The China Toy Product Certification Committee has characterized the quality of some toys manufactured in China as “worrisome”. The Committee based this assessment on the results of a quality-control survey conducted during the first quarter of the year.
The survey revealed that only 62.5 percent of 104 assorted stuffed and plastic toys made by 67 companies met safety standards. Only 34.88 percent of the stuffed toys qualified.
There are more than 8,000 toy manufacturers in the country, most of which produce for export while about 2,000 sell to the domestic market.
Zhang Yanfen, general secretary of the committee, explained that Chinese toy companies tend to be small-scale operations with little technological sophistication and insufficiently qualified leadership. Zhang attributed the recent decline in safety qualifications to price wars that encouraged some firms to reduce standards and begin using inferior materials.
(eastday.com.cn 06/05/2001)
