过去几个月的事态已经清楚地表明，中国的劳动力成本正在上涨。亚洲其他制造业经济体现在也受到了连带影响。

　　利丰有限公司（Li & Fung Ltd.）总裁乐裕民（Bruce Rockowitz）就是这么说的。利丰是香港贸易与物流行业的邻头羊，沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）和Target这类公司的主要玩具、服装采购商之一。

　　乐裕民周四在香港发布利丰半年度业绩的时候说，我们和我们客户承受的价格都已经上涨，我们通过从孟加拉、越南和印度尼西亚采购减轻了这种压力。

　　但这些国家的劳动力和原材料成本也在上涨。

　　他说，这些国家，不说全部，至少大多数都从中国寻找定价的指引，当中国的价格上涨时，多数其他国家也会跟进；中国以外世界其他地方也存在劳动力成本上涨的问题。

　　利丰在中国、东南亚等地制造商与欧美零售商之间起着中介作用。该公司对全球消费品的贸易与制造有着很好的了解。它经手的货物当中，中国制造的略超一半，东南亚占21%，南亚占15%.按国别计算，上半年产量增长最快的是印度，增幅为27%，越南、印度分别增长19%和15%.中国增长了10%.

　　乐裕民说，我们正在经历制造业国家发生的一轮重大变化，这轮变化要经过数年之后才会归于平静。

　　上升的不仅是劳动力成本。

　　他说，原材料价格也已经上涨，大宗商品价格已经上涨；从整体上来看，成本压力肯定是存在的，虽然市场比较疲软。

　　零售商将不得不自己消化这些增加的成本，而不能把它们传递给缺钱的消费者。

　　乐裕民说，多数零售商都在接受价格的上涨，他们别无选择。不仅是中国的价格在涨，到处都在涨。至于把涨价部分传递给现在这个市场的消费者，我认为会更加困难。所以零售商真正指望的是怎样提高效率，怎样少搞降价促销。

　　在有关经济的整体看法方面，乐裕民觉得消费者情绪在过去几周出现了一次波动。

　　他说，对于零售商来说，虽然不管怎么说业务都没有大幅下滑，但已经比不上当年；现在的放缓肯定不是二次探底，消费者还是在花钱；这是一种变化，而我们不知道它会持续多久。

　　利丰起源于1906年在中国内地创办的一家贸易公司。现在它帮助零售商从亚洲的制造业中心采购货物，并把货物运送到美国和欧洲卖场的货架上。该公司上半年利润已较去年同期全球贸易陷入停顿时反弹。收入为66.4亿美元，增长12%，股东应得利润为2.78亿美元，增长55%.乐裕民说，这是我们有史以来最好的半年。

China Labor Cost Increases Setting the Bar for Other Economies

　　 It's been clear over the past few months that labor costs are going up in China. That's now rippling to other manufacturing economies in Asia.

　　So says Bruce Rockowitz，president Li & Fung Ltd.，the bellwether Hong Kong based trading and logistics giant that is a major buyer of toys and clothes for the likes of Wal-Mart and Target.

　　'Prices have gone up for us and our customers，' Mr. Rockowitz said while presenting Li & Fung's semi-annual earnings results in Hong Kong Thursday. 'We've mitigated it by looking at Bangladesh， Vietnam， Indonesia，' he said.

　　But labor and material costs are rising in those places，too.

　　'Most of the countries，if not all，look to China for pricing direction. When China prices go up，most of the other countries follow suit… You are seeing issues on labor cost going up in other parts of the world other than China，' he said.

　　Li & Fung，serves as an intermediary between manufacturers in places like China and South East Asia，and retailers in U.S. and Europe. The company has a good pulse on global trade and manufacturing of consumer goods. A little more than half of the goods Li & Fung handles are made in China. Southeast Asia accounts for 21% and South Asia 15%. The strongest growth in production volume by country in the first half was in Indonesia，up 27%. Vietnam was up 19% and India up 15%. China was up 10%.

　　'We are going through a major change in the manufacturing countries that is going to take a few years to sort itself out，' he said.

　　It's not just labor costs that are rising.

　　'Material prices have gone up. Commodity prices have gone up，' he said. 'Overall there's definitely been cost pressures… despite the weakness in the market，' he said.

　　Retailers will have to eat those higher cost without passing them on to cash strapped consumers.

　　'Most of the retailers are accepting the higher prices，they have no choice. It's not just China going up. It's everywhere. And so as far as passing it on to the consumer in this market， I think that's more difficult. So what retailers are really looking at is how to be more efficient and how to have less markdowns.'

　　As for his general take on the economy，Mr. Rockowitz has felt a disturbance in consumer sentiment over the last few weeks.

　　'While business is not falling off the map by any stretch，it's not as robust as it was for retailers，' Mr. Rockowitz said. 'It's definitely not a double dip type of slowdown. The consumer is spending…That is a change and we don't know how long that will go，' he said.

　　Li & Fung，has its roots in a trading company founded in China in 1906. It now helps retailers procure and ship goods from manufacturing centers in Asia to store shelves in the U.S. and Europe. The company's earnings rebounded in the first half of the year compared to the year earlier，when global trade virtually ground to a halt. Earnings per share rose 55% to $278 million on $6.64 billion in revenue， which was up 12%. Mr. Rockowitz called it the 'best half year we've ever had.'