The Devolution of the United States Manufacturing Base

[Guest Ron]

The U.S. factory workforce of 11.6 million in March shrank from 13.7 million in December 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In March 1980, the total was 19.2 million.

[Guest LAW]

Hey Ron read this. It may make your day a little brighter.

 

http://www.ajc.com/business/business-brings-jobs-back-491886.html?cxtype=rss_news_128746

 

A button maker in this hilly north Georgia town did the unthinkable: It closed a factory in China and saved American jobs.

 

“Hey, made in the USA is always the best,” said Angie Kastner, an assembly line leader at Scovill Fasteners Inc. “I don’t want anybody not to have a job. But I was glad to see a lot of jobs come back here.”

 

Scovill’s decision to quit low-wage China — which has sucked up tens of thousands of Georgia jobs this decade — and return to the United States is a rare, stand-economic-theory-on-its-head cautionary tale. Communist China, it seems, isn’t manufacturing heaven for everybody.

 

Scovill’s CEO is the first to say his company made mistakes that led to its exit from mainland China. But China’s economic ascension, with the attendant rise in salaries, industrial expectations and standard of living, made it increasingly difficult, and expensive, for U.S. companies to thrive there.

 

The so-called “China price,” where American manufacturers automatically expected savings of 30 percent, 40 percent or even 50 percent simply by moving production to China, is disappearing. Scovill, which saved 170 U.S. jobs by abandoning China, belatedly discovered that Clarkesville made more financial sense than China.

[Guest Red, White, and Blue]

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown's office said Thursday, May 6, that Brown and other senators have introduced legislation that would expand the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit (48C) program.

[Luke_Wilbur]

Recently, I have been looking for die cast toy manufacturers in the United States. What I found out is that there are none. Just like glass Christmas balls, die cast toys are now made in China. One person I spoke to said that this industry has been gone over ten years. The technology has not really advanced that much, except they now use hair dryers to speed up the decal drying process.

 

The Chinese workers are quite amazing. Their work is meticulous and fast. The owners of the die cast companies said there are no American workers willing to put on decals anymore and everyone wants a white collar desk job.

 

These owners in China stated that everything is not a bed of roses. While the workers are good, the Chinese government can be harsh. One company owner told me that he had been pushed out of his factory near Hong Kong and was moved further out to the countryside. I was shocked to find out the reason. China is now getting into the weapons business. His factory was being converted to making automatic rifles and smart weapons.

 

I know the United States makes weapons also. You can see a string of weapons dealers down on the border of Mexico selling them to anyone with cash. But, what is happening in China scares me.

 

Without the help of China, the United States does not have the rare earth metals to make smart weapons.

 

When a government kicks out your business, so it can better use its resources that is way more scary.

 

The owners of these companies are becoming even more reliant on their China counterparts to do the engineering to make the products as well. Once we lose the engineering America will lose the economic competitiveness.

 

I see our government is completely focused on Clean Energy technology. They say it is our only hope for energy independence, job growth, and to save the environment.

 

As everyone knows on these message boards I am all for Clean Energy technology. But, I am also for American manufacturing. I now realize the SBA.gov is not helping American manufactures or small business merchants that are not in step with the Green initiative. I am willing to bet that more toys are sold in the United States than windmills and solar panels combined. What I need to see is the dollar comparison.

 

I think of what is happening with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico right now. Over a million barrels of crude oil and natural gas are bubbling up to the surface every day, causing a huge environmental disaster. Why? We have a foreign company lease the well, we have a foreign country manage the well, we have the rig made in a foreign country. And a few American workers maintain it.

 

There is the poster child for everything wrong with the system. I imagine billions of dollars being wasted everyday.

 

I can see the same disaster at Walmart. You have all hard goods manufactured by foreign countries. And American workers moving the goods. You hear horror stories of lead poisoning children, wall boards causing lung infections, contaminated food.... I do not blame the developing countries. They cannot be expected to make the goods with the pride our workers had. They are poor and do not get to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Our worker force had the American Dream.

