Local pianos hit the right note

A technician from the German piano maker C. Bechstein works on a piano. Provided to China Daily

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China has more than 100 piano makers, who produced 380,000 pianos in 2012, making 77 percent of the global total. China exported 50,000 pianos in 2012 and imported twice as many, according to CMIA.

German piano maker C. Bechstein, among other European piano makers, has moved the production of its brand of Zimmermann pianos to China. The company designs, draws and trains the staff while the Chinese partner, Hailun Pianos, provides materials, staff and facilities.

Two German technicians from C. Bechstein are based at Hailun and follow the manufacturing process and oversee the final toning, the most important step that distinguishes a European piano from others.

"Hailun was interested in making a high quality product while we want to give Zimmermann a better opportunity price-wise in China and other places," says Leonard Duricic, chief technical officer of C. Bechstein.

"Things imported into China still have a heavy duty tax. To make the products more attractive, they have to be assembled or made in China," he says.

Although the labor cost in China is rising, it remains an appealing location for piano manufacturing, Duricic says.

"Wages here are rising quickly. It's no longer a place for cheap production compared to Indonesia. But at the same time, China has a tremendous concentration of piano making and supplies. And never forget the Chinese market itself," Duricic says.

Bluthner, a German piano maker that came to China in 2006, has invested a total of 2.1 billion yuan into building factories in China, where they produce Irmler, a sub brand of the company.