China's manufacturers fear going bust as slowing economy and rising costs hit exports

Overcapacity, weaker demand, falling prices and increasing financing costs have put manufacturing sectors in southern Jiangsu province between a rock and a hard place, a National Bureau of Statistics survey has found.

The bureau added that a bleak outlook would force the government to orchestrate a complete revamp of the businesses to ensure they survived the slowdown.

In a survey of 50 manufacturers in various cities including Wuxi (無錫), Changzhou (常州), and Nanjing (南京), the bureau found that local manufacturers were grappling with worsening business conditions, according to China Economic Weekly, a magazine affiliated with the Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily.

Manufacturers in southern Jiangsu have long held the lead nationwide, but the bureau said many might go bust amid fiercer competition and dwindling overseas orders.

The finding correlated with Politburo calls for “a battle of annihilation” to overcome barriers to economic development.

READ MORE: Why falling prices – not stock market turmoil – is the real headache for China’s manufacturing bosses as the nation’s economy slows

“Overcapacity, weaker demand at home and abroad, falling factory prices and rising labour and financing costs have put huge barriers in the way of business development,” the magazine cited the bureau as saying.