Made in China

[GeneChing]

With global shifts in trade and manufacturing, this thread is dedicated to Chinese factory issues. We'll begin with this:

My Brother Is Being Held Hostage At The Factory He Founded In China
Julia La Roche Jun. 25, 2013, 11:41 AM 10,906 76


Photo courtesy of John Starnes
Chip Starnes and his wife Cecily
American executive Charles "Chip" Starnes, the co-founder of Coral Springs, Florida-headquartered Speciality Medical Devices, has been held hostage by Chinese workers at a Beijing factory since last Friday over worker demands for severance packages.

We spoke with his younger brother John Starnes over the phone earlier today.

"It's been tough. It's kind of like a movie. I get word Friday that my brother is being held hostage in a facility in China," he said, adding, "It's been surreal, to say the least. It's been very scary."

John has maintained contact with his brother via telephone and email, but the internet has been cut off since Friday.

He described his brother Chip's conditions up until the story broke in the news media as bad. At one point Chip went 24 hours without food and water, and was deprived of sleep. Chip also has a severe infection in his eyes, which started while he was in China.

However, the media attention has already helped improve things a bit.

"Once the news story broke, the conditions have gotten much better. My understanding is they finally got him some medical help regarding his eyes...They've given him a cot in the last day or two — He's not sleeping on the floor," he said, adding that his brother now gets three meals a day.


Photo courtesy of John Starnes
Chinese workers sleeping, taking shifts watching Chip

When the lock-in began, John said that the factory employees were standing in Chip's office watching him sleep. Once Chip managed to get them out, the employees started banging on the windows making it difficult for him to sleep, John explained.

Things have eased up in the last 24 to 36 hours. He said his brother now has some mobility around the factory and isn't just confined to his office.

So far, it's been impossible for him to leave, though.

Chip sent his brother some video footage from his cell phone demonstrating this. The video, which is posted below, shows him trying to leave the facility and being blocked from the exit by a bunch of factory workers.

John told us that it's his understanding that all of the entrances to the facility are blocked. He said that it's also his understanding that the Chinese authorities are outside of the facility maintaining order and the workers are inside the facility blockading him.

What's more is the factory workers are sleeping in shifts to make sure Chip doesn't leave, John explained. Chip also sent a photo showing this (See above).

The Specialty Medical Devices facility in China has been up and running for a decade. John estimated that his brother Chip has been visiting the facility once a quarter during the last ten years.

He doesn't have any family in China. None of his relatives were traveling with him at the time.

Chip's wife and three children are back in Florida. John said that it has been a very challenging time for the family.

"The stress level is high. The concerns are high. The emotions are high. We are very concerned for his safety and for his well being."

The family has been in touch with officials in the U.S. to help Chip.

When John first got word of the situation he reached out to Tony Baltimore, who does constituent outreach relations for Congressman Mike Rogers.

"They've been a tremendous help."

There's a cell phone vid (no pun intended) if you follow the link above.

[GeneChing]

Chip is free.

U.S. exec Chip Starnes freed from China factory

The boss of a US medical supply company in China went free on Thursday after agreeing to to a deal with the employees who had held him hostage. Chip Starnes says he'll pay generous severance packages, even though the employees will keep working.

Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY 9:43 a.m. EDT June 27, 2013

BEIJING — U.S. businessman Chip Starnes walked to freedom Thursday after paying off the workers who held him hostage for six days in the factory he founded close to the Chinese capital. And now he plans to re-hire some of the very people who held him.

The dispute, sparked by worker worries about lay-offs and unpaid salaries, highlights the widespread lack of trust between employees and their employers in China, as well as the often desperate measures Chinese workers adopt to protect labor rights that are enshrined in Chinese law but regularly abused in the real world.

Its resolution offers further proof that, in China, taking the law into one's own hands may achieve the best results.

Starnes, 42, co-owner of Specialty Medical Supplies, a Coral Springs, Fla.-based company, had come to the plant last Friday to finalize severance payments for 30 workers who were being laid off as Starnes moved the firm's plastic-injection-molding division to Mumbai, India, where production costs are lower.

The remaining 100 employees, fearful the entire factory would be closed, also demanded similar severance packages, and complained about unpaid wages, a claim Starnes has denied. To force his hand, they barricaded Starnes inside the plant.

