Is the Australian print market a major target for the Chinese Printing Industry? Probably not according to the experiences of a group of Australian printers who have just returned from a reconnaissance tour to China and Hong Kong.  

A total of 16 industry company representatives from four States spent 10 days visiting China’s four major print zones as part of a Printing Industries organised expedition.  

Printing Industries National Operations’ Manager, Robert Fuller, said that it appears Australia is for China still a relatively small and emerging market given the large volumes that they already process for the USA, Europe, and Canada.   

“There is no doubt about China’s printing industry capacity to achieve its goal of becoming a world print centre,” he said.  

“Chinese owners and managers that we spoke to have a perception dominated by a ‘can do’ approach to business.  

“They are totally customer service focused, tend to look outwards, and are always seeking Joint Ventures and partnering opportunities with overseas business that can add value – especially management and Western style systems that will assist their business to compliment the low wage cost advantage that they readily acknowledge.”

Mr Fuller said the preconception that China’s printing industry may be overstaffed, have sweat-shop standards, be inefficient or lacking in basic international workplace standards was not evident on the tour.  

“Instead many of the print factories were ISO 14001 third-party accredited and proudly held certifications to other ISO standards. Triple Bottom Line Scorecard is used as well as Six Sigma (measure of improving quality).  

“In many cases these may have been required by end user overseas customers – but nevertheless, these print firms have responded to that market imperative. They are now beginning to focus their attention on improving environmental initiatives,” he said.

Whilst there remain a significant number of fully or partially State owned print businesses, those that are privately owned display a highly entrepreneurial culture that embraces business opportunities whenever identified.   

Mr Fuller said that while there were some business opportunities for Australian companies dealing with China, there were also some difficulties.  

“A significant impediment remains transport logistics. These dictate that a minimum of four to six weeks is required from sign-off to delivery in Australia - however this can quickly extend up to eight weeks if the job has to wait for a container to fill.   

“Also quotations, firm price negotiations, and contracts remain heavily entrenched in the culture of relationships unlike the Australian method of conducting business,” he said.  

The tour covered the full breadth of printing facilities in China and Hong Kong including sheet-fed plants, web, digital, bindery, packaging, and related manufacturing plants.   A key element of the tour was not just the inspections of plants and operations, but in-depth discussions on business dealings with Chinese firms.

Through industry specific information provided by one of the ‘big four’ international accountancy firms, complimented by excellent Austrade presentations, delegates were provided with practical guidance and answers to the pressing questions of ‘how to do business with China.’   

“One thing now certain is that those Australian representatives who went on the tour have absolutely THE BEST first hand information on how to do business with China if they decide to go down this path,” Mr Fuller said.  

The importance of the Printing Industries’ leadership of this delegation was driven home with a full and frank diplomatic discussion between the Australian delegation, China’s Minister for Printing, Publications and Communications, Mr Yu Yongxhan and the Minister’s Director General.  

“This very much set the scene for the open door policy of meeting with senior Government representatives and the equivalent of Printing Industries Association Presidents and technical experts in each region visited," Mr Fuller said. 

“To ensure that the delegates obtained a holistic understanding of the value chain of China’s print industry, high level discussions and inspections included printing machinery manufacturing plants, one of the world’s largest paper suppliers, Gold East Paper Company, and the Print Technology training facility.  

“At one of China’s largest print operations situated on the banks of the Pearl River Delta region that we inspected, 18,000 workers lived in very modern company condominiums, supported by company owned and operated facilities including: a fire-brigade with three fire-engines (including snorkel truck); ambulances; internet café (100 computers); night club; restaurants; post office; bank . . . and its own formal printing industry dedicated training school.

“One of the Australian delegates commented that there were more facilities provided by this firm than in the town where he grew up in Australia.  The printing company is the only printing business in China’s Top 100 firms – and it is unlikely from the range of products that we saw, that there would be a single home in Australia that did not contain some books, publications, board games or other printed product that originated from this facility," he said.

China is not for everyone. “Nevertheless, like printers in Australia, they are looking at ways to establish relationships and build their market share, keep their presses rolling, keep their staff employed, and keep their customers satisfied.  

“Australia has many advantages over Chinese printers, and those who went on the Printing Industries’ tour are now well equipped to decide how they can mould their business to provide an improved value added proposition for their Australian (and overseas) clients,” Mr Fuller said.  

China – a threat or opportunity? That depends on how you perceive your business in a global marketplace economy.