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The new reorganization of global trade is allowing China to stop being the “factory of the world”, added to factors such as the demographic crisis and the growing commercial and political tensions with the United States.
Chinese factory activity picked up in January after three months of contraction, reinforcing signs that the world’s second-largest economy may be recovering from a painful recession.
In the last three months of 2022, China’s economic growth slowed to 2.9% from a year earlier, but economists say rising investment and improving consumer spending could be a sign of recovery in the economy. activity.
Manufacturers have been hurt by weak demand for exports from the United States and Europe after central banks raised interest rates to combat inflation. Likewise, the demand of Chinese consumers weakened as a result of the outbreaks of Covid-19 and the fall of the real estate sector.
New export orders, factory activity and employment improved in January, the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said.
But the scenario is complex for many factories that have already decided to relocate their facilities to other countries in Southeast Asia, due to the demographic crisis in China and the commercial and political tensions with the United States.
The US administration of Joe Biden ratified the CHIPS law in 2022, which aims to improve the technological competitiveness of the United States against China and includes more than 52,000 million dollars of incentives for the national production of semi-processors.
“Value chains are moving to other Asian countries due to the saturation that exists in the port of Shanghai, which is the number one on the planet,” said Alejandro Godoy, Alejandro Godoy, geopolitical consultant on international affairs and postgraduate professor at international relations at the Nueva Granada Military University in Bogotá.
According to him, nations such as India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore appear as an alternative for many companies that are rethinking the idea of China as the “world’s factory.”
