As we all know China is the World’s Factory, but every factory, every supplier has its niche or one might call it specialization. So, what is China “specialized” in, what are the product categories that are most exported from China to the rest of the globe? Any idea? Well, do not worry, I am here to share a lot of interesting information with you.
The below data is from 2016, and it is interesting!
1. Electrical machinery, equipment: US$557.1 billion (26.3% of total exports)
2. Machinery including computers: $344.8 billion (16.3%)
3. Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: $89.5 billion (4.2%)
4. Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $75 billion (3.5%)
5. Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $72.8 billion (3.4%)
6. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $67.9 billion (3.2%)
7. Plastics, plastic articles: $64 billion (3%)
8. Vehicles: $60.4 billion (2.9%)
9. Articles of iron or steel: $53.1 billion (2.5%)
10. Footwear: $47.8 billion (2.3%)
2. Machinery including computers: $344.8 billion (16.3%)
3. Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: $89.5 billion (4.2%)
4. Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $75 billion (3.5%)
5. Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $72.8 billion (3.4%)
6. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $67.9 billion (3.2%)
7. Plastics, plastic articles: $64 billion (3%)
8. Vehicles: $60.4 billion (2.9%)
9. Articles of iron or steel: $53.1 billion (2.5%)
10. Footwear: $47.8 billion (2.3%)
Why do you need to know those categories, why that is simple! This can help you with your next hit product for example or encourage you to start in a new category of products or change your business direction completely. But knowing what the categories are is just part of the success mix. The second part is to know where those products are produced within China. If you want to know why and how this can help your business, I suggest you keep on reading!
1.Sourcing from China, does it matter where in China?
China is a large country, in reality, it is at position number 4 by land size in the world. They have space, they have the labor, and they have governments support to establish and grow industrial zones all over the country. Those zones are established for many reasons that are advantageous both for the suppliers and buyers.
First, we need to make sure you understand that what we are talking about here are not official industrial zones that have tax incentives, but industrial clusters. For example, the city of Detroit, Michigan in the US is famous for car manufacturing. So, let us imagine that all the US car manufacturers are located in the Michigan state rather than across the US. They are all concentrated in one specific location. This would be a cluster of manufacturers. All those businesses will benefit from the collective growth, R&D, new jobs, lower cost of resources (they are located next to them) and many other things.
Clusters in China are similar, and they have certain product categories they produce in one geographic location that provides specific resources.
Another requirement for the clusters is a suitable labor pool. Additionally, most of the clusters are located near large shipping ports, and that makes exporting products more efficient.
So, this list of factors provides the competitive advantage for those industrial zones. But how will this benefit you, the client? You will get lower prices for better quality products at decreased production times and with faster delivery. Truth be told there are more advantages, like complementary products, R&D possibilities but that is for more long-term cooperation.
So, it does matter where you source in China, and everything depends on the product that you are trying to produce. I have already mentioned several advantages that you can capitalize on, but there are more. The choice of potential suppliers is the most profound one, as the more suppliers there is, the more choice you have and the lower the prices you can negotiate.
2.One province, one type of product policy? All you need to know!
In reality, if you look at industrial clusters in China you can see that specialization is pretty much by a province. It will not be just one product, but a category of products that have the same basis or components or production methods.
The reason for that is simple, China not only imports natural and other resources for manufacturing purposes, but it also uses its own resources. For example, if you want to produce electronic goods you need to go to Guangdong province, the city of Shenzhen. Why? Because government policies and incentives prompted the production of this particular category in the 1990s.
But we are not here to look into history but to help you with the future. The resources needed for electronics production were there, be it labor or components. And so goes for other industrial clusters in China. Below you can see a list, which you can rely on and check where to produce what. You need to know this because it will help you to sort between your suppliers or potential suppliers faster.
- Electronic Industry: Mainly in Guangdong (33%), the rest in Yangtze River Delta, Suzhou, Jiangsu Provinces.
- Textile Industry: Mainly in Zhejiang (18%) and Jiangsu (20%), the rest in Fujian, Guangdong, Shandong Provinces.
- Leather & Feather: South-East Coastal areas, Hebei, He’nan and Ningxia Provinces.
- Metal Product: Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, He’nan provinces.
- Glass: More in Hebei, Jiangsu, some in Shandong and Guangdong provinces.
- Ceramics: Jingdezhen in Jiangxi provinces
- Furniture: Mainly in Dong’guan City, Guangdong Province, the rest in Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai Provinces.
- Construction: More in Shandong province, the rest in Hubei, He’nan, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang Province.
- Household Appliance: Guangdong, Zhejiang Provinces.
- Kid’s Toys: Mainly in Shantou City, Guangdong Province, the rest in Zhejiang Province.
- Artware & Stationary & Sporting: Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hubei.
- Papermaking & Printing: Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Fujian.
