GLOBAL COMPETITION — DANGER LURKS OFFSHORE

Nason points out what many printers already know—foreign printers, particularly in Asia, provide significant pricing advantages to the book publishing community.

“With China, for example, this starts with a currency that has long been devalued, which gives Chinese printers a 30 percent to 50 percent advantage just on the currency alone,” he reports. “With lower wages, fewer benefits, lack of environmental regulations and nothing in the way of OSHA to ensure plant safety, Chinese manufacturers simply have less overhead to support through their pricing. A publisher buying on price alone finds the
Chinese option an attractive one.”