In the Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen, everything revolves around technology. Here, unlike elsewhere in the country, entrepreneurs are given complete freedom to build businesses. It is an experiment with free market thinking from the 1980s. It is therefore a dingy city, full of adventurers who sometimes earn money in shady ways. There is ‘hustling’ everywhere: a Rolex for ten euros, or a fake invoice to submit to your boss. No matter what you think, it is for sale on every street corner in Shenzhen. Controls on this kind of trade are normally strict in China, but not here. No wonder that vape manufacturers are also located here en masse.
500 factories
Shenzhen is also called vape valley. There are about 500 factories here where the devices are made. Buyers from all over the world can order online from one of the many suppliers in the city. It’s fast trading: customers have thousands of vapes delivered within a few weeks, in all colors and flavors.
The factory in Shenzhen that RTL Nieuws visits never stands still: Production continues 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. View the images here:
On the work floor there is a monotonous hum of the machines, occasionally interrupted by a closing door. Hundreds of workers sit on narrow stools behind the production tables, their bodies almost touching each other. Chatting in the workplace is not allowed here. The workers can only relax around mealtime. Then they go en masse to the roast meat that is prepared in a kind of open-air restaurant next to the factory.
In the open air of Shenzhen the weather is still great in the autumn: In the south of China there are hardly any winters. But after dinner, people return to the tight deadlines, because the customer is not allowed to wait too long.
Latest flavors
The employer is Keystone Vape, one of the largest players in the world. The company was founded in August 2022, but already has a stock exchange listing and an impressive one research & developmentcenter where the latest flavors are invented. Keystone was founded by Frank Fan, a veteran of the vape industry. He previously made other vape companies great, and has gone his own way with Keystone.
Fan is an ambitious entrepreneur, and seems far from concerned about the criticism of his product. Governments, including the Dutch, are banning flavored vapes, by far the most popular type.
Fan: “If the Netherlands bans vapes, there are many other countries in Europe. If the EU bans it, then there are many other markets. It’s that simple.”
Fan says that the Middle East, for example, is an interesting market: Vapes are becoming increasingly popular there as an alternative to the traditional shisha. A Keystone employee confided to us that a deal with a customer in Iraq is in the making.
Vaping has a golden future
According to research reports, the vape industry in China alone is worth more than a billion euros. And in the coming years, trade will only expand. The number of ‘new’ markets is much larger than the number of markets that are trying to contain vapes. Fan says he currently employs about 60 designers, but that number will double next year.
Combating illegal sales of vapes therefore appears to be no easy task. Previous research by the RTL News Panel shows that many parents in the Netherlands hear from their children how easily they can obtain banned vapes. Social media such as Instagram and Snapchat are popular sales channels for dealers. This trade is very difficult for the authorities to control. Experts expect this to remain the case even after the ban on flavored vapes on January 1.
Strangely enough, flavored vapes have been banned in China itself since last year. In terms of legislation, it is therefore ahead of the Netherlands. But the country is not yet doing so to restrict production. Fan is confident that this will remain the case. And even if China also banned production, it would shift all trade to countries like Vietnam and Indonesia. “They still issue licenses for vape factories there,” he says.
2023-12-04 05:58:14
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