- Machinery Manufacturing: Dongbei Area, Hu’nan and Hubei provinces.
- Petrochemical Industry: Shandong (32%), Liaoning (21%), Guangdong (15%)
- Pharmaceutical Industry: Tianjin city, Xi’an city in Shanxi province
- Food & Beverage: Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, Hebei, Henan, Hunan, Hubei, Inner Mongolia
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Transportation Equipment:
- Motor & Bicycle: Taizhou city in Zhejiang province (40%)
- Shipping/Vessel: Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Bohai Bay Areas
- Automobile: Mainly in Jilin, Hubei, Shanghai and Yangtze River Delta, the rest in Pearl River Delta, Beijing
Sources from Ministry of Commerce, PRC
3.Factories, agents, and provinces, does it matter?
If you want to get a German Sheppard where do you think the best place to get it would be? Well, one would assume it to be Germany because that is where the breed originated. The same principle will go for your products.
If you want to produce bamboo spoons, would you go to a supplier that is making plastic chairs, or to an agent that specialized in woolen socks? Of course not! Everyone is good at something, and that specifically applies to Chinese manufacturers and agents.
If you work with a factory that has focused on particular product, let us say shoes, and they are located in the province that has “a shoe” cluster, you are in good hands. If you are working through an agent or a sourcing company that is “into” shoes, you will have even more advantages.
Remember China is all about GuanXi (personalized relationship network), those factories that are located nearby will help each other when necessary, for example when it is a high season or if machinery broke down but the orders still need to be delivered. They will share resources, workers, materials.
So, what I am getting at is very simple, when sourcing from China you need to make sure you are sourcing with and from the right people, and I don’t mean the ones who will not rip you off. What I mean is spend a bit more time and make sure you are working with the right cluster. It can go a long way and increase your products quality and decrease the price.
4. Stay on top of your game
Let me quickly recap for you so you can get back to work to make millions on the products you have sourced from China. I mean it!
China has industrial clusters which specialize in product categories. You need to use this fact to enhance your product experience and quality. You need to make sure that sourcing, trading companies or agents that you work with have good connections with factories in those clusters and have previous experience working with them. If you are doing all the sourcing yourself than you need to make sure the factories you are working with are located within those industrial clusters.
The cluster division is there for a reason, not only its development is supported by the manufacturers, but these days you can see more and more incentives coming from the government.
These are the basics you need to know regarding provinces and products to stay on top of your game. There are other things of course, and I think the many articles I have can help you with a lot of different issues when it comes to sourcing from China.
5. Why I don't use AliExpress ?
So many people are using Aliexpress as their Dropshipping suppliers. Well, it is a good choice for few orders at the beginning. But it will be disaster when you get more and more daily orders: poor quality control, no stable stock and slower shipping, poor customer service. Especially when you scale the ads. You will get negative feedback from many customers. As a result, your ad account or official page will be banned suddenly.
6. Why CroDropshipping.com ?
With CroDropshipping.com, you will save all your time from comparing so many different china suppliers. As it is very hard to know if your supplier is a factory in secluded region or it is just a small trading company. Even you find real factories, many China local factories always quote much higher price to foreigners than local Chinese buyers, and most real factories don't offer Dropshipping service even few of them offer Dropshipping but they are really not good at it and they have higher shipping cost and always delay to ship out.
That's why you need a professional Dropshipping agent in China to make all things smoothly: stable, faster, and lower cost. And here is the reason.
Lower cost
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Stable stock
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Quality control
CroDropshipping will check your item one by one before shipment.
Short processing time
CroDropshipping will ship all fo your daily orders within 12-48 hours.
Fast delivery
CroDropshipping will choose stable and best shipping method for different countries.
Customer service
CroDropshipping offers 7x24 hours customer service and will follow tracking status until final delivery. And CroDropshipping will share un-normal orders in one page until they become normal.
Lower Return & Refund cost
Return and refund is a big headache for all sellers. CroDropshipping will share cost for your return & refund and support your return system. You will get product cost refund if your customers return the packages to CroDropshipping warehouse directly.
CroDropshipping works with china local factories and different logistic agent for different countries. so you will always get lower product cost and shipping price from CroDropshipping.
Stable stock
CroDropshipping will prepare stock for you when your orders growing up.
Quality control
CroDropshipping will check your item one by one before shipment.
Short processing time
CroDropshipping will ship all fo your daily orders within 12-48 hours.
Fast delivery
CroDropshipping will choose stable and best shipping method for different countries.
Customer service
CroDropshipping offers 7x24 hours customer service and will follow tracking status until final delivery. And CroDropshipping will share un-normal orders in one page until they become normal.
Lower Return & Refund cost
Return and refund is a big headache for all sellers. CroDropshipping will share cost for your return & refund and support your return system. You will get product cost refund if your customers return the packages to CroDropshipping warehouse directly.