Xinjiang cotton spawns new controversy with 30-fold jump in online prices of Li Ning, Anta footwear as market crackdown looms
- Some Li Ning and Anta sports shoes surge way above their reference retail prices on e-commerce platform Dewu, stoking calls for a crackdown
- Speculators ramp up prices of local-brand products amid nationalistic fervour following a boycott of foreign brands to defend Xinjiang-produced cotton
Prices for some shoes produced by Li Ning and Anta Sports surged by at least eight-fold on an obscure e-commerce platform called Dewu. The phenomenon follows a surge in the share prices of Chinese apparel makers as Chinese consumers snubbed foreign brands in what the US called a state-led boycott.
A Li Ning pair named after former NBA basketball star Dwyane Wade sold for as much as 48,889 yuan (US$7,459) on Dewu, or 33 times its recommended retail price. A pair of Anta shoes, with a special imprint of Japanese cartoon character Doraemon, fetched 3,999 yuan versus its reference price of 499 yuan.
The frenzy for local sportswear products highlights how speculators have taken advantage of a political event to profit from a surge in nationalism. Buyers switched to local brands in a pushback against Swedish group H&M, as an old statement resurfaced over cotton allegedly produced with Uygur forced labour in Xinjiang.
