China has maintained its dominance in global sourcing, says Asia Inspection. But other than China, India and Bangladesh are increasingly given preference for textile sourcing, being lower-cost destinations. India is also a popular sourcing destination for homeware and promotional products. Due to major investments, Bangladesh has the potential to become one of the world’s largest economies in the years to come. This has come as a great boon to the country, which has benefited from this participation in the international business community.

In the coming year, businesses expect to worry more about managing product quality than they did in 2018, while regulatory compliance is expected to be less of a challenge. Cost of manufacturing and raw materials comes first among the top sourcing challenges in 2019 and the near future and a trend expected to continue into 2020. Politics is expected to have a more immediate impact than technology.

The average rate of supplier turnover is around 27 per cent but the largest companies shop around much more, replacing up to 42 per cent of their suppliers in a typical year. Businesses anticipate to be affected by tariffs, quotas, protectionism and embargos rather than automation and 3D printing.