A deal was reached by early Thursday morning, when 97 workers received two months' salary and compensation that together totaled almost $300,000, reported the Beijing News, a local tabloid. Starnes told the Associated Press he was forced to give in to the workers' demands, and described his experience over the past six days as "humiliating, embarrassing."

But he plans get back to business, and rehire some of his captors. "We're going to take Thursday off to let the dust settle, and we're going to be rehiring a lot of the previous workers on new contracts as of Friday," he said.

"Everything has been properly resolved," said Chu Lixiang, a local trade union official, her voice hoarse after several days and nights of negotiations. "I just want to tell foreign investors that Huairou has a very good investment environment and fully-fledged laws, they don't have to be scared," said Chu, director of the government-controlled workers union in the Huairou district of Beijing, where the factory is located.

Yet some U.S. businessmen might think twice about investing in China, where several Chinese managers have been killed or injured by angry workers in recent years. The kind of stand-off Starnes endured is not rare, as sometimes workers lack more effective methods to show their rights are being violated, Lin Yanling, a labor relations expert at the China Institute of Industrial Relations, told the Global Times, a Communist Party newspaper.

"The local workers' union should play a very important role in solving workers' claims or difficulties by better communicating with employers," said Lin. "But in many cases, they only get involved when an incident has happened and pay too much attention to keeping stability."

Chinese workers, who are well aware of their legal rights to compensation, as well as often higher "market rate" for compensation, share "a well-founded suspicion of the boss' intentions," said Geoffrey Crothall, communications director for China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based labor rights group. During the 2008 financial crisis, there were hundreds of cases of fleeing bosses, he said. "The situation is not so bad now but workers are still suspicious whenever there are signs that the factory is closing down or moving away."

While China's court system can sometimes be effective, it is over-stretched and employers can use endless appeals to delay proceedings, said Crothall. "The main problem is clearly the lack of a proper trade union and a mechanism through which that union can negotiate with management whenever issues like lay-offs and relocation come up."

Unless ordinary workers get involved by standing for election in the factory union, and forcing management to talk to them, "strikes and protests will continue to be the order of the day," he said.

[GeneChing]

I want to see that celebrity acrobatic snake-training talent team.

The Demanding Off-Hour Escapes of China’s High-Tech Workers
By DAN LEVIN
Published: July 16, 2013

Thousands of young Chinese come to the city of Zhengzhou to work in electronics factories. To escape the monotony of the assembly line, many take up roller skating as a hobby, like at the outdoor roller rink. More Photos »

Liang Yulong, 19, who tests iPhone motherboards at the Foxconn Zhengzhou Technology Park, arrived at the club with a single goal in mind: to obliterate his dreary daytime reality on the spring-loaded dance floor. “Dancing lets me vent my anger and stress,” he said, cigarette in hand. “When I’m here, I forget everything else.”

Here on the gritty outskirts of Zhengzhou, the capital of central Henan Province, the nocturnal menagerie reveals a little-explored aspect of the global supply chain, the off-hour escapes that give the masses of workers the motivation to return to the assembly line.

The hands that make the world’s electronics belong almost entirely to young people with dreams of their own, and a lifetime of contented industrial drudgery is not among them. Their precious time off is a rare chance to enjoy the present as they strive for a better future.

“Everyone gets psyched for the weekend,” said Bai Sihai, 24, as he navigated open potholes on the way back to his dorm after work one afternoon. His plan? A video-game binge session at an Internet cafe followed by a long-distance phone call to his girlfriend.

The captains of industry are beginning to see the merits of off-hours leisure. In recent years, a wave of riots and suicides at China’s huge factories have drawn attention to working conditions. In April and May, two workers and a prospective employee jumped to their deaths from dormitories that cater to workers at the Zhengzhou plant, which is owned by Foxconn, the Taiwan-based manufacturing giant that produces electronics for Apple, Microsoft and other companies. Foxconn maintains that the suicides were unconnected to work at the factory. Also in May, a worker committed suicide at a Samsung plant in the southern province of Guangdong, where labor rights organizations had documented a string of violations like forced overtime and under-age workers.

