Is it a good thing that Chinese companies make such tiny profits compared to their peers gloablly?
Chinese exporters dont actually run low margins on export, unless they also own the overseas distribution which is basically the same thing as high margins overall. If anything high export margins usually subsidize low domestic prices.
Its simple supply and demand, Chinese companies usually have far more domestic competition than overseas, they cant get away with high margins domestically, but overseas they can charge anything up to what foreign competitors charge. The only time export prices get supressed is if multiple Chinese exporters start competing overseas.
Case in point we used to order CNC parts from Rapid Direct, obviously very cheap compared to local, but it was still 10x more expensive than ordering local from Shenzhen. Only after JLCCNC came along and started offering Shenzhen prices overseas did Rapid Direct start cutting prices to compete.
Another example is TMotor, they're notorious for being expensive compared to buying motors in China, but its still popular because theres no overseas competition.
Obviously Chinese EVs are another well known example, BYD sells at 2x to 3x overseas compared to domestic, they run some of the highest margins in the industry. Same is true for DJI of course.
So no Chinese companies dont actually run low margins when exporting, chances are they actually run higher margins than overseas competitors, people only think they have low margins because they compare Chinese prices with overseas production cost. When there are no competition, theres no reason to run low margins