The packed showroom at the Jia Hong factory in the city of Dongguan in southern China features tubs of modelling clay and paint kits that the company has sold to western retailers for years but also newer toys developed for the Chinese market, which now accounts for 15 per cent of sales.
Nothing, however, prepared the company for the 30 per cent drop in demand this year from its main export markets in Europe, the US and Russia. The latest data, published at the weekend, highlighted the industrial slowdown across China, with the country’s manufacturing activity falling to a nine-month low in August.
“Both the domestic and overseas markets are not good at this time,” says Zhong Jianrong, Jia Hong’s factory manager.