The industry has responded with carrots and sticks to save both the lives of their workers and their own corporate reputations. Under pressure, Foxconn has raised wages and cut overtime hours. At the Shanghai plant run by Quanta, which makes hardware for companies including Apple, Toshiba and Asus, workers can pay for yoga and taekwondo classes.

After the latest suicides at the Zhengzhou plant, the company instituted “silent mode,” which banned all talk about nonwork tasks on the factory floor. Although Foxconn later announced it had rescinded the policy after a public outcry, workers say it remains in effect.

In the high-tech Olympus of Silicon Valley, employees in ergonomically luxuriant offices can get subsidized massages and haircuts, scale rock-climbing walls, play foosball, meditate and do Pilates — all in the name of promoting creative innovation.

The work environment is considerably more bare-bones here. Unlike Apple’s modernistic new campus in Cupertino, Calif., which will be surrounded by apricot trees, the Zhengzhou factory has all the charm of a penal colony. Employees, who must wear matching uniforms, say supervisors routinely curse and yell. In the residential compounds, rows of brick dormitories house up to eight workers in rooms filled with metal bunk beds, a combination shower-toilet, and not much else.

Perhaps that is why the world beyond the factory gates resembles a gigantic street fair. As dusk fell one night recently in Zhengzhou, Mandarin pop music blared from hair salons and couples strolled past stalls selling pirated DVDs, sliced watermelon and roses covered in silver glitter. A flatbed truck piled high with oversize stuffed animals drew a mob of young women like sharks to blood. “I want the green teddy bear,” cooed a teenage girl to her boyfriend, who dutifully handed over 10 renminbi, or $1.60.

Down the block, a construction site played host to a parade of distractions, including a tattoo parlor set up in the back of a van, those arcade games with the metal claw that featured a pack of cigarettes as the big prize and a beer garden of sorts, where hordes of young factory workers chugged watery beer and chain-smoked over plates of sliced pig knuckles.

At some point, a troupe of dolled-up singers was supposed to take the nearby stage, though Luo Haojie, 20, and his friends were finding ample amusement in their shot glasses. In May, Mr. Luo quit his factory job making iPhone 5 parts, which earned him about $295 a month, including overtime. “Our supervisors are vicious,” and the cafeteria food is terrible, he said, to a round of applause from his drinking buddies.

Eventually he will need to find another job, but for now he is content to bask in the joys of youth, which means meeting girls and getting drunk with his former co-workers. “I’m here for my bros,” he said. “Without them I’d be miserable.”

Summer is the low season in China’s factory towns, so many workers get a day off on weekends, sometimes even two. There are numerous colorful characters on hand to keep them entertained. One evening, a band of itinerant performers dressed like Buddhist monks had set up shop across from a KFC-inspired eatery confusingly named Donut. Garbed in silken yellow robes, the “celebrity acrobatic snake-training talent team” worked the crowd of bored onlookers by whipping balloons and hawking blessed ornaments for rearview-mirrors. A monk with an earring blew fireballs.

“The circus that came around a few months ago was better,” said Li Yu, 19. “They had real lions and tigers.”

Those looking for more athletic diversions can usually be found at the local roller rink.

In the glow of swirling rainbow lights one Saturday, Zhou Pengzheng, 20, another iPhone 5 motherboard tester, narrowly avoided several neophytes as he spun to a halt on a pair of $160 in-line skates, which cost him roughly a third of his monthly salary. “It feels like I’m flying,” he said, before zooming once more into the throng of careening youths on tiny wheels.

In-line and roller skating has developed something of a cult following among the Foxconn strivers. A half dozen teams with names like Rainbow, F-2 and Shadow gather for weekly group skating sessions across the city.

Fang Xuema, 17, learned to skate not long after coming to work at Foxconn last spring and soon joined team Shadow, which has around 100 members. The rink has since become her second home. A high school dropout, she quit the factory in May, because her age prohibited her from working lucrative overtime hours. “I used to come to the rink twice a week, but now I’m here every night,” said Ms. Fang, in a black miniskirt and matching nail polish.

At 11 p.m., the street performers had vanished and the love hotels were getting busy. After a long day of making iPhones, Wang Puyan, 20, and his girlfriend were heading toward their rented apartment off-campus, since factory dormitories are separated by gender.