 

I can see the same disaster with our financial industry.

 

I went to banks around me asking if they are ready to start lending again. If you do not have government contract you might as well not bother. They don't even put business loan pamphlets on the shelf anymore. It is better to borrow from the Federal Reserve and buy U.S. treasuries, than risk money on Small businesses. The sad thing is the U.S. Treasury is giving money to the Fed. Which means that banks make money, but the value of it becomes less. Unless they lend it to foreign countries. What makes matters worse is some of the banks are now controlled by foreign governments.

 

I can see the same disaster with our military.

 

The country is so out of touch with what is going on abroad. There is no draft. There are no increase of taxes. We gain no money from the countries we are protecting. Most people do not even understand how much money we are borrowing money everyday to fight.

 

So I am asking America's elite to start thinking about the United States again. The return is not as good, but it is consistent. I am asking America's elite to start thinking about the economic ecosystem around them. Take a drive down Main Street and look at all the stores and factories closed around them.

 

Is this investment you make today not only good for you, is it good for our country.

Edited May 21, 2010 by Luke_Wilbur

[Guest Johnny]

Luke - well stated.

[Guest Still Made in USA]

The loss of American manufacturing jobs is more than a trend line on a graph. It has meant hardship for families and entire communities. Closed and abandoned buildings, lost retirement pensions, lost hope. Domestic companies that seek to keep production in the U.S. face daily battles against lower cost production in other parts of the world. Some U.S.-based manufacturers win out because they can deliver product more quickly to a changing market, their reputation for quality or company ethic creates loyal customers, and/or they have innovated to keep costs down. Many, however, are barely hanging on, and unless consumers make an effort to support them, the choice to buy American-made will be gone.

[Guest Uncommon Wisdom]

More and more Americans are afraid we're heading for a double-dip recession. President Obama says our way out of our economic slump is to double American exports over the next five years. But China's go-go economy is slowing down, while Europeans are announcing austerity programs from London to Athens and all points in-between. If the world is contracting, who's going to buy all the stuff we plan to export?

 

And then there's the question, "WHAT are we going to export?" There are more Americans employed in government than there are manufacturing and construction. It's been that way since 2007 and it's getting worse. Our manufacturing base has been hollowed out and shipped overseas by the same Wall Street chuckleheads who tell us Americans are too lazy to do these jobs.

[Guest HUMAN]

787 billion, then another 200 billion for unemployment insurance. Yet no real clear direction from this Administration as to where we are headed except to say that TAXES WILL GO UP.

 

When it came to financial reform Fannie and Freddie were kept out. Just so the democrat establishment can hide out when the economy goes further south. It's a smart move by the democrats, but it sure doesn't help out the economy over all.

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More and more Americans are afraid we're heading for a double-dip recession. President Obama says our way out of our economic slump is to double American exports over the next five years. But China's go-go economy is slowing down, while Europeans are announcing austerity programs from London to Athens and all points in-between. If the world is contracting, who's going to buy all the stuff we plan to export?

 

And then there's the question, "WHAT are we going to export?" There are more Americans employed in government than there are manufacturing and construction. It's been that way since 2007 and it's getting worse. Our manufacturing base has been hollowed out and shipped overseas by the same Wall Street chuckleheads who tell us Americans are too lazy to do these jobs.

[Luke_Wilbur]

We need Manufacturing Reform.

 

Here is a message my buddy sent to me.

 

Unless we bring back manufacturing back to America, we are screwed..Simple.. I am in the South...And ALL the textile, cotton, etc is gone..These folks are more poor than you could imagine...Ex=Sharecroppers, etc... A much of a mess. And this is just one industry.. I have seen towns die. Many towns,, Gone,,,Whether to China, Brazil, or whatever....sad state of affairs...to say the least... But HEY, lets all go get AN IPOD!!!! Probably made in China as well...YIPPEEEEEEEE>>>>>>>

 

 

 

[Guest Fedup]

A neodymium magnet of a few grams can lift a thousand times its own weight. These magnets are cheaper, lighter, and stronger than samarium-cobalt magnets.

