China's central bank signalled at the weekend that it was freeing the Chinese yuan from its de facto 23-month-old peg.
That's a reversal of years of recent policy to keep the price fixed in a narrow band around 6.83 yuan to $1 US. However, the move stopped well short of an all-out opening of the currency to conventional price factor.
Economists at China International Capital Corp., a leading Chinese investment bank, estimated recently that even within China winners from a yuan rise would outnumber losers. But certainly exporters will suffer, as the stronger yuan makes their products more expensive in dollar terms.
CICC said in a March report that the companies hardest hit from a stronger yuan are likely to be office equipment along with textile and apparel manufacturer, which have very thin profit margins and costs denominated largely in yuan.