玩具製造商從中國轉移並非易事 (2/2)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Toy manufacturers' shift from China is no child's play (2/2)

Richa Naidu

Mon, January 15, 2024 at 5:08 a.m. PST

By Richa Naidu

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"Is it easy to re-shore away from mainland China? No, it isn't. That goes double for toys," S&P Global Market Intelligence's Chris Rogers said. "It's more complicated because they're highly seasonal -- you're asking a partner to sit on inventory for most of the year. Toy makers also have to be doubly rigorous on safety, sourcing and making sure workers are treated well."

While China's minimum wage varies from between 1,420 yuan per month to 2,690 yuan per month ($198.52-$376.08), in India unskilled and semi-skilled workers can be secured for between 9,000 Indian rupees and 15,000 Indian rupees a month ($108.04- $180.06), according to central bank estimates.

But setting up to source from other countries can take 18 months if a company is buying product from a contract manufacturer, and up to three years if a firm is building a new factory from scratch, Rogers said.

Toys to be sold in the autumn go into production starting in May and are then stored or shipped.

'MORE REASONABLE COST'

Hasbro began addressing its outsized dependence on China as an operational risk in its annual report in 2018, while Mattel has reportedly been shifting away from China since 2007, when it had to recall millions of toys tainted with lead paint. Efforts across the industry have ramped up since the pandemic.

Hasbro did not respond to a request for comment, while Mattel declined to comment for this story.

Spiralling Chinese wages are helping push up toy prices. In the UK, for instance, prices rose by about 8% in the first six months of 2022, according to Circana, formerly known as NPD. The risk for consumers is that prices will keep on rising sharply if manufacturers can't cut costs by moving to cheaper production centres.

Though U.S. duties on Chinese toys are currently negligible, that could also change as some Republican politicians have called for revoking China's "permanent normal trade relations" status. Such a move could raise the price of toys in the United States by more than a fifth, according to the National Retail Federation.

"We are all looking at derisking China," said Nic Aldridge, managing director at Bandai UK, the maker of Tamagotchi virtual pets. "Raw materials costs have gone up a lot in China, we're looking for places where we could get a more reasonable cost."

Bandai still mostly manufactures in mainland China but some of its products are made in Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam. It is looking at India and Thailand as additional locations, Aldridge said.

MGA Entertainment, maker of LOL Surprise and Bratz dolls, has found infrastructure outside China to be a road-block to diversifying sourcing to countries like India and Vietnam, even as its exports from China last holiday season dropped versus the year before.

India accounted for only 1% of U.S. and EU toy imports over the past five years, according to Panjiva's data.

"The issue in India is really the gridlock of moving even from one state to another. There are so many crazy regulations," MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian told Reuters.

"(But) the infrastructure is getting better and better as these countries realize the opportunity they have to take business away from China and they are investing," he said.

Translation

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標準普爾全球市場情報公司的 Chris Rogers 表示： “離開中國大陸重新上岸容易嗎？不，不容易。這對玩具來說是雙倍的”; “情況更加複雜，因為它們具有很強的季節性 - 你要求合作夥伴在一年中的大部分時間都把玩具保留著庫存。玩具製造商還必須在安全、採購和確保工人得到良好待遇方面加倍嚴格。”

中國的最低工資為每月 1,420 元至 2,690 元（198.52-376.08 美元）不等，而在印度根據央行的估計，用每月 9,000 印度盧比至 15,000 印度盧比（108.04-180.06 美元）即可獲得非熟練和半熟練工人。。

但 Rogers 表示，如果從其他國家的一家公司從合約製造商購買產品，那麼採購可能需要 18 個月的時間；如果一家公司從頭零開始建造新工廠，則需要長達三年的時間。

秋季銷售的玩具從五月開始生產，然後儲存或運輸。

“成本更合理”

Hasbro 在2018 年的年度報告中開始將其對中國的過度依賴視為營運風險，而據報道，Mattel 自2007 年以來一直在遠離中國，當時該公司不得不召回數百萬件受含鉛油漆污染的玩具。 自從疫情爆發後，整個產業都加大了遠離的力度。

Hasbro沒有回應置評請求，而Mattel則拒絕對此事發表評論。

中國工資的不斷上漲正在推高玩具價格。 例如，根據 Circana（前身為 NPD）的數據，在英國，2022 年前 6 個月的價格上漲了約 8%。 消費者面臨的風險是，如果製造商無法透過轉移到更便宜的生產中心來降低成本，價格將繼續大幅上漲。

儘管美國對中國玩具的關稅目前是微不足道，但隨著一些共和黨政客呼籲取消中國的「永久正常貿易關係」地位，這種情況也可能會改變。 據美國零售聯合會稱，此舉可能會使美國玩具的價格上漲五分之一以上。

Tamagotchi虛擬寵物製造商公司, 英國的 Bandai 的董事總經理 Nic Aldridge 說: 「我們都在考慮消除中國的風險」。 「中國的原材料成本上漲了很多，我們正在尋找成本更合理的地方」。

Bandai 仍然主要在中國大陸生產，但也有一些產品在台灣、日本、越南生產。 Aldridge 說，該公司正在考慮將印度和泰國作為額外的地點。

LOL Surprise 和 Bratz 娃娃的製造商 MGA Entertainment 發現，在中國以外地點的基礎設施是有問題, 是向印度和越南等國家進行多元化採購的障礙，儘管該公司上個假期季節從中國的出口量較上年有所下降。

Panjiva 的數據顯示，過去五年，印度僅占美國和歐盟玩具進口的1%。

MGA Entertainment 執行長 Isaac Larian 告訴路透社： “印度選項實際上是從一處轉移到另一處的死胡同。那裡有太多瘋狂的法規。”

他說: 「（但是）隨著這些國家已意識到他們有機會從中國奪走業務並進行投資，其基礎設施正在變得越來越好」。

              So, due to increasing production cost in making toys, toy companies are trying to move out of China although it would be a slow process and there are many challenges to face.