Which Countries Make and Buy Toys?

My previous post, "Could you go a day without products Made In China?" dealt with China's enormous manufacturing capability.

This is especially true for toys. Check out these maps (from Alex at Kango) that scale a country's size according to the value of toy exports and imports.

Notice that China (along with Hong Kong and Taiwan) fill the upper-right quadrant. Germany, Italy, and Mexico are minor players. North America, South America, and Africa barely show up.

Toy Exporters (Scaled to Revenues)

And who buys these toys? As you would expect, the United States and the countries of Western Europe lead the way. Australia is also a large importer.

Toy Importers (Scaled to Revenues)

For other maps like this, check out: "Another Way to View the World: Exploring Cartograms."

Comments

[Harold Blitzer]

These maps are really informative -- and lots of fun to boot!

[Jorge Castillo]

This kind of graphic is very explicit. Is playing with toys an important issue in the development of a country population? What kind of toys do kids in the third world use? Is it that Chinese kids don't like that kind of toys or is it that they just can't afford them? Can third world countries produce toys that their own kids can play with? Just to think about ...

[Roger von Oech]

Harold: I agree.

Jorge: You ask a lot of good questions. With reard to my own products, the Ball of Whacks: my (Chinese) manufacturer told me that it probably wouldn't well in China (except for affluent sections of cities like Beijing and Shanghai) because of its price.

[Pinky Jain]

Dear Sir

We provide the Indian directory as well as Foreign directory which has the list of Importers and exporters for various items like apparel and accessories, chemicals, automobiles, handicrafts, textile and other miscellaneous industries.

For more information, kindly visit The Mall of India .

I am sure that it will definitely prove to a useful guide for the people who are looking for various list of importers or exporters.

Pinky Jain
(webmaster@themallofindia.com)

[Randy]

Scaled to revenue. What is the $$ amount of the sale of Chinese made toys to the United States, and how does that relate to the inter-country balance of trade $$?

A comparison to arms sales/purchases world-wide viz a vez toys would be intriguing!

[tim kelly]

Interesting take and use of maps. It's funny, a couple of months before the whole brouhaha over Chinese toys occurred, my four year old son, out of the blue and in accordance with nothing I noticed going on at the time, said to me, "Daddy, I love China.". While I was a little taken aback at the randomness of the comment, I asked why that was. His response was, "Because they make all my toys." Apparently he'd been looking at the bottom of his toys for quite some time.