Trade: a profit-poor boom

• Published 17 Jun 2010

Rising wages, raw material and industrial input costs are whittling away exporters' profit margins even as orders rise.

The sharp rebound in China's exports, which expanded last month at the fastest pace in more than three years, is creating little cause for celebration among exporters. Surging orders did allow many factories to restart the assembly line they suspended last year. But a China Confidential survey of more than 40 exporters in seven provinces found that rising wages and industrial input prices are eating into profit margins almost across the board.

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