US TOY PRODUCERS PLAN TO MOVE OPERATIONS TO VIET NAM

Monday, April 29, 2019  13:49

Several toy makers of the US are intending to move their production facilities in China to other markets, including Viet Nam, due to concerns about negative effects from the USChina trade war.

6 Some US toy firms said if their products are made in the US instead of China, their toys will be five times more expensive, and consumers will not buy products at such high prices. In cases where the US applies a 25-percent tax on raw materials, toy businesses may go bankrupt or be forced to cut down their number of workers.

Experts said the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies have promoted big toy producers of the US to shift their production to other markets, a trend that has occurred due to rising costs in China. Hasbro, the world's leading toy manufacturer, plans to reduce the amount of toy products made in China to 60 percent by 2020, compared with 69 percent in 2018 and 86 percent in 2012. It plans to move some of its production to the US, Mexico, Viet Nam, and India.

According to data from the market research organisation Euromonitor International, the toy manufacturing sector in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Viet Nam has recorded double-digit growth during the 2012-2017 period.–VNA