 

Neodymium magnets appear in products such as microphones, professional loudspeakers, in-ear headphones, guitar and bass guitar pick-ups and computer hard disks where low mass, small volume, or strong magnetic fields are required. Neodymium magnet electric motors have also been responsible for the development of purely electrical model aircraft within the first decade of the 21st century, to the point that these are displacing internal combustion powered models internationally. Likewise, due to this high magnetic-flux capacity, it is heavily used in the electric motors of hybrid automobiles and in the electricity generators of commercial wind turbine generators.

 

In 1982, General Motors Corporation and Sumitomo Special Metals discovered the Nd2Fe14B compound. The effort was principally driven by the high material cost of the SmCo permanent magnets, which had been developed earlier. General Motors focused on the development of melt-spun nanocrystalline Nd2Fe14B magnets, while Sumitomo developed full density sintered Nd2Fe14B magnets. General Motors Corporation commercialized its inventions of isotropic Neo powder, bonded Neo magnets and the related production processes by founding Magnequench in 1986. Magnequench is now part of the Neo Materials Technology Inc. and supplies melt spun Nd2Fe14B powder to bonded magnet manufacturers. The Sumitomo facility has become part of the Hitachi corporation and currently manufactures and licenses other companies to produce sintered Nd2Fe14B magnets.

 

To get a piece of the Chinese market, the General Motors sacrificed its neodymium-boron magnet technology and American jobs.

 

http://www.salon.com...mium_domination

 

Molycorp (Mountain Pass, California)

 

Molycorp is making a big bet that its mine — once the world leader in production of rare earth elements, but now a rusting relic — can be made competitive again. Global demand is surging for the minerals. And customers, particularly the American military, are seeking alternatives to China, which now mines 97 percent of the world’s rare earth elements.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/business/energy-environment/22rare.html

 

Thorium Energy, inc. (Lemhi Pass, Idaho). 2009 Release

 

Thorium Energy, Inc. (TEI)www.thoriumenergy.com, a privately owned and operated

natural resource holding company, is pleased to announce that its deposits of

rare earth elements have been recognized by the United States Geological Survey

and listed (in some detail, for the first time) in the latest edition of the

USGS Commodity Mineral Survey of the Rare Earths released in September 2009.

http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/rare_earths/myb1-2007-raree.pdf

 

Based on the new USGS report, Thorium Energy, Inc. is confirming that it owns

the mineral rights to one of the two largest resources and reserves of rare

earth elements in the United States.

 

The company`s data shows that its ore bodies contain enough accessible and

minable lanthanum, neodymium, dysprosium, terbium, and europium to make the

United States independent from reliance on foreign suppliers. The report notes

that Thorium Energy`s REE deposits show high levels of neodymium, which may be

the most critical rare earth metal to computer hard drives and to the emerging

"green industries" production of wind power and electric vehicles.

 

TEI`s deposits could supply the current and projected demand for the strategic

rare earth elements used by the United States military as well as for the

production of rechargeable batteries, permanent magnets, lasers, and fluid

cracking catalysts crucial to our domestic industries.

 

TEI has joined the United States Magnet Materials Association (USMMA), which

values TEI as the only American owner of a sizable deposit containing the heavy

rare earths, dysprosium and terbium. These elements are essential to manufacture

the magnets that can achieve the high operating temperatures required by modern

jet and rocket engines as well as the engines of high performance motor

vehicles.

 

In a recent interview Mr. Edward Cowle, CEO of TEI, stated that "Thorium Energy,

Inc. has not accepted any foreign investments and hopes to remain an

unencumbered domestic resource for the US Department of Defense." Mr. Cowle

believes that TEI may well be the only large rare earth venture in the United

States that is entirely owned, financed and operated by Americans.

