The "China Select" section of the Nuremberg Toy Fair reportedly covered 119 companies, with some 200 exhibitors from China participating in the toy industry's largest gathering. Christian Ulrich, spokesman for the board of directors of the organizer Toy Fair Nuremberg, was particularly pleased with the high participation rate. "This underlines the continued importance of China for the toy industry. China is a sourcing market and increasingly a sales market as well."
In fact, the toy industry is extremely close to China, the report said, and neither the new crown pandemic nor the problems associated with it - such as factory shutdowns, problems with shipping logistics to Europe or political disagreements - have changed that. Nor has the U.S.-China trade conflict or the ongoing human rights debate affected the toy business. It is clear that China will always be the production location for 60 to 75 percent of the world's toys - fluctuating due to various projections - both now and in the future.
"We all depend on China, it's as simple as that," said Michael Sibel, 66, owner of Germany's largest toymaker, Senba Group.
According to the report, Sibel experienced firsthand the migration of the industry in the late 1990s and early this century. At the time, the entire toy industry moved there, lured by the low wages of toy factories located primarily in southern China. China's hourly wages, social security and other expenses have now increased, so other Asian countries can compete with China on the basis of low wage costs, said Johannes Weber, China and Asia market expert at Senba Group. But Sibel still doesn't see a Chinese alternative in the foreseeable future, even though his company is also currently producing at eight European plants.
"Of course, everyone is thinking about these issues and looking for alternative production sites," Sibel said, "but let's not kid ourselves that China is far ahead of other countries in toy production." Weber also said China has something that other countries don't: semi-skilled craftsmen who are well trained or at least specially trained, the machinery needed and special technology - other countries have to be ready for that first.
