Canton Fair Buyers Shun Finished Goods in Sign of Manufacturing Exodus, Insiders Say

Rather than buying finished goods, many foreign corporate customers are increasingly shifting to ordering only components and assembling the parts in their home countries, a number of exhibitors at China’s biggest twice-yearly trade exposition told Caixin, as a way to avoid high tariffs and a sign that manufacturing is continuing its move away from China.

Wang Peng (not his real name), a sales representative at a Chinese faucet producer at the 133rd Canton Fair, felt the change when a buyer from India and another from Qatar expressed their interest in buying faucet parts instead of finished products.