 

Mr. Jack Lifton, prominent commentator on the market fundamentals and end uses

of the rare earths, has said that he believes that the Department of Defense,

the Defense National Stockpile Center DNSC and the DNSC`s parent, the Defense

Logistics Agency, among others, are all working with Congress to develop a

domestic supply chain for rare earths that are critical components of end use

products which the US military is dependent upon. Mr. Lifton believes that

legislation to advance this goal is being considered by several Members of

Congress.

 

Referring to the legislation, Mr. Lifton said: "In that case, American owned and

operated mines, metal processors, metal alloyers, magnet fabricators, and magnet

using device fabricators will become immediately competitive in the global

market due to the level playing field created by Congress. The Federal

Government has already recognized the value and importance of a domestic supply

chain for vehicle batteries made with lithium and has already acted to

ameliorate the situation. Recently introduced language in the FY10 National

Defense Authorization Act will require a complete review of the Department of

Defense's strategy for ensuring a long-term, secure supply of rare earth

materials. I strongly believe that the Congress will recognize and support the

creation of such value and supply chains to support domestic rare earth magnet,

battery, laser, and fluid cracking catalyst industries. Thorium Energy, Inc. is

the only domestic American rare earth mining development venture that fits into

that legislative agenda at the moment."

 

The USGS now recognizes Thorium Energy`s deposits in the Lemhi Pass district of

Idaho and Montana as one of only four proven substantial deposits of REEs in the

world outside of mainland China and Chinese control. TEI controls multiple

claims in this region and also holds the proprietary mineral rights to one of

the largest, privately controlled, thorium deposits in the world. Thorium

Energy, Inc. believes that company`s identified, economically extractable and

accessible deposits of high grade thorium ores are large enough to supply the

power needs of the entire U.S. for centuries through thorium-based nuclear

reactors.

 

Thorium Energy, Inc.

Ed Cowle, 1-914-713-3129

edcowle@thoriumenergy.com

or

Jack Lifton, 1-248-739-1729

jacklifton@aol.com

 

[Guest Blue Byu]

On a crushingly hot mid-August day at Foxconn's Longhua factory campus in Shenzhen — where a dutiful army of 300,000 employees eats, sleeps, and churns out iPhones, Sony PlayStations, and Dell computers.

 

Foxconn's Terry Tai-Ming Gou has a grim forecast for American manufacturing.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39099077/ns/business-bloomberg_businessweek/

 

Gou has plans to capitalize on the changes he has wrought. Perhaps most intriguing is his plan to move additional production to the U.S. The company currently employs about 1,000 workers in a Houston plant that makes specialized high-end servers for corporate clients the company declined to disclose, and Gou envisions a fully automated plant to produce components within five years. "If I can automate in the U.S.A. and ship to China, cost-wise it can still be competitive," he says. "But I worry America has too many lawyers. I don't want to spend time having people sue me every day."

[Guest August]

I love you guys. You are taking a stand.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91tWOBB5TPY

[Luke_Wilbur]

When I was a boy I remember my parents talking how they enjoyed listening to FDR's fireside chats. President Roosevelt had a gift of gathering families together to share the current state of our Nation. I think the key to his success was his ability to speak in words everyone could understand.

 

FDR's Fireside Chat of December 29, 1940 Discussed the importance of American Manufacturing to our National Security.

 

While no one would argue that we have the best fighting soldiers in the world. I would argue that we are starting to lose the ability to support our troops in a time of crisis. We must restore American manufacturing as the arsenal that preserves our Democratic Independence.

 

It is quite amazing how history cycles the same warning signs.

 

American industrial genius, unmatched throughout the world in the solution of production problems, has been called upon to bring its resources and its talents into action. Manufacturers of watches, farm implements, linotypes, cash registers, automobiles, sewing machines, lawn mowers and locomotives are now making fuses, bomb packing crates, telescope mounts, shells, pistols and tanks. . . . I want to make it clear that it is the purpose of the nation to build now with all possible speed every machine, every arsenal, every factory that we need to manufacture our defense material. We have the men- the skill- the wealth- and above all, the will. . . . We must be the great arsenal of democracy.

