Japanese clothing supplies overseas production capacity shifts from China to Southeast Asia

According to reports, Japanese retailers’ apparel production and sporting goods manufacturers have accelerated the establishment of the “China+1” overseas production system, which means setting up another production base in Southeast Asia outside of China. The reasons for this trend are as follows: First, enterprises disperse their production bases to respond to emergencies such as emergency production increase or labor shortages, and ensure stable supply; second, they avoid risks such as the increase in labor costs in China.

Ito Yokado's functional underwear production is 95% in China. This year it plans to transfer some of its production capacity to Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand. It is expected that the proportion of production in China will drop to 75%; retail giant UNY plans to produce clothing in China by 2014 From 74% to 65%, the proportion of production in Thailand increased from 9% to 13%; ASICS and MIZUNO reduced the proportion of sporting goods such as sports shoes in China and expanded the scale of production in Vietnam and Indonesia. .

According to statistics from the Ministry of Finance, the import of apparel from China in 2011 was more than 10% lower than in 2007, and imports from ASEAN countries have increased for eight consecutive years. It was reported that in order to avoid the rapid increase in the cost of manpower in China, enterprises have accelerated the transfer of production to Southeast Asian countries, but the advantage of cheap labor in Southeast Asia is limited, and the risk of rising costs has also increased. Source: Consulate General in Fukuoka