News
Vietnam manufacturing stress
January 20, 2012 by Jules
Growing inflation and rising wages are not a problem confined to China. Vietnam has long been suffering from these.
Although low-cost Chinese vendors still grow pale at the mention of trip to Vietnam by their buyers, especially in the garments, shoes and toy ndustries (an almost amusing prospect to Western clients, given what China has done to the West's manufacturing base in the past 25 years), the race is on to see who can remain competitive the longest.
In: Market News
More shipping stress on the horizon
November 19, 2011 by Jules
Shipping rates are close to their lows, the buzz is about capacity being pulled back again to establish a floor in pricing, and consolidation seems inevitable.
So while not directly linked to our clients' usual trading activity, we think signs of stress in the general shipping market are highly relevant if you are worried about your supply chain. General Maritime's application for bankruptcy protection as reported by the SCMP is part of this pattern.
In: Market News
Shipping cartel annoys US regulator
November 11, 2011 by Jules
Interesting tidbit in today's scmp:
In: Market News
China still best production base
November 9, 2011 by Jules
It may be getting harder to source there but as we reported in May Chinese manufacturers find that their competition is thin on the ground. Price increases can now be passed on to the client, especially since weaker competitors continue to disappear (re: China SMB financing crisis). Chinese manufacturers also back out of attempts to contract out overseas because they have no experience working with overseas operations and are unfamiliar working with other business cultures.
Sweet revenge then for the Japanese, German, Korean, Malaysian companies that had to shutter domestic operations and learn China 10 years ago? They are much better equipped, culturally and systems wise to relocate. But entire supply chains are China dependent, making it difficult to relocate complex products.
In: Market News
Demand slowing but no fall off cliff
August 11, 2011 by Jules
Market vibes in a hot and sticky summer
In: Market News
A symbol of what is wrong on so many levels
July 26, 2011 by Jules
A high speed train crash in China on July 22 was a symbol of so many things that are wrong in China management, not just in the government.
In: Market News
Slowdown and factory weakness
July 21, 2011 by Jules
HSBC PMI reading a China manufacturing recession
China gov: just as much in debt as others
June 27, 2011 by Jules
Combining local and central government debt, the Communist government has accumulated debt equal to 70% of GDP.
In: Market News
Staggering: a factual news report in China
June 15, 2011 by Jules
We cannot believe it. Aside from possible references to the trucker strike of last month, we have for the first time read what we think is an unbiased AND useful nugget of information in a Communist newspaper (Shanghai Daily).
Pigs will have wings next... That was the good news.
The bad news is that the government intends to nationalise much of the logistics sector by forcing private enterprise out of business. But at least they are blatantly open about it.
Oh and taxes on logistics services will be decreased, so do not forget to bargain this down.
In: Market News