American workers productivity

[foadi]

china is the largest steel producer in the world

it is also the largest consumer by far. if you had been to china maybe you would know why, simply by looking at the rate of development in the cities. just because china imports a lot of raw materials doesnt mean they don't have any themselves. i dont think you (and many others) appreciate or comprehend the level of development in china.

[bobtn]

I appreciate it, but I do not see them rising to raw material self-sufficiency for decades to come (meaning producing as much as they consume -both via production and building).

In many ways, India will be a bigger threat to us, since they are going to take higher level work from us.

[PacificFlights]

Originally Posted by bobtn

but a 40' container at $60 oil costs $12k to get here, its not straight-line , but long -term $100 should get that up past $15k.

The current average EB spot price for a 40' container NS China to Long Beach is $2,000 single shipment. Less for planned reserve multi consigned shipments. Oil will have to be over $500 a barrel to make a container cost $15,000.

[bobtn]

I'm including all charges, including duties, brokers fees, offloading at port, and the inland transportation to the DC or mfg site. If the base charge were all that was involved, it would be a different story, or if we could put every DC and mfg site at the port of Long Beach, it would be different. But I'm talking from the context of all inclusive charges involved from China to a typical middle America facility.