A romantic adventure was not in the cards, however. “We see each other every day at work,” he said. “Why would we go on a date?”

[Syn7]

a KFC-inspired eatery confusingly named Donut

Awesome!

I would hate to live in one of those work dorms.

[David Jamieson]

All boats rise with the tide. Eventually it will even out and there won't be any particular country or people to exploit.

Once China and India understand the concepts of trade unions and fair pay, benefits, etc etc it'll be like trying to start an entrepreneurial business in Europe at a large scale which is for the most part highly pointless and unprofitable without being a huge conglomerate to begin with.

[GeneChing]

I forgot about this thread and it was hard to search for - kept searching 'kidnapping' but I should of searched 'hostage'. Searching 'apple' delivered.

'Mass suicide' protest at Apple manufacturer Foxconn factory
Around 150 Chinese workers at Foxconn, the world's largest electronics manufacturer, threatened to commit suicide by leaping from their factory roof in protest at their working conditions.


150 Chinese workers at Foxconn, threatened to commit suicide by leaping from their factory roof in protest at their working conditions Photo: Club.china.com

By Malcolm Moore, in Shanghai 12:04PM GMT 11 Jan 2012

The workers were eventually coaxed down after two days on top of their three-floor plant in Wuhan by Foxconn managers and local Chinese Communist party officials.

Foxconn, which manufactures gadgets for the likes of Apple, Sony, Nintendo and HP, among many others, has had a grim history of suicides at its factories. A suicide cluster in 2010 saw 18 workers throw themselves from the tops of the company's buildings, with 14 deaths.

In the aftermath of the suicides, Foxconn installed safety nets in some of its factories and hired counsellors to help its workers.

The latest protest began on January 2 after managers decided to move around 600 workers to a new production line, making computer cases for Acer, a Taiwanese computer company.

"We were put to work without any training, and paid piecemeal," said one of the protesting workers, who asked not to be named. "The assembly line ran very fast and after just one morning we all had blisters and the skin on our hand was black. The factory was also really choked with dust and no one could bear it," he said.

Several reports from inside Foxconn factories have suggested that while the company is more advanced than many of its competitors, it is run in a "military" fashion that many workers cannot cope with. At Foxconn's flagship plant in Longhua, five per cent of its workers, or 24,000 people, quit every month.

"Because we could not cope, we went on strike," said the worker. "It was not about the money but because we felt we had no options. At first, the managers said anyone who wanted to quit could have one month's pay as compensation, but then they withdrew that offer. So we went to the roof and threatened a mass suicide".

The worker said that Foxconn initially refused to negotiate, but that the workers were treated reasonably by the local police and fire service.

A spokesman for Foxconn confirmed the protest, and said that the incident was "successfully and peacefully resolved after discussions between the workers, local Foxconn officials and representatives from the local government".

He added that 45 Foxconn employees had chosen to resign and the remainder had returned to work. "The welfare of our employees is our top priority and we are committed to ensuring that all employees are treated fairly," he said.

[GeneChing]

The Fourth of July, made in China
How Chinese manufacturers profit off fireworks, grills, and flag sales.
Updated by Ruairí Arrieta-Kenna@ruairiakruairi@vox.com Jul 3, 2017, 1:30pm EDT





The Fourth of July is an economic boom of a holiday — for China.

Ever since the first commemoration of Independence Day, Americans have celebrated with bombs bursting in air. But what started in 1777 with the firing of 13 rockets into the sky in Philadelphia has evolved into a tradition celebrated across the continent with grander and more expensive spectacles. No one benefits more from that than Chinese manufacturers.

The American Pyrotechnics Association reported in 2013 that 93 percent of fireworks used in the United States are made in China. It’s not surprising, then, that the US runs a substantial trade deficit with China with regards to fireworks. A Census Bureau report published on Friday suggests Americans imported more than $300 million worth of fireworks last year (96 percent of which came from China), while exports totaled only about $10 million.

