China exports fall 22.6% in April

Reuters (via Irish Times) ^ | 05/12/09

[TigerLikesRooster]

China exports fall 22.6% in April

China's exports fell 22.6 per cent in April from a year earlier, while imports fell 23 per cent, the official Xinhua news agency said today, quoting the General Administration of Customs.

The resulting trade surplus for the month was $12.9 billion, compared with $18.56 billion in March and $4.84 billion in February, according to calculations based on the cumulative January-April surplus of $75.43 billion cited by Xinhua.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[Roccus]

I was wondering why my local Wal Mart was taking on the appearance of a store “going out of business.” Their in-store stock has dwindled markedly.

[verity]

“The resulting trade surplus for the month was $12.9 billion, compared with $18.56 billion in March and $4.84 billion in February...” And?

[EQAndyBuzz]

They export crap and import money.

[jboot]

It has been difficult, but I have cut my purchases of Chinese goods to the barest minimum possible without resorting to living off the land. With the exception of electronics, you can almost always find an alternate source, sometimes even one made in the USA (though not usually).

I intend to keep it that way permanenetly. And when the next foriegn "economic powerhouse" floods our markets with crap I will treat them the same way, too.

[RSmithOpt]

But the global economy is started to show a rebound.....well at least according to some media shysters.

[nyconse]

Good! Less money they can spend on weapons.

[TigerLikesRooster]

There goes a Chinese aircraft carrier.:-)

[Roccus]

Good! Less money they can spend on weapons.

Except now I have to give my money to the rag heads as the nearest affordable other place to shop is a 66 mile round trip.

[nyconse]

I am confused...did a Walmart close in your area? Ours seems to be doing just fine...although I have discovered that local stores often offer better quality and better prices so I don’t go there that often. For example, at Sparkles you can buy local meat...the meat in Walmart is mostly from...who knows? The label says it could be from Canada, USA,Mexico, Argentina etc...one of my neighbors told me that our local Walmart is starting to put made in USA on labels for some of its chicken so maybe they are beginning to understand that people don’t want to buy food from countries with no health standards. Everyone thinks that Walmart has the cheapest prices, but this is often not the case. For example, I now go to Rite Aid for my prescriptions because Walmart makes you wait over an hour in many cases and there are always long lines. I was surprised to discover that Rite Aid matched Walmart prices and were much easier to deal with-prescriptions filled in ten minutes or so.

[nyconse]

One can only hope this is true. The world does not need Chinese aircraft carriers!

[nyconse]

You can thank the ‘just in time’ policy for this. Walmart only takes enough to fill the shelves at any given time in order to reduce warehousing costs...Sometimes they underestimate the demand and run out of stuff or a truck breaks down and the shipments are delayed...for example on one of my few trips to Walmart, I needed butter. Walmart was out of butter. Can you imagine?

[Roccus]

It’s not that they closed, it’s that the selections have gone waaaayyy downhill. My sister lives near Wilkes Barre PA and says that her Wally World is the same....lots of empty shelf space. Common items like thin egg noodles, have not been available for months here. Bib overalls in 40-30 haven’t been in stock since last summer. All our local food stores, except for an IGA about 15 miles south have closed since the Super Center opened. There are no clothing stores left or shoe stores.
Fortunately, before long our local farmer’s market will open and I’ll be able to get decent produce. The tomatoes sold at Wal Mart have no taste at all. It’s like I buy them so there’s something red for my salad. Haven’t had to deal with perscriptions, thank God.

...and yes, the zero inventory practice preached in the 80’s is a pain to shoppers.

[AuntB]

FYI

Honey laundering thrives despite fed crackdown on two operations smuggling tainted Chinese honey into the U.S.
What’s on grocery shelves?

[snip]Federal invesHoney Chinatigators from various agencies in Seattle and Chicago chased illegally labeled Chinese honey from the slums of the Philippines through dilapidated Thai warehouses and into ports up and down the west coast of the U.S.

The paper trail showed that some of the illegal honey was bought by a huge Midwest food distributor, which supplied major grocery chains, investigators said.

Last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Chung Po Liu at his home in Bellevue, Wash., and Boa Zhong Zhang and Yong Xiang Yan at LAX as they arrived from China. All were charged with conspiracy for attempting to smuggle millions of dollars worth of honey – possibly contaminated with illegal antibiotics — into the United States.

http://andrewschneiderinvestigates.com/2009/05/11/honey-laundering-thrives-despite-fed-crackdown-on-two-operations-smuggling-tainted-chinese-honey-into-the-u-s-what%e2%80%99s-on-grocery-shelves/

[nyconse]

Wow, I can’t believe this. Our Walmart appears to be fairly well stocked, but we have other options. This is the problem. Walmart drove out all the other stores in your area and then don’t feel the need to provide the service it seems. This would drive me crazy. No wonder, they are posting profits...gaming the system.