Rising labor cost in China

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    • 2012.05.01 at 1:15 am #8467
      tea soul
      Participant

      Some tea fields in China look freshly green and full of new leaves. This is good for scenery shots but not good for tea trade, because these leaves should have been picked before they are this size. Younger people are in cities for other work with higher pay. Salary in China is growing very rapidly. Rising labor cost in China is a big problem for tea production and that affects tea prices. How does the future look for tea trading under such condition? 

    • 2012.05.01 at 10:18 am #9457
      CHAWANG
      Participant

      labour cost rise, labour cost fall. tea price rise, tea price fall. the world is round. does not matter. just mark in your margin. we tea seller small potato can do nothing. too much thinking hurt the brain. can do only what we can

    • 2012.05.02 at 9:35 am #9461
      Leo
      Participant

      That’s philosophical. However, I do think it is time the industry in China think clearly of a way forward. 

      While domestic consumption is able to sustain a rising price for now, this is not going on for too many years. Export will be taken over by productions in other regions, though not the same quality. I have been thinking about the issue for some time and think that a rising salary for the worker is only reasonable. We don’t enjoy our fine taste basing on exploitations of others. 
      However, the hard truth is, there are many production countries where the pickers are still paid less than 2 USD a day, when there is job. I have an article the month before last on that: 
      A couple of days ago, I had a very nice dinner with a friend from Switzerland who is an appreciator of fine wine. He ordered a 150 USD bottle and it’s gone just between the two of us. We were thinking if tea could have the same market acceptance, or even just one quarter of it, many people in the trade would be much better off. 
      If this is to happen, are we, however, further financing the slave drivers in the majority of tea production countries? While it is free economy and the workers free to choose their work in tea productions in China, Japan and Taiwan, the situations in most others are less than humane.
      Where are we standing in this? I really don’t know. 
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