Chinese companies clean up on your cookout, too. The Fourth of July is the most popular day of the year for Americans to cook outdoors, and a 2015 Hearth, Patio, and Barbecue Association survey showed that there’s still high consumer interest in purchasing new outdoor grills each year. The LA Times estimated in 2016 that the outdoor grill industry consistently rakes in more than a billion dollars in sales each year in the United States. But last year, IBISWorld reported that imports now make up the majority of outdoor grill sales in the United States, and Consumer Reports suggests that most are, in fact, made in China. Even Weber-Stephen, one of the oldest American grill companies, has moved production for a 2017 model of one of its popular lines of outdoor grills to China.

Even new American flags — in a small way — benefit Chinese manufacturers. April, May, and June are the busiest months for flag sales, which makes sense since Memorial Day and Independence Day are the most popular times to fly the Stars and Stripes. But while today the United States is a net exporter of the flag (a positive change from three years ago), America still imports $5.4 million worth of its own banner, with the vast majority of these imported flags ($5.3 million) coming from China.

While “Made in the USA” makes for a popular slogan, American consumers have repeatedly proven that what matters most is getting a good price. That often means buying from China. Even Donald Trump, who preached “Buy American” on the campaign trail, in his inauguration speech, in his February address to Congress, and in a recent, mostly symbolic executive order, found it difficult to buy all American for his first White House congressional picnic a couple of weeks ago.

Food for that picnic was grilled over imported coals — not from China, but from Mexico.

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The charcoal at the White House for apparent use at tonight's Congressional picnic is a product of Mexico
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The 4th of July Made in China

[Jimbo]

It's really sadly ironic (and a bit funny) that American companies that sell U.S. flags have been contracting to have them made in China for years.

On another note, on bladeforums, someone started a thread to see how many people who, out of patriotism, will strictly carry U.S.-made knives for the month of July. Considering that (for only one example) most if not all of the titanium in the U.S. comes from Russia, then all of the folders famously 'made in the USA' that utilize titanium in their handles, liners/liner locks/frame locks and pocket clips are already not 100% American materials. Just like I've heard that Leatherman's USA-made tools have parts from China, as well as parts from and/or some assembly done in Mexico. The Apple iPad I'm typing this on (and almost certainly whatever device Trump tweets on) is made in China.

Those who want to buy/use strictly 'Murican-made seem to have trouble realizing that it's a global economy.

[GeneChing]

Step inside the ‘Made in China’ capital of the world, where you can find everything from pacifiers to Christmas ornaments
Talia Lakritz, INSIDER


Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

The INSIDER Summary:
Yiwu International Trade City in Yiwu, China, is known as "Commodity City."
It's the world's largest wholesale market.
Photographer Raffaele Petralla spent a month documenting the items sold there and the people who sell them.

If you've ever bought Christmas decorations or children's toys, chances are they came from Yiwu, China.

Yiwu International Trade City, known as "Commodity City," is home to the world's largest wholesale market — 46 million square feet, to be exact, with over 62,000 booths inside. About 65-70% of these products are exported to over 215 countries and regions.

When photographer Raffaele Petralla read about Commodity City in "Confessions of an Eco-Sinner" by Fred Pierce, he knew he wanted to document the streets lined with wholesale merchandise and the people who call the city home.

Here are his incredible photos of the place where most "Made in China" products come from.

Yiwu International Trade City is the world's largest wholesale market located in Yiwu, Zhejiang, China.


Skyline of the new offices of the Trade Market Center in Yiwu City.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

Its five districts total 46 million square feet and house 62,000 booths.


A wholesaler in the exhibition space inside the Market Trade Center.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

There are 400,000 different kids of products available to order at wholesale prices.


Deep in the toy district.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

About 65-70% of what's sold there is exported.


A wholesale dealer of head coverings for Muslim women.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

It's the origin of 60% of the world's Christmas decorations.


Business owner Uan Xiao Fyn posing in one of his warehouses of Christmas ornaments.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

continued next post

[GeneChing]

Photographer Raffaele Petralla spent a month documenting the items sold there and the people who sell them.


An exhibition store of toy guns.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

He said most of the shopkeepers are relatives or friends of the owners of the companies that produce the goods.


A stand displaying children's costumes in the toy district.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

They work long hours, from eight in the morning until 10 at night.


A businessman in the toy district.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

Petralla was drawn to the seemingly infinite nature of the materials.


A stand of kites.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

"I decided to focus on the multiplicity of products, on their seriality, the very bright colors of plastic products," he told INSIDER in an email.