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=pGeXKV0zpcA

[Guest human]

Agreed, we have to get back to our roots. America’s strength is in innovation, we can't out source everything in sight.

 

I have all of the clean energy info "Looking at it right now as a matter of fact".

 

I won’t dare post it online cause if I did? The folks who are into investing would be like "Oh Look!! More free information".

 

The internet in certain ways has made folks lazy. At least I won’t be encouraging that type of attitude.

 

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When I was a boy I remember my parents talking how they enjoyed listening to FDR's fireside chats. President Roosevelt had a gift of gathering families together to share the current state of our Nation. I think the key to his success was his ability to speak in words everyone could understand.

 

FDR's Fireside Chat of December 29, 1940 Discussed the importance of American Manufacturing to our National Security.

 

While no one would argue that we have the best fighting soldiers in the world. I would argue that we are starting to lose the ability to support our troops in a time of crisis. We must restore American manufacturing as the arsenal that preserves our Democratic Independence.

 

It is quite amazing how history cycles the same warning signs.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=pGeXKV0zpcA

[Luke_Wilbur]

Well get the right folks to invest into it. Clean Energy is huge, but not everything. We need to be more efficient. And the real money for small business is hard goods. I looked at Home Depot today and everything is made in China as well.

 

The loss of so much industry should be considered a National Disaster.

 

A buddy of mine in the Department of Defense told me they got a crate full of new computers. All of them made in China. He was completely shocked.

 

I am not.

[Guest human]

With Taxes headed in the direction that they are headed into; I would stand a better chance of getting people to invest in Ireland than this country right now.

 

I’m not typing angry; it’s just the reality of the situation in this country.

 

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Well get the right folks to invest into it. Clean Energy is huge, but not everything. We need to be more efficient. And the real money for small business is hard goods. I looked at Home Depot today and everything is made in China as well.

 

The loss of so much industry should be considered a National Disaster.

 

A buddy of mine in the Department of Defense told me they got a crate full of new computers. All of them made in China. He was completely shocked.

 

I am not.

[Luke_Wilbur]

What are they afraid of specifically?

[Guest human]

High taxes, anti business, high business costs. They are looking at the way this country is being run and they can get better deals else where.

 

Though there is a bright side;

 

The business investors are looking at china like they are viewing Venezuela which in the long term is a lose lose.

 

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What are they afraid of specifically?

[Guest Luke]

So is India going to be the next China? Or is Africa going to see a boon in jobs? Numatic engineering allows factories to be anywhere in the world.

[Guest human]

I will answer it this way; We are in Economic Resource Wars right now with China "soft power".

 

Since this is the internet and the information is open to all it would be foolish of me to tell

our competitors where we as a country are headed.

 

Since they will be able to counter our business interests.

The same rules apply as in the battle field "its economic warfare".

 

I wont make the same mistake I made with the person that I made it with when it came to Brazil "you know from my posts in here how that turned out".

 

The kid acted like he was hot stuff, the financial community found out about it and they took off like a bee to honey.

 

I really do want our country to be the Honey.

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So is India going to be the next China? Or is Africa going to see a boon in jobs? Numatic engineering allows factories to be anywhere in the world.

[Guest Spirit Talker]

Reinstate tariffs instead raising taxes.

[Guest Ron]

This is what can happen when the Department of Defense uses a foreign company.

 

http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2010/10/07/password-protected-article/

 

Shell was implicated by their attorneys, the law firm of Vethan and Waldrop, and Matt Waldrop, principle partner of the law firm. Shell had been attempting to gain unlawful access to technical material that had been classified by the Navy Dept., Office of Naval Research in 2001. This material was the IP of a former employee. Shell was apparently trying to ‘muscle’ their way into gaining ownership of the IP material. This material was classified under DoE/DoD nuclear weapons classification authorities.

