Why do Chinese people with a per capita GDP of only 1/10 Americans spend two or three times the price to buy the same Chinese-made goods?

A Chinese-made “Italian leather garment” sold for only US$70 after the US Buffalo discounted, while in the domestic shopping mall, the same leather garment could sell for 1,500 yuan. The huge price difference surprised Ji Dongming, deputy director and associate researcher of the Institute of International Studies at the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences.

Qi Dongming told the reporter of the "First Financial Daily" that he had carefully observed the difference in domestic and foreign prices when he went to the United States. He found that overseas manufacturing in China is cheaper than domestic products mainly in the areas of durable consumer goods such as clothing and footwear.

He also cited the example of a Levi's pair of jeans that was sold at a discount store in the United States for between US$15 and US$30 (about RMB99 to RMB198). However, the same pair of pants was exported to the domestic market and sold at least in domestic stores. 700 yuan. A pair of Nike sports shoes, the United States priced at 33 US dollars (about *** 217 yuan), exports to Hong Kong back to the mainland, it is necessary to sell nearly 700 yuan ***.

The difference between the prices of the same goods in the two countries is two or three times.

On the other hand, the preliminary statistics of China's per capita GDP in 2010 were 29,748 yuan. The average GDP per capita of the United States is about 309,690 yuan, a difference of nearly 10 times.

For a long time, in the Chinese people's impression, the prices of goods such as cars, perfumes, and luxury goods abroad are far lower than those in China. But now, why even ordinary consumer goods made in China are sold cheaper after being exported?

The cost of the logistics channel is higher than that of the export. In Ji Dongming's view, the reason for this is very complicated. The first is related to the cost of the distribution channel. Foreign channels have higher circulation efficiency, lower logistics costs, bulk purchases have more discourse power, retail terminals can give a lower discount than domestic ones, and they don’t lose money; while domestic distribution channels are too expensive and efficient. low.

In this regard, a person in charge of a shoe company in Guangdong is also deeply impressed. He told this reporter that after the financial crisis, the company began to engage in the domestic market, "but not into the unknown, a startle", did not expect the domestic sales channel involves so many costs and costs.

“In the past, when we were exporting, we talked directly with the US dealers. He even helped me to store the goods in more than half of the United States. I only needed to be responsible for the transportation costs and just push the goods to them,” said the person in charge.

In China, there are fewer large-scale dealers, and companies often want each company to go to distribution. It is better to enter supermarkets like Wal-Mart, which focus on procurement. Most supermarkets are going to talk one by one, and there are bar codes and fees. Fees, shelves, festival fees, information processing fees, etc., a product entry into the supermarket will cost 60,000 to 80,000 yuan related costs.

The person in charge of the said shoe told reporters that recently the factory was preparing to open a store in a large shopping mall, only to find that this is the most difficult problem, the first entry fee up to 300,000 yuan, but not necessarily able to go in, but also spend money to find Relationships cost tens of thousands of yuan for the company's public relations fees. After entering the big shopping mall, because the selling price is lower, the manufacturers have to be forced to increase prices to match the high-end positioning of the shopping mall.

In addition, logistics costs in China are also high. For example, the responsible person said that from Shanghai to Guangzhou, a kilogram of goods is about 0.5 yuan, and from Shanghai Shipping to the United States, Chicago, a kilogram of goods is only 0.8 yuan. According to statistics from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, in 2007 China's total logistics cost accounted for approximately 18.4% of GDP, while developed countries in Europe and America accounted for only 8.99%. The logistics cost of Chinese enterprises is 40% to 50% higher than that of Europe and the United States.

"Almost the same quality of shoes, our domestic prices are almost 1-3 times of foreign countries, the middle of the channel costs accounted for the vast majority, we are making money overseas. But in the country, even if the products are all sold, its Sales are still not enough for rent, wages, transportation, and management costs.” The above-mentioned head of the shoe company said that both the distribution channels and the taxes generated during the production process will undoubtedly be passed on to the terminal retail price.

Higher taxes pushed up prices. According to Duan Hongbin, a financial columnist, China's export tax rebate is an important reason why companies can export at low prices. Since the tax reform in 1994, China’s export tax rebate policy has undergone 12 rounds of adjustments. On April 1, 2009, the state officially issued a document that the export tax rebate rate of Chinese textile enterprises was raised from the original 15% to 16%, hoping to promote the recovery of textile companies.