A wholesale stand of balls in the toy district.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

He was also surprised by how many shops sold fake plants.


A stand selling fake plants.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

Of course, he made sure to bring back gifts for his grandchildren.


A worker in a factory of inflatable plastic bats for children.Courtesy Raffaele Petralla

The remote-controlled drones he bought "were nice, very cheap, and my grandchildren were very happy," he said. "The same product was a 'top product' for Christmas in Italy, and, in fact, I found the same toys in Italy at much higher prices."

Yiwu looks awesome and terrifying.

[GeneChing]

North Korea factories humming with ‘Made in China’ clothes, traders say
REUTERS,
Added 14 August 2017


North Korean workers make soccer shoes inside a temporary factory at a rural village on the edge of Dandong, Liaoning province, China, October 24, 2012. (Reuters)

DANDONG, China – Chinese textile firms are increasingly using North Korean factories to take advantage of cheaper labour across the border, traders and businesses in the border city of Dandong told Reuters.
The clothes made in North Korea are labelled “Made in China” and exported across the world, they said.
Using North Korea to produce cheap clothes for sale around the globe shows that for every door that is closed by ever-tightening United Nations sanctions another one may open. The UN sanctions, introduced to punish North Korea for its missile and nuclear programmes, do not include any bans on textile exports.
“We take orders from all over the world,” said one Korean-Chinese businessman in Dandong, the Chinese border city where the majority of North Korea trade passes through. Like many people Reuters interviewed for this story, he spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Dozens of clothing agents operate in Dandong, acting as go-betweens for Chinese clothing suppliers and buyers from the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Russia, the businessman said.
“We will ask the Chinese suppliers who work with us if they plan on being open with their client – sometimes the final buyer won’t realise their clothes are being made in North Korea. It’s extremely sensitive,” he said.
Textiles were North Korea’s second-biggest export after coal and other minerals in 2016, totalling $752 million, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. Total exports from North Korea in 2016 rose 4.6 per cent to $2.82 billion.
The latest UN sanctions, agreed earlier this month, have completely banned coal exports now.
Its flourishing textiles industry shows how impoverished North Korea has adapted, with a limited embrace of market reforms, to sanctions since 2006 when it first tested a nuclear device. The industry also shows the extent to which North Korea relies on China as an economic lifeline, even as US President Donald Trump piles pressure on Beijing to do more to rein in its neighbour’s weapons programmes.
Chinese exports to North Korea rose almost 30 per cent to $1.67 billion in the first half of the year, largely driven by textile materials and other traditional labour-intensive goods not included on the United Nations embargo list, Chinese customs spokesman Huang Songping told reporters.
Chinese suppliers send fabrics and other raw materials required for manufacturing clothing to North Korean factories across the border where garments are assembled and exported. (Reuters)

I wonder if Ivanka's clothing line traces back to N.K.

[GeneChing]

BIG TECH BACKLASH 6 hours ago
Apple supply workers describe noxious hazards, unsafe conditions at China factory
Christopher Carbone By Christopher Carbone | Fox News


A report by China Labor Watch alleges that working conditions at an Apple supplier factory are not safe. (Reuters)

Workers at a Chinese company that produces iPhone casings for Apple stand for up to 10 hours per day in over-heated spaces, handling noxious chemicals sometimes without proper protection.

The conditions at Catcher Technology—described in a report by the advocacy group China Labor Watch and in interviews with Bloomberg News—show the ugly side of the tech boom that has powered China’s economy and helped push global stock markets to new highs.

The CLW report also found that at least one worker had severe respiratory issues due to the factory, basic safety equipment is not always available, the factory does not specify the hazards of any chemicals that employees work with, worker dorms do not have emergency exits, the factory is polluting the environment with wastewater and the factory’s floor is covered in slippery oil.

China Labor Watch reports that noise level in the factory is about 80 decibels or more, which is average for factories. Hundreds of employees reportedly work in a space where the main door only opens 12 inches and workers who are off-duty stay in dorms without hot water or access to showers.


