Globalisation's Downside

[Sukerkin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17769466

An interesting article showing how interdependant the manufactruing industry is with it's component suppliers. In the ever spiraling drive to minmise costs ... at all costs ... the bean counters forget that, unlike financial speculators can with imaginary money, they can't just magic 'real' things out of the ether.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17769466

An interesting article showing how interdependant the manufactruing industry is with it's component suppliers. In the ever spiraling drive to minmise costs ... at all costs ... the bean counters forget that, unlike financial speculators can with imaginary money, they can't just magic 'real' things out of the ether.

It is interesting, and thanks for posting that.

May I also add that there are those who are aware of some of the little-down lynch-pins of modern technology and have taken advantage of that, either to ensure their own supply or to deny it to others.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17348648

The US, Japan and the European Union have filed a case against China at the World Trade Organization, challenging its restrictions on rare earth exports.

US President Barack Obama accused China of breaking agreed trade rules as he announced the case at the White House.

Beijing has set quotas for exports of rare earths, which are critical to the manufacture of high-tech products from hybrid cars to flat-screen TVs.

It is the first WTO case to be filed jointly by the US, EU and Japan.

They argue that by limiting exports, China, which produces more than 95% of the world's rare earth metals, has pushed up prices.

http://www.mineralrightsforum.com/forum/topics/chinese-company-buys-onethird

Chinese Company Buys One-Third Stake In Chesapeake Shale Drilling Project.

The AP (1/31) reports CNOOC Ltd., China's state-owned offshore oil and gas company, "is intensifying its search for oil in the western United States," as it "announced Sunday it will pay $570 million for a one-third stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s drilling project in an emerging oil field in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming." Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake "will operate the 800,000-acre project in a pair of basins in a region called the Niobrara shale," while "CNOOC will pay two-thirds of the project's drilling costs, up to an additional $697 million." In addition to CNOOC's $1.08 billion purchase of "a one-third stake in a Chesapeake drilling project in South Texas," both deals give the Chinese company "access to an emerging source of oil in the western United States: shale deposits."

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/nov2010/gb2010111_682546.htm

China Boss in Peru on $50 Billion Peak Bought for $810 Million
China will gobble up a mountain and relocate a town in its hunger for mineral treasures

By Bloomberg News
...
The project is part of $11 billion in Chinese mining investments planned for Peru, a quarter of the country's total, according to Fernando Gala, the Peruvian vice minister of mines. China is prospecting for mineral treasures around the world as it develops faster than any major economy in history. Its copper use is growing so quickly that by 2035 global demand for the metal may outstrip supply by 11 million tons, according to CRU, a London-based mining and metals consulting firm.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/06/14/china-us-afghanistan-mineral-mining/

China, Not U.S., Likely to Benefit from Afghanistan's Mineral Riches
By Charles Wallace
Posted 1:20PM 06/14/10
Although the U.S. government has spent more than $940 billion on the conflict in Afghanistan since 2001, a treasure trove of mineral deposits, including vast quantities of industrial metals such as lithium, gold, cobalt, copper and iron, are likely to wind up going to Russia and China instead of American firms.

The New York Times reported Monday that U.S. officials and American geologists have found an estimated $1 trillion worth of mineral deposits that have yet to be exploited in the country. The paper said a Pentagon report called Afghanistan potentially "the Saudi Arabia of lithium," a key component in batteries for cellphones, laptop computers and eventually, a plug-in fleet of electric cars.

But while the United States and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries are providing the bulk of the security for Afghanistan -- U.S. troop levels are set to rise to 100,000 by year's end -- the firms that are profiting from the resource boom are primarily Chinese, and to a lesser extent, Russian.

Surprised? I'm not. But then, I've been sounding the alarm bell for awhile now. Like I've said, learn Chinese; your kids will be speaking it. By law.

 

[Rich Parsons]

The Recent issues in Japan form Natural and Man made disasters has affected vehicle manufacturing as well as other component manufacturing. Many companies were / are using alternate suppliers as the low cost for some tier two or three items were all coming from one or two sources.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

The Recent issues in Japan form Natural and Man made disasters has affected vehicle manufacturing as well as other component manufacturing. Many companies were / are using alternate suppliers as the low cost for some tier two or three items were all coming from one or two sources.

In my world, we call it SPoF. Applies to nearly everything.