[Luke_Wilbur]

 

GE Closes Last Incandescent Light Bulb Plant, Jobs Sent to China

GE has closed its last major factory making incandescent light bulbs in the United States, a victim of a 2007 law banning sale of the light bulbs by 2014. Environmental activist groups promised the restrictions would create green jobs, but workers at GE's Winchester, Virginia plant are finding the law is merely creating jobs overseas in China, says the Heartland Institute.

 

• The 2007 law imposed energy efficiency requirements that cannot be met by traditional incandescent light bulbs.
• Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), which are much more expensive than incandescent light bulbs, are the least expensive alternative.
• The manufacture of CFLs, however, is labor intensive and too expensive to be done at U.S. wage rates.

GE could retrofit its Winchester plant to produce CFLs, but GE CFLs would be 50 percent more expensive than bulbs made in China with the benefit of cheap labor. Realizing it could not compete with such a cost disadvantage, GE is closing down its Winchester factory, putting 200 workers out of a job.

 

H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, says people should not be surprised by job losses caused by environmental mandates such as the ban on incandescent light bulbs.

 

"The claim that the unemployment caused by federal policies forcing CFL light bulbs on the public was an 'unintended consequence' would be laughable if the job losses weren't so unfortunate," says Burnett.

 

Sam Kazman, general counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, pointed out banning incandescent light bulbs does not necessarily bring environmental benefits.

 

• In 1987 the town of Traer, Iowa handed out 18,000 free fluorescent bulbs to its residents in a demonstration project aimed at reducing power consumption.
• Residential electricity use actually rose by 8 percent, because people used more lights and kept them on longer once they realized their lighting was cheaper.

Source: Kenneth Artz, "GE Closes Last Incandescent Light Bulb Plant, Jobs Sent to China," Heartland Institute, October 4, 2010.

 

For text:

 

http://www.heartland.org/full/28516/GE_Closes_Last_Incandescent_Light_Bulb_Plant_Jobs_Sent_to_China.html

 

 

[Guest Luke]

Things are not looking good. Who is letting this happen?

 

http://www.manufactu...s/steel109.html

 

U.S. Steel Industry Says Get Ready, Chinese Government Companies Are Coming To America

 

China's government-owned steel industry has reached a new level of domination, accounting for 46 percent of global steel production. It is now entering a new phase of global expansion.

 

China intends to expand steel production throughout the world through a program called "Going Abroad," putting further pressure on companies that operate in the free-market without government subsidies, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Steel Manufacturers Association.

 

"The next step in China's government-directed industrial strategy is expansion abroad -- a strategy which the government is now implementing," according to an analysis done for the two trade associations by Wiley Rein LLP in Washington, D.C. The "Going Abroad" strategy directs China's largest state-owned enterprises "to invest abroad and establish 'greenfield' operations," says the study. "In essence, after creating, developing and nurturing massive 'national champions,' the Chinese government is now strategically deploying these entities overseas to execute the government's agenda: to acquire natural resources and raw materials, obtain technology and expertise, gain entry into new markets and increase China's economic and political influence on a global scale."

 

China increased steel production by 346 percent between 2000 and 2009. Total steel production could hit 630 million metric tons this year, up from 127 million metric tons in 2000. In 2009, U.S. production declined to only 58 million tons.

 

China's steel production growth "continues to defy market forces," says the Wiley Rein study entitled, "The Reform Myth: How China is Using State Power to Create the World's Dominant Steel Industry." "This unparalleled expansion has been facilitated by massive government intervention. For years, the Chinese government has owned, directed and subsidized virtually every aspect of the Chinese steel industry."

