Tariffs will make handbag makers move production awa - leatherbiz: Lea Leatherbiz

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Tariffs will make handbag makers move production away from China

26/09/2018
In spite of the success of the China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) in persuading the Chinese government to keep tariffs on imports of most US hides at 5% (the government wanted to increase the rate to 25% on January 1), the association is concerned about the escalating trade-war with the US.

Both countries began imposing tariffs on a wide variety of products on September 24 and among the products targetted by the US are luggage and bags. CLIA has told leatherbiz that these tariffs will impact Chinese exports of these products very seriously.

Honorary chairman, Su Chaoying, told us: “Some manufacturers have told us that orders from the US are already down and we know that some of those companies will shift production from Guangdong province, which has a strong tradition in designing and manufacturing leather handbags, to Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia and other countries in south-east Asia. Margins on these products are low already and the tariffs will bring even more difficulty to these manufacturers.”

Mr Su explained that around 75% of all the leather handbags and luggage imported into the US at the moment are from China and that this business is worth $8.4 billion per year to the Chinese leather industry.


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