Hi all,
I guess this is going to come as old hat to you - but it's well publicized now that
trading simply isn't what it used to be in the "good old days" (there are always
exceptions, of course).
The internet has opened up things big-time for each and every one of us and made
it an even playing field even for newbies. From a purely Hong Kong trader's perspective,
it is getting a lot harder to break in with new customers. Most of them - even newbies -
feel that they are able to by-pass the middleman and go direct to Mainland factories.
In fact, despite our best efforts even old customers have started to side-step us with
the intention of going direct with factories in China...
It has to be said that with the markets in general becoming more competitive, some
customers really feel it necessary to trash years of goodwill built up with their
middle-men and approach China directly.
Consumer confidence has been beaten to oblivion - with Inflation, record-high oil prices, rising food prices, soaring energy costs, etc wreaking havoc everywhere. Naturally, we are now also smelling the bear's breath in major stock markets worldwide, with no seeming end in sight.
Back in China, we are finally seeing the government doing something about the "undervalued" RMB and making efforts to prop up the income of those who really
deserve it - the factory workers who are basically an integral part of our lives for
almost everything that's made in China....
Keeping in mind factors such as these, the safety standard problems (like the ones
with the Toys and Baby foods industry last year pertaining to certain products originating in
China) and the growing competition from emerging production bases such
as Vietnam (for example), is China's strangehold on the title of "The World's
Factory" finally coming to a close ? Or will the Dragon continue to reinvent itself and
remain king for the foreseeable future ?
Amidst the new world order, what does the future really hold for us traders or middlemen ? That's the million dollar question....
I look forward to your comments and input.
