metal furniture

With their advanced manufacturing technology, skilled workers, and a strong global reputation for quality and on-time delivery, Chinese metal furniture parts makers have plenty of reasons for optimism in their showdown with emerging rivals from Southeast Asia. Apart from new competition, Chinese metal furniture parts makers have faced a tough business climate in recent years due to the rising cost of raw materials, especially zinc, copper and nickel. Oil price rise, tariff barriers, and local government policies have posed other obstacles and dragged margins to wafer thin levels. The biggest threat, however, is low-priced competing products turned out in high volume by rivals in Southeast Asia and other low-cost production sites. Despite these formidable challenges, a few domestic companies are carving out competitive niches through a strategy focusing on high-end and branded production, a segment that commands far higher margins than the industry’s mainstay OEM output.