A few months ago, I raised the question about the potential of China on raw materials. At the time, the concensus was that China was not much of a factor. Things have changed.
On Mon, Sep 04, 2006 at 05:25:33PM -0400, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: > China Shapes/Shakes World's Economies > by Richard Wolff > > Over at least the last decade, employers in the West have been able to > enlarge profits dramatically by taking simultaneous advantage of the > following three opportunities: raising workers' productivity > (computerization, etc.), merging to reduce costs (vertical and > horizontal), and keeping wages from rising much or at all (outsourcing > jobs and importing ever-cheaper consumer imports from China). Under > those conditions, profit increases did not require price increases. > > But current challenges to China's economic growth now threaten to > change those conditions. China faces rising costs for input raw > materials including energy, rising wage demands of workers becoming > used to industrial employment, and pressures to raise the exchange > value of the Chinese currency. Producers of China's exports -- most > of which are western enterprises with Chinese subsidiaries or partners > -- have therefore begun to raise their prices. To take one of > countless straws in the wind, an August 15 press release from the > Xinhua News Agency reports that the majority of the 81 surveyed > Chinese producers of automobile brake parts for export plan 5-10 per > cent price increases over the coming year. > > FULL TEXT: > <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/wolff040906.html> > -- > Yoshie > <http://montages.blogspot.com/> > <http://mrzine.org> > <http://monthlyreview.org/> -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
