WASHINGTON: Large manufacturers are increasingly moving production back to the United States from China, according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group released on Thursday.

In the third annual survey of US-based senior executives at manufacturing companies with annual sales of at least $1 billion, the number of respondents who said their companies were currently re-shoring to the US from China increased 20 per cent from a year ago.

“Given the fact that China’s wage costs are expected to grow, do you expect your company will move manufacturing to the United States?” the August survey asked executives at an unspecified number of companies that currently manufacture in China.

The executives who said “Yes, we are already actively doing this” rose to roughly 16pc in the “Made in America, Again” survey in August from 13pc a year earlier and seven percent in the first survey in the series, in February 2012.

After watching the US bleed jobs for years as manufacturers off-shored production to China, “now we’re watching a switchback,” Harold Sirkin, a co-author of the BCG research, told AFP.

The Boston-based global management consulting firm said the online survey was conducted across a wide range of industries, from electronic and computer equipment to transportation machinery, petroleum refining, apparel and food products. Almost all of the decision makers work for companies that manufacture in the US and overseas, BCG said.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2014