The Development of Light Manufacturing
China Becomes a Light Manufacturing Export Powerhouse As China’s reforms took hold, the output of light manufactures rose, and sales moved into international markets, boosting China’s trade ratio and its share of global trade (see table 1.3). This was made possible by the knowledge, finance, and networking effects of overseas Chinese (see above). China gradually assumed a leading position among trading countries. Its trade ratio, which rose from 29.8 percent in 1990 to 39.6 percent in 2000 and 50.3 percent in 2010, surpassed that of all other countries with populations greater than 100 million, including Japan and the United States. Trade was concentrated along the eastern seaboard, where trade ratios were even higher: 105.9 percent in Zhejiang Province and 122.9 percent in Guangdong Province in 2010 (NBS 2011). Light manufactures were a large component of China’s export surge. The country’s share of global garment exports more than doubled over 1995–2008, accounting for a third of global flows in 2008 (table 1.6). Its share of global exports in the broader category of textiles and apparel rose from an average 5 percent during 1980–85 to 15 percent over 2000– 05 and then doubled by 2010, reaching a third of global exports. Comparing China’s top 10 export categories in 2000 with those in 2010 shows both a large increase in exports of light manufactures and the category’s relative decline in China’s overall export mix (table 1.7). Over the period, export values nearly quadrupled Table 1.6 Share of Global Exports of Textiles and Apparel, China, 1980–2010 percent Year
Textiles and apparel
Apparel
1980
4.6
—
1985
5.1
—
1990
6.3
—
1995
12.3
15.2
2000
14.6
18.2
2005
15.6
26.8
2008
—
33.2
2010
32.7
—
Sources: Textiles and apparel: Qiu 2005; “Sharply-Slowing Textile Exports Worry Industry,” China Daily, June 1, 2012, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2012-06/01/content_15443709.htm; apparel only: Gereffi and Frederick 2010. Note: — = not available.
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