 |
| |
|
|
Colon
|
 |
Antwerp, Colon's Chocolate Canard Country
Jan 1970
time: 06:37
|
|
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/07c84d46-1...000e2511c8.html
quote:
Chinese bras wing their way on to EU shelves
By Elizabeth Rigby in London, Clare MacCarthy in Copenhagen and Paivi Munter in Stockholm
Published: August 22 2005 20:21 | Last updated: August 22 2005 20:21
eu chinaFor Claus Walther Jensen, getting his hands on bras for Christmas is one of the most important aspects of running Change, a Danish lingerie chain.
That is why the director went so far as to borrow a helicopter on Monday morning to secure one of the last European Union import licences for bras.
“We had 45,000 panties in Christmas colours but their 45,000 matching bras were trapped in a warehouse,” said a relieved Mr Walther Jensen after his helicopter dash.
“Other companies are suffering. I’ve got my goods in but I don’t want to win market share this way.”
Thanks to Mr Walther Jensen’s imaginative approach, Change will be stocking matching lingerie this year.
But with the import quota for bras coming into the EU from China now exhausted - last night the stockpile of bras had already hit more than 1m - other retailers have got a problem on their hands.
“The packages under the Christmas trees this year won’t contain clothes,” said Poul Lauersen, chief financial officer of Bestseller, Denmark’s largest textiles group, which is short knitwear, blouses, tops and trousers.
“The shops won’t be empty but we are missing much of our autumn range,” said Mr Lauersen.
Across the EU, retailers are scrambling to find alternative places to source goods as the crisis over import from China deepens. Trousers, pullovers, bras, blouses, T-shirts and silk have now all exceeded the quota limits agreed by the EU and China in June.
Pär Darj, head of investor relations at Hennes Mauritz, the Swedish-based clothes retailer that sources about 30 per cent of its products from China, said: “In the short-term we are shifting some production of pullovers and trousers to Bangladesh, India and Cambodia.” A big UK retailer that asked not be named said it was doing the same thing. “More production is going to India. I think it will be the new China. This problem will get sorted. But there will be a delay in getting products on to shelves,” said the retail executive.
As the stockpile of clothes at EU custom points hit nearly 76m items, retailers are pushing harder than ever for a speedy resolution to the crisis. The large European retailers – Metro, Carrefour and H&M – are quick to point out that they can easily switch sourcing and so are less hard hit by the dispute than the smaller players with less scale and sourcing infrastructure.
Lindex, the Swedish-based market leader in underwear and children’s wear that made SKr5.3bn (€565m, £380m, $690m) in sales in 2005, said its early decision not to add to production in China – it sources about 60 per cent of product from Asia, the greater part from China – had paid off.
“We already have licences for all the products coming out of China,” said Ulrika Danielsson, head of communications at Lindex.
“Our customers won’t notice any impact. We will get all the products that we have ordered.”
But with the stockpile still growing at an alarming rate and no solution in sight, many retailers are unlikely to be feeling so sanguine. |
And why all this mess? Because some dying industry cried that a 20 years transition period wasn't enough to prepare itself for Chinese imports.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
shawnmmcc
|
|
I just figured I'd skirt the issue.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
shawnmmcc
|
|
I guess I'm just supposed to button it.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
shawnmmcc
|
|
Actually, free trade is a Republican fantasy, and because of that - see Whoha's post above - we are getting killed in International trade, because other countries, for a variety of reasons, do a better job of protecting, developing, and supporting their industries. Thus we have Toyota, Airbus, Eurocopter, and the name escapes me of the Chinese company that bought out IBM's PC manufacturing. Protectionism and government supports CAN work if done intelligently. If you don't believe me - look at the Current Account deficit, or the trade deficit. $600 plus billion a year. 
|
|
| |
|
|
|
shawnmmcc
|
|
DanS - there is no question that trade wars are losing propositions. However, if you look for example at Eurocopter and Airbus, since they are in my industry - they have shredded US Aerospace companies, they are gaining market share, and have definitely hurt our current account balance.
Given that success, how can you make a blanket statement that Protectionism is a always a losing proposition? Look at China right now. Account for the success stories in your statement, rather than make a pronouncement. Note, when quoting the US economic miracle, please track median wages corrected for inflation and budget deficits as well as "unemployment". Speaking of which, also track real unemployment, not unemployment claims. The US underreports those numbers due to our methodology. Finally, track research and education quality. The WSJ just had a humdinger of a column on the US research gap, BTW.
(note - I won't be ignoring you, I'm just going to sleep. I'll try to check your reply tonight.  )
|
|
| |
|
|
|
shawnmmcc
|
|
Highing paying jobs, with their grabbing market share from US companies (want to buy a McDonnel-Douglas jetliner - you cannot, they de facto folded). That's the point for them. My point was that Free Trade does not necessarily work, and that instead well thought out and carefully targeted protectionism instead can be an excellent strategy. Instead of global economic principals, I am giving precise examples where not only have the protectionists come out ahead, but the Free Trade proponents have definitely been hurt. As I stated before, Free Trade per se, as practiced in the real world, is a fantasy, and one that IMHO (with multiple examples given) has hurt the US in multiple areas. If protectionism doesn't work - look at the Chinese economic "miracle".
|
|
| |
|
|
|
shawnmmcc
|
|
DanS - so now we deserve unfair trade that guts our industry? That is a unique perspective, to say the least. Let's get into farm subsidies (the Euros have almost forced us into that one, IMHO), which have also hurt US farmers and our budget, and which have been devastating to small, third world farmers.
|
|
| |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:37.
Apolyton Time is 00:37. |
top of page
|
|
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|
23-08-2005 22:19
|