More price hikes on the way

Hong Kong - A survey of 232 exporters doing business out of China found 74% boosted prices due to higher raw material costs last year - and 24% of those expect to raise prices again this year.

Companies surveyed export textiles, home products, fashion accessories, garments, hardware, sports equipment, telecom, and security products.

One-third of the survey group said costs increased by 6% to 10% last year, while 41% reported raw materials prices rose 11% to more than 20%.

Half of respondents capped their pass-along price incrases at 5%, and one-third hiked prices to their customers 6% to 10%.

"In past surveys, suppliers indicated they would make operational adjustments to boost profit margins.This is no longer an option with material and labor costs up across nearly every industry," said Craig Pepples, Global Sources' president of corporate affairs.

Global Sources, a business-to-business match-up company, is seeing manufacturers countering high prices by moving into better goods, he added.

"The need for China exporters to work harder to market themselves and justify their higher prices in terms of service, product quality or production volume is more apparent than ever,'' he said.