Marcel, if you were expecting prices in Solingen to be anywhere near what Brazilian Makers charge, then you were doomed befoe you arrived. Prices are also a reflection of overhead, materials costs and the cost of living where the products are made. Forged blades can be made from toolsteels bought from scrap. When labor is cheap, then the prices can be cheap. Where labor is high, such as Europe, then the prices reflect those costs too.
If you find the right maker in China, I'm sure he (or she) can make you an even betterr knife for $100 or less. $3 a day is good wage in China, but last I heard the US auto workers weren't willing to take a pay cut like that either just because the Chinese are going to start exporting cars to the USA. One thing that makes the South African knives a good value are the differences in costs between South Africa and the markets where they sell their knives. If people see the Brazilian or South African or Chinese knives (or whatever) as better products for the money, then they buy them. There are other factors which are very important to purchasers too. This is where branding comes in. A knife marked "Fisk" has an inherent advantage over the same knife marked "I never heard of this guy."
As a producer of a product, I have to make a product that is good enough to sell for a price that gives me a profit from which I can live. I think I do a good job of this and I have yet to raise my prices for folder since I started making them, allthough I continued to improve the quality and the design. Customers tell me I make an inexpensive knife for the quality.
But it is world market and even little guys like me get ground up the wheels of the money markets. The US$ ihas lost about 30% of its value against the Euro in the last year or so. That makes my prices about 30-35% higher by the time the knife reaches the buyer. I don't get a cent more however. So now my prices seem high for buyers with US$ and they have a lot of options in the price catagory in which I find myself. I haven't raised my prices, it's just that the dollar buys fewer Euros. I still have customers in the USA who feel the quality I offer is worth the extra price they pay. New customers are of course harder to get to take the plunge when they are buying from a photo on a website. But I will ride this out too, particulaly considering the european demand remains strong and is actually growing.
Actually I'm trying to take advantage of the situation by stocking up on US made materials and even leveraging myself into a new Haas CNC controlled milling center (proudly) made in Cal-i-forn-i-a, USA.
So you see, I''m doing my part to help the world economy!
