Chinese Manufacturers Are Scouring the World to Find New Buyers

Textile firms flock to countries such as Indonesia in search of new markets to replace the U.S.

- Hannah Miao

Wang Chengpei runs a Chinese textile company selling polyester and nylon fabrics to garment manufacturers that make work and athletic wear. Until recently, about 30% of revenue at his company, Suzhou Feimosi Textile Technology, came from orders destined for the U.S. Now, around a third of his buyers' orders are on hold due to the U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, and he is on the hunt for other markets. That has brought him to Indonesia, where he hopes to sell to local manufacturers.

"We came here to see if we can open up new markets" and make up for the loss of U.S. consumers, said Wang.

At a textile and garment trade fair this month in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, he offered swatches of fabric with colorful designs that block ultraviolet rays, hoping they would appeal to local manufacturers making clothes for Indonesia's tropical climate.

With the White House imposing 145% tariffs this year on Chinese goods, Chinese manufacturers are fanning out around the world in search of new markets to offload products that would have served U.S. demand.

It won't be easy to find alternatives to America's voracious consumers. The U.S. is by far the largest single-country buyer of China's exported goods, accounting for roughly half a trillion dollars of products, or about 15% of China's goods exports, last year, according to Chinese customs data.

About a fifth of China's goods exports to the U.S. have a high dependency on the U.S., Oxford Economics found. At stake are about 10 million to 20 million jobs in China geared toward making products for American consumers, according to Goldman Sachs estimates. Also on the line is the health of the world's second-largest economy.