How China’s factories are pivoting from an export-oriented business model to rely more on domestic sales

Name: Demand for professional home cleaning services growing rapidly among China’s middle class
Uploaded: 2020-11-16T04:00:11.000Z
Duration: 5 min 13 s
Description: Demand for professional home cleaning services growing rapidly among China’s middle class

Deteriorating relations with Western countries has accelerated China’s push to look inward for economic growth, putting its fate in its own hands

Even as orders have been returning to China due to other producing countries still being ravaged by the pandemic, manufacturers say the trend unsustainable

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Chinese manufacturers are being encouraged by the central government to embrace a domestic-centric business model, with less reliance on exports. Illustration: Henry Wong

He Huifeng

Published: 12:00pm, 16 Nov 2020Updated: 9:45am, 26 Nov 2020

If you build it, will they buy? That’s the big question facing China’s manufacturers as they are being told by the highest levels of government to embrace an inward-facing model of domestic consumption.

In the world’s second-largest economy, built in good part on the back of exports and investment, it is a sea change that is being driven by propaganda and a growing sense of national pride among the public that China has done the best job of dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, particularly as deteriorating relations with some Western countries show little sign of improving.

President Xi Jinping called on the nation in May to rely more on domestic demand for future growth – dubbing it a dual circulation strategy – and his directive requires significant changes in both internal supply and demand.

“The pandemic has made it difficult for us to sell abroad, but we do feel as though Chinese customers are less … enthusiastic for foreign brands, especially mid-level products,” said a sales manager at a fashion jewellery brand with shops all over the country.

“Frankly, it may be becoming fashionable and more politically correct to make and consume good-quality Chinese goods,” he added, asking not to be identified.

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Demand for professional home cleaning services growing rapidly among China’s middle class

That sentiment seems to be felt by a growing number of Chinese export manufacturers, some of whom say they have started shifting investments to the domestic market even as their exports have seen a huge resurgence recently.