 

Such ownership is deemed illegal under the World Trade Organization rules. Yet China has defied them. The Chinese government owns most of the shares of the major steel producers. It is involved in making the business decisions within virtually all of China's major steel companies. "As a result, more than ever before, China's steel producers are operating in an environment where basic market forces do not exist or apply and where commercial decisions are mandated by the government, a clear violation of China's WTO commitment to 'not influence, directly or indirectly, commercial decisions on the part of state-owned or state-invested enterprises.' Despite its commitments regarding market reforms, government intervention in the steel industry has grown steadily since China's accession to the WTO in 2001. Indeed, the Chinese government has shown no signs of relinquishing control over the steel industry, as China's largest steel-producing state-owned enterprises are now being deployed overseas to further the government's political objectives."

 

The Chinese government continues to provide its steel companies with financial subsidies, cash grants, land grants, conversions of debt to equity, debt forgiveness, preferential loans and tax incentives. In the area of materials subsidies, Chinese prices for coke in December 2008 were $241 per metric ton lower than export prices. "Production of one ton of steel requires approximately 0.6 tons of coke," says the study. "This means that Chinese steel producers enjoyed a cost advantage of nearly $145 per metric ton over their international competitors." This advantage flows not only to Chinese producers, but to Chinese manufacturers that use steel in their products -- another "unfair advantage," says Wiley Rein.

China's decision to accelerate its "Going Abroad" strategy will make it even more difficult for U.S. producers to compete against the "Chinese government's intervention in private markets," says the study. "Chinese investment in the 'Going Abroad' strategy will force private U.S. steel companies to compete directly against government-owned and supported companies in the U.S. marketplace, creating significant imbalances that will further distort the steel market."

 

The Chinese government has directed its Anshan Iron and Steel Group to directly invest in the United States. On May 17, 2010, the company announced a joint venture with Steel Development Co. of Amory, Miss., to build up to five new steel plants in the United States. "Anshan's investment in SDC is the direct result of China's industrial policies," notes Wiley Rein. The 100-percent state-owned enterprise became China's fourth largest steel producer "through government mandated mergers and the receipt of massive government subsidies."

 

China's 2009 "Revitalization Plan," "explicitly identifies Anshan as a recipient of extensive government support in order to strengthen its international competitiveness and to assist Anshan in acquiring strategic resources and establishing operations abroad. . .

 

Anshan is now investing in the U.S. steel market, with the full force and encouragement of the Chinese government.

 

China is stepping up its global strategy. China's government said it invested $43.3 billion overseas in 2009. Through June 2010, overseas investment had reached $55.2 billion. The OECD says these figures are "substantially" underestimated. Chinese foreign mergers and acquisitions have increased by more than 50 percent in the first half of 2010, according to report from China Daily Online. "Chinese investment into the United States jumped 360 percent in the first half of 2010 compared to the same period last year," according to the Wiley Rein report. "In 2009, Chinese enterprises announced new direct investment in the United States of approximately $5 billion, up from $500 million in 2008, and despite a significant global downturn in such investments. Moreover, Chinese firms acquired or announced that they were starting more than 50 U.S. companies in 2009."

[Guest Marco]

Electronic Component Manufacturing Industry in the U.S. and its International Trade

 

This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing electronic components (except electron tubes; bare printed circuit boards; semiconductors and related devices; electronic capacitors; electronic resistors; coils, transformers and other inductors; connectors; and loaded printed circuit boards). This 6-digit NAICS industry (334419) is under the hierarchy of Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing Industry (33441), Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing Subsector (334), and the Manufacturing Sector (31-33). Its SIC equivalent code is: 3679 - Electronic Components, NEC (other electronic components).

 

Revenue, Profitability & Foreign Trade Preview

 

The industry's revenue for the year 2009 was approximately $8.2 billion USD, with an estimated gross profit of 30.1%. Import was valued at $7.9 billion USD from 120 countries. The industry also exported $5.4 billion USD worth of merchandise to 194 countries. Adding import value to and subtracting export value from the industry's shipment value, the total domestic demand for the industry in 2009 was $10.7 billion USD.

 

Read more and get the report.

 

 

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?report_id=363179&t=e&cat_id=