China Catching Up in the Mall Race?

The Standard – The great mall of China – Opinion Section:

Interesting view into the growth of malls in China. This excerpt from the article talks about the flow of goods back and forth, the U.S. shipping scrap materials to China to be used in manufacturing, basically.

“Chinese producers are supplying cheap consumer goods sold in the United States, mostly at Wal-Mart and other low-price retailers, resulting in a huge trade imbalance. This is evident at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where nearly half of total US imports arrive. As Long Beach communications director Yvonne Smith told PBS’ Frontline, “China is doing the manufacturing; the United States is buying it.”

Much of the US$3 billion (HK$23.4 billion) in US exports to China consists of cotton, scrap metal and waste paper used to make US$36 billion worth of mostly manufactured goods (and the boxes they arrive in) coming from China – and that is just what goes through Long Beach.”

About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology, focused on improving quality and patient safety, improving access, reducing costs, and fully engaging healthcare professionals. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.