Ricoh is looking to move its production of MFP printer models destined for the US market to Thailand, others are still waiting to see what the impact will be.
As The Nikkei Asian Review reports, Ricoh is looking to move the production for printers destined for the US market out of China and is looking to avoid any tariffs on its products.
According to the article the US market is worth 30 percent of Ricoh’s printer sales and since Ricoh “anticipates a fourth and final round of tariffs in the U.S.-China trade war which includes printers”, the OEM is looking to move production to Thailand “as early as this summer”.
When speaking to Fuji Xerox and Canon, Nikkei Asian Review learned that these companies are still waiting on further developments before they make any further production moves but do not exclude this action “if the threatened levies of up to 25 percent on roughly 3,800 goods take effect.”
Kodak and Fujifilm already moved for exclusion on the tariffs earlier this year as well as Ninestar stating in 2018 its products were exempt.
The latest developments came only a few days ago, with Donald Trump doubling tariffs and China only days afterwards retaliating with its own tariffs.
Update: Ricoh released an official press release outlining that currently, Ricoh Asia Industry (Shenzhen) Ltd. is producing the higher-speed models of its key MFP portfolio, whereas Ricoh Manufacturing (Thailand) Ltd. is producing the lower-to-mid-speed models. By shifting the Chinese production to Thailand, all the key MFP products will be shipped to the USA from the Thai factory.
Moving forward, Ricoh will continue to investigate the possible shift of other products and related parts and supplies, with a view to optimizing the supply chain system. This may further include a shift from Thailand to China in response to possible business risks, and to achieve even greater efficiencies.
