Made in China

I was watching Jessica Soho Report last night and one of their topics was entitled “Made in China.” This episode really gave me a wake up call on the effects of these products in our economy.

You see, I’m a fan of 168 and Divisoria Mall. I love to go there, specially it is just near our place, if I want to buy just about anything from clothes, to bags, and even toys and give away for my daughter’s birthday party. I love to shop here since it is really cheap. Imagine for P1000 I can buy a few dozen of toys already. Or if I want a bag, for less than P500 I can buy a nice bag.

But what I didn’t realize is that because products from China are cheaper compared to products made here, consumers prefer to buy them instead of the durable but most pricey products made here in the Philippines. Let’s take for example shoes made in Marikina. They are more of high quality but they are pricier since shoe shop owners have to pay for the labor and materials and taxes. And no matter how much they try to reduce the labor cost, they can still never compete with the prices of China products.

And the result is a lot of our garment factories and shoe factories have closed down because they can never really compete with the smuggled price of China products.

I felt guilty. I’m one of those consumers who patronize those products made in China and I realized I contributed to the down fall of our shoe and garment industry. At least now I’m aware of its effects and I will really try as much as I can to stop patronizing those products.