Chinese commodities have recently become global, causing almost every economy in the world to be worried. Japan, the US and some European countries have taken measures to control imports of Chinese goods. In such a context, the Ceramic Industry Club of ASEAN (CICA) in its 19th annual meeting talked about how to compete effectively with Chinese manufacturers.
Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam are the 4 leading construction ceramics manufacturing countries in the ASEAN, representing 5.62% of global ceramics export value. However, their major competitor in the domestic market has been China for long.
Before, Chinese ceramics, both of low and high quality, are sold well in ASEAN countries but for the last 10 years, while manufacturers in other countries apply high technology, low quality ceramics products of China have not been high in demand any more. However, China which accounts for more than a half of global ceramics production has recently made necessary adjustments to the industry so as to penetrate into the ASEAN market again. 
According to Mr. Puan Sri Maimon Arif Patail, Deputy Chairman of the Malaysian ceramics industry group, the advantage of Chinese ceramics is low price and of course those are low quality products. Mr. Nguyen Tran Nam, General Director of VIGLACERA said Chinese ceramics illegally imported into Vietnam might triple into the other countries for Vietnam has a very long border line with China. With low price and various designs, Chinese ceramics are sold very well despite low quality. The situation is the same in other ASEAN countries. 
According to the Malaysian ceramics association, the country has reduced Chinese ceramics imports by 70% for it has set up technical standards applicable to domestic and import ceramics products. The standards are in accordance with ISO standards. 
Other ASEAN countries would like to share Malaysia’s experiences in this field. They agreed that there should be common standards applicable to ASEAN-made ceramics so as to control ceramics imports from China and facilitate ceramics trade among the nations. However, price but quality is the key to the problem. On the other hand, the CICA needs to coordinate with governments to carry out anti-dumping measures in addition to application of technical standards so as to compete effectively with China’s ceramics in long term.