Key questions this article answers:
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How come China is losing some of its share of global manufacturing?
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What can Nigeria do to achieve export-led industrialisation for growth?
When you think of manufacturing, it’s almost impossible not to think of China. There’s hardly an item that isn’t or at least hasn’t been produced in China at some point. But China is starting to lose its appeal as the world’s manufacturing capital, no thanks to the constant trade wars with the US, lockdowns that lasted over 1,000 days due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and costlier labour.
On the back of the trade wars, the US reduced its imports from China while doubling its imports from Vietnam and increasing Mexican imports by 20%.
But the US isn’t the only country leaving China; this bouquet of issues has made companies reconsider diversifying their production out of China.
Between 2020 and 2021, about 900 Japanese