"That is to say, for foreigners spending every 100 yuan of goods, 16 of them are given to him by the Chinese." Duan Hongbin said.

When goods made in China are returned to China from overseas, they must not only pay customs duties, but also add value-added tax to the value-added portion, while the United States does not have a VAT statement. As to how high our country’s import tariffs are, luxury cars are the best example. According to China’s tariff policy, imported vehicles need to pay customs duties, value-added taxes, and consumption taxes from the shore to customs clearance. Large-displacement imported automobile taxes and taxes account for the total number of vehicles. About 45% of the price.

Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and other products are also typical. Although they are assembled and assembled in China, in the Chinese market, the time to market is not only many months later than overseas but the price is much higher.

In this regard, Yuan Hongying, director of the Institute of Fiscal Finance of the Shandong Academy of Social Sciences, believes that although higher tariffs can protect the growth of domestic industries, they also cause weak imports to a certain extent, which is detrimental to our country’s masses enjoying cheap and high quality abroad. Commodities, at the same time, are not conducive to trade balance.

In addition, Ji Dongming believes that the inversion of certain commodities is not unrelated to the speculation of domestic hot money. “The lack of transparency in domestic information and the lack of investment channels have caused hot money to attack everywhere and seek opportunities that can be hyped. Those easily preserved and scarce commodities such as tea, medicinal herbs, food, wine, and gold have become prey for hot money. This is inconceivable in the United States, where information is highly transparent," said Qi Dongming.

The Chinese Moutai, which is sold in shops in Japan's Osaka International Airport, sells for only 956 yuan in 500 ml bottles, while in China, Maotai wine has been sold for 1,480 yuan during the Spring Festival. The fine Yunnan Blush can be sold at a tea shop in London for 40 yuan per 50 grams, while the same brand of tea is almost doubled in domestic prices.

The same is true of some high-end domestic cigarettes. A reference to the "China 5000" with a retail price of 500 yuan, but sold at the Pudong airport duty-free shop, it only sells more than 300 yuan.

However, this is not true of all domestic products. In most cases, the overseas sales price of domestic goods, especially in Europe, is still significantly higher than that of the domestic market. For example, if more than 10 yuan of “Dai Bao” cosmetics are sold in Japan, it will cost 1,800 yen ( About *** 100 yuan).

Purchasing power is outflow?

In November last year, it was reported that China will participate fully in the new round of international comparison projects (ICP) organized by the World Bank for the first time this year, allowing Chinese GDP to be converted by purchasing power parity and compared with other countries.

The basis of purchasing power parity is the price of the same goods or services in each country's national currency. The prices of products made in China in different countries will naturally affect the purchasing power of foreign currencies.

Although the World Federation of Large Businesses has issued a report predicting that China's economy will exceed the United States by 2012, according to purchasing power parity calculations. However, as far as the *** is concerned, with China's domestic prices rising year after year, purchasing power has shown a downward trend.

In recent years, the World Bank has continuously adjusted the purchasing power parity between *** and the “International Dollar” (a kind of virtual currency that is independent of the currency of sovereign countries and used for comparison with international multilateral currencies). In 2005, the international currency was 2.1372 yuan. * In 2006, it was 2.0872 yuan***, in 2007 it was 3.6471 yuan, and in 2008 it was 3.8044 yuan***. From the data alone, the purchasing power of the unit *** is declining.

A person in charge of a travel agency told this reporter that after the financial crisis, travel agencies organized many overseas pure shopping groups according to the domestic market demand. Accompanied tour guides found that tourists not only bought back local famous brands, but also encumbered a large number of domestic products. However, domestic products have not yet formed the main force.

An internal investigation report of the Guangdong Provincial Price Bureau obtained by this newspaper shows that in the past, the types of goods that Shenzhen residents and other mainland residents visited in Hong Kong were mainly luxury goods, electronic products, and cosmetics. Currently, there are types of eggs, fruit, soy sauce, and paper towels. Trends for foods and daily necessities such as shampoos, milk powder and diapers.

When interviewed by this reporter, Peng Wei, a researcher at the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, believed that the rise in the prices of domestic consumer goods led to an outflow of consumer power and was not conducive to the pull of domestic demand. He believes that the entire Chinese business landscape needs to be reconstructed. (author Andrews)