China's fashion accessories suppliers anticipate return to strong sales

USA - English

• USA - English

HONG KONG, May 27 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- With markets worldwide recovering from the economic crisis, China's suppliers of fashion accessories are looking forward to renewed strong sales in 2010. This is according to Global Sources' (Nasdaq: GSOL) China Sourcing Report: Fashion Accessories (http://www.chinasourcingreports.com/fashionaccessories ).

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The Report, which covers belts, buckles, sunglasses, optical frames, reading glasses, gloves, hats, caps, hair accessories, hosiery and neckwear, reveals that most suppliers anticipate overseas sales to climb by at least 10 percent in the coming months. Almost 40 percent of companies interviewed for the report expect export growth of more than 20 percent.

"China suppliers are definitely optimistic about 2010 for substantial sales growth," said Publisher of the Report, Livia Yip. "Besides the overall recovery from the export slump, manufacturers of headwear, gloves, neckwear and hosiery especially foresee buyers boosting orders, due to expectations of extreme conditions in winter this year."

Coping with higher production costs

While suppliers are upbeat about a steady improvement in exports, they face a big challenge in trying to keep prices down. "Profitability is being jeopardized by rising material and labor outlay. Cotton is now 33 percent more expensive than a year ago, and the cost of polyester and most metal materials has also surged, by 50 percent in some categories," Yip said.

"Many suppliers may have no choice but to pass the additional expense onto buyers in order to maintain reasonable margins. In the Report, two-thirds of respondents said they intend to push up prices due to the higher outlay. Even so, for most of them the rate of increase is expected to be limited to 10 percent," Yip added.

Apart from rising material cost (34 percent) and labor cost (28 percent), the following are some of the other difficulties challenging suppliers:

    -- 14 percent cite price competition as becoming a problem;
    -- 10 percent regard design piracy as a threat;
    -- 7 percent see stricter overseas standards as a challenge; and
    -- 7 percent worry that a stronger yuan could impact profitability

To boost competitiveness, manufacturers are working on enhancing operating efficiency (49 percent), widening product range (18 percent) and increasing staff training to reduce product defects (10 percent).

Supplier profiles, price forecasts and the latest fashion accessories for export

The 129-page China Sourcing Report: Fashion Accessories provides detailed profiles of 29 suppliers with verified manufacturing and export credentials, plus contact details of 18 more suppliers. It also includes a Product Gallery featuring 135 of the most popular export models, with key specifications and full-color pictures.

The Report's surveys, price trends and supply forecasts aim to help buyers make better-informed purchasing decisions.

Specialized Global Sources websites, face-to-face events, trade magazines and research reports

China Sourcing Reports are part of Global Sources' sourcing and product information services. These include Global Sources Online (http://www.globalsources.com ), China Sourcing Fairs (http://www.chinasourcingfair.com ), Private Sourcing Events (http://www.PrivateSourcingEvents.com ) and Global Sources monthly magazines (http://www.globalsources.com/SITE/MAGAZINES.HTM ).

For more information about Global Sources' products and services that connect quality buyers with verified suppliers, visit http://www.corporate.globalsources.com .

The China Sourcing Report: Fashion Accessories is available for purchase at http://www.chinasourcingreports.com/fashionaccessories .

Free information about China fashion accessories suppliers can be found at http://www.globalsources.com/manufacturers/Wholesale-Headbands.html .

About Global Sources

Global Sources is a leading business-to-business media company and a primary facilitator of trade with Greater China. The core business uses English-language media to facilitate trade from Greater China to the world. The other business segment utilizes Chinese-language media to enable companies to sell to, and within Greater China.

The company provides sourcing information to volume buyers and integrated marketing services to suppliers. It helps a community of over 888,000 active buyers source more profitably from complex overseas supply markets. With the goal of providing the most effective ways possible to advertise, market and sell, Global Sources enables suppliers to sell to hard-to-reach buyers in over 240 countries.

The company offers the most extensive range of media and export marketing services in the industries it serves. It delivers information on 4.5 million products and more than 256,000 suppliers annually through 14 online marketplaces, 13 monthly print and 15 digital magazines, over 80 sourcing research reports and 21 specialized trade shows which run 55 times a year across 9 cities.

Suppliers receive more than 136 million sales leads annually from buyers through Global Sources Online (http://www.globalsources.com ) alone.

Global Sources has been facilitating global trade for nearly 40 years. Global Sources' network covers more than 60 cities worldwide. In mainland China, Global Sources has about 2,500 team members in more than 40 locations, and a community of over 1 million registered online users and magazine readers for its Chinese-language media.

    Global Sources Press Contact in Asia
     Camellia So
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SOURCE Global Sources