poor domestic distribution networks.

Related readings:  China's March exports continue falling but at slower pace  Canton Fair gets domestic as exports keep dropping  Firms turn to home market as exports plummet  Businesses shift from exports to home market  May Day holiday retail sales up 9%

Zhejiang Berkam Garment Co, a clothing company that has long manufactured shirts for Western brands such as Italy's Benetton, recently launched a domestic line of men's shirts under the label "Brioso".

"We did a tour of the US and Europe last year and saw how bad the situation there really was, so that made us determined to focus more on the home market," said Chen Jianguo, the company's vice chairman.

"We'd been thinking of doing so for some time, but that gave us the final push to decide to launch our own brand," he said in a spacious conference room in the factory, located in Dachen, a major centre for shirt makers in eastern Zhejiang province.

Berkam plans only a gradual shift away from manufacturing shirts for Western brands, as an abrupt shift in the firm's business model would be too risky.

Still, the company hopes that demand for its local shirt line will soon start to make up for the drop in export orders caused by the global slowdown.

It aims to sell at least 1 million shirts with the Brioso logo this year via contracted agents, or roughly 10 percent of its current annual output, Chen said.

"It's an ambitious target because we've missed the spring and summer sales season, so we'll have to hope for the best in the autumn and winter season," he said.

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