Dear Anti-Fossil and Readers: The Wall Street Journal, Dec, 24 Issue and China Daily have have related articles. It is a very complex issue. Here is a summary:
--Editor of Start Magazine tried buying only U.S. made goods for her Christmas and realized most items no longer manufactured in the U.S. --80% of everything she searched for in markets and stores was from China. --Most experts says this oversimplifies the complexities of global trade. --For example, Timberland Shoes makes boots in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Thailand, China, and Vietnam but Sorel Boots of Portland, Oregon is only U.S made. --"People say they want to buy products made in the U.S. but are not willing to pay for it.", said Ms.Carol Hochman, CEO of Danskin, Inc. where about 35% of goods made in US and the rest in other countries. --The U.S is expected to import about $190 billion of Chinese goods this year, up from $152 billion last year. --Trade gap is expected to double this year topping $160 billion. China Daily --The issue of "China making Quality products" is an issue. The senior trade expert Zhou Shijian talked about this in a recent China Daily 2004 article: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200403/10/eng20040310_137062.shtml --The problem: China manufacturers focus has been on volume volume volume to satisfy US and European consumers. Places such as WalMart and Target are demanding low prices on wholesale level which pushes high volume lower quality on the manufacturing side especially in developing countries where technology is not as prevalent. Around 25 per cent of the China's 2003 exports were high-tech-based, much lower than the average 70 per cent in most developed countries. T "We (China manufacturers) should shift our focus from quantity to quality and abandon the blind pursuit of trade volume," said senior trade expert Zhou Shijian (China Daily). --The China National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic regulator, set a target for this year's foreign trade to grow by 8 per cent. This is compared to last year's explosive growth of 37.1 per cent, the highest in the past two decades. "The target is reasonable and helps to cool down many exporters' blind favour for export quantity," Zhou said. End of summary report. References: Wall Street Journal, China Daily internet searches. Phillip Wolfe My Comments: I think customer education and supplier education is the key. Consumers who flock to places such as WalMart probably will buy at cheap prices and MAY get "different" quality products (lower?). Enlightened consumers can demand or even create change by starting in their own regional area. I think Ghandi was all about this...so was my Grandmother who made many of her own products. --- Anti-Fossil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Can someone please explain why it is that approx. 70 > to 80% (I think I am being a little too conservative > with these percentages) of the "items" for sale, at > any given department store in America today, are > made in China? This question has bothered me for > years. > > Is this simply a matter of lower labor cost in > regards to manufacturing? Are the majority of these > products designed in the states and then produced > overseas? > I realize this is off-topic, and I do try to keep my > off-topic posts to an absolute minimum, but I could > sure use some enlightenment on this one. > > AntiFossil > Minnesota USA > ********************************************************* > "If you think you are too small to make a > difference try sleeping with a mosquito." > Dalai Lama > ********************************************************* > "The difference between truth and fiction > is that fiction must make sense or nobody > will believe it." Mark Twain > ********************************************************* > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
