«Ho 5.500 container fermi in ports of China. To unlock the ships and receive the goods, Asian companies ask us to pay astronomical amounts: instead of the approximately 10 million we have always paid for these shipments, now we need more than 60. hostage saying there are not enough ships to send to Europe. And at stake for us is the toy sales campaign for Christmas, which will have to be in the windows as early as October. I have 2,400 employees between Italy and Europe and an important investment plan in the Peninsula. I don’t want them to be put at risk, so I’m paying. ‘
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The alarm comes from Enrico Preziosi, born in 1948, the entrepreneur of Giochi Preziosi, the largest Italian-owned toy company. He is convinced that the national industry, but also the European one, must revise its model. And certainly not just for the toy sector. By now, the problem of procurement from Asia is increasingly pressing for all companies. “I wonder if this attitude is also not part of the great trade dispute between China and the West. In transport, a sort of speculative auction is underway, comparable to a new battle over tariffs. I’m in China for 45 years and there we make the 95% of the productions. This also applies to large American groups because Beijing has become the world’s largest toy factory ”, says Preziosi, who appeals to the government.
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«It takes a plan of industry reshoring, we have to bring production back to Italy, all entrepreneurs are convinced of this. We could create more jobs, make more investments. But it is necessary to have the consent of the government, with supporting tools that relate contribution and taxation. I have already talked about it with politicians. It is a key chapter in the restart, in a phase in which we are investing, also thanks to Europe. I would like to focus on the Italian product made in the country, the winning card on global markets ».
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China has been an “Eldorado for companies”, with low labor costs, efficiency, certainty on the orders that have convinced them to relocate. “If Italy didn’t do it, France, Germany and the United States would have done it. Those who made products with plastic and metal turned to China. But so we have abdicated its supremacy. We have supplied to its industry the fruits of our research, prototypes, design, technological know-how, made in Italy in the face of cheap labor. It was a double-edged sword. Labor costs will soon stop being competitive. President Xi Jinping has already promised that wages will rise. In March we had already collected a 10-15% increase in the cost of production requested by Chinese for the increase in the price of raw materials. Now the final blow ».
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I increases, however, come in a delicate phase for Giochi Preziosi it has just launched an investment plan of 25 million to inaugurate 40 stores in Italy, including new openings and acquisitions. Other commitments are also in Milan where the first two flagship stores under the Giochi Preziosi sign will be inaugurated in October, in Piazza Duomo and Corso Buenos Aires, plus a new Giocheria shop in Corso Vercelli in January – with an additional investment of ten million – which will be it will add to the other 450 franchise stores in the Peninsula, where it has also bought Trudi in Spain over time. «We have suffered the effects of a very hard 2020 – he says -, which closed with revenues down to 430 million, from the 700 million of the previous year, halved margins and 34 million in losses. But we have relaunched to return to growth. We want to go public ». Precious is also the president and the entrepreneur of Genoa. And he thinks like the patron of a football team, moreover in Serie A. «Sending clubs like Inter to Chinese investors did not help Italy. When our teams need resources, Beijing does not seem to respond ».
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