Catcher Technology, a supplier for Apple, has not kept its factory safe for workers, according to a new report. (Reuters)

“My hands turned bloodless white after a day of work,” one of the workers, who makes a little over 4,000 yuan a month (just over $2 an hour), told Bloomberg. She turned to Catcher because her husband’s home-decorating business was struggling. “I only tell good things to my family and keep the sufferings like this for myself.”

This isn’t the first time Apple has been called out regarding conditions in Chinese factories that make its highly-profitable smartphones.

The tech giant spent years upbraiding manufacturers after a rash of suicides at its main partner, Foxconn Technology Group, in 2010 provoked outrage over the harsh working environments in which its upscale gadgets were made. Eventually, Foxconn made improvements to its locations and Apple started regular audits of all its main suppliers.

However, Apple’s supply chain is so gigantic that adhering to better standards is extremely difficult. The company, which sells more than 200 million smartphones per year, outsources a good amount of its manufacturing as a way to increase profits.

An Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company has its own employees at Catcher facilities, but sent an additional team to audit the complex upon hearing of the CLW’s impending report. After interviewing 150 people, the Apple team found no evidence of violations of its standards, she added. Catcher, which gets almost two-thirds of sales from Apple, said in a separate statement it too investigated but also found nothing to suggest it had breached its client’s code of conduct.

“We know our work is never done and we investigate each and every allegation that’s made. We remain dedicated to doing all we can to protect the workers in our supply chain,” the Apple spokeswoman added.

Christopher Carbone is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @christocarbone.

thread: Apple/Mac
thread: China's Pollution Problem
thread: Made in China

[GeneChing]

The kimchi you eat outside of Korea is probably made in China
Kimchi and other food are sold at a market in Shenyang's Xita District, Liaoning province, China November 1, 2017. Picture taken November 1, 2017.


Not made in its hometown. (Reuters/Sue-Lin Wong)

WRITTEN BY Echo Huang
January 19, 2018

South Korea counts the art of kimchi making as part of its unique cultural heritage. But it’s now running a nearly $50 million kimchi trade deficit. That means Koreans are eating more non-Korean kimchi than they used to—and so are you.

South Korea spent around $129 million in 2017 to purchase 275,000 metric tons foreign kimchi, more than 11 times the amount it exported, according to data released Wednesday (Jan. 17) by the Korea Customs Service. Meanwhile its exports of the spicy fermented cabbage only came to $81 million. The result? A staggering $47.3 million kimchi trade deficit, with about 99% of the imports coming from China.

South Korea’s been running kimchi deficits every year since 2006, except for 2009, according to the customs agency, which began tracking the data in 2000. That only time South Korea managed to beat the kimchi deficit was in 2009, when the country’s kimchi import value went down because of the strong performance of the Chinese currency’s strength that year, noted the International Monetary Fund.

The rest of the time, South Korean kimchi just can’t beat Chinese kimchi’s prices. As of 2016, the kimchi average export price was $3.36 per kilogram (2.2 lbs) compared with the $0.5 per kilo import price, according to the Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, a Seoul-based multinational exporting group.

South Koreans ate some 1.85 million metric tons of kimchi a year in 2016, or nearly 80 pounds a person. At home, South Koreans may still be largely eating home-made kimchi, or domestically produced stuff. But South Korean local restaurants have opted for the cheaper fermented cabbage. In Yanji, a Chinese city that borders North Korea, Jingangshan, one of the largest local manufacturers, alone produces 20 tons (22 metric tons) of kimchi every day, and most of that will end up on dinner tables in South Korea’s restaurants.

Weak demand from South Korea’s main kimchi export destination, Japan, also made it harder for South Korean imports, noted the Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation. The firm cited reasons such as Japan’s relatively slow economic growth and its shrinking population in recent years. (Japan once accounted for more than 70% of Korea’s kimchi export market, according to one 2014 estimate. )

Isabella Steger contributed reporting.

80 pounds a person per year.

[Jimbo]

80 pounds a person per year.

I can believe it. IIRC, kimchi is S. Korea's main staple, along with rice. I'm not a big kimchi fan. The best kimchi I ever had was when visiting a friend who was staying in Daejeon, S. Korea. The kimchi had been in a steel pot in the fridge, and it was good, but it was the HOTTEST thing I've ever eaten. This friend was actually Korean-American and she had made it herself. It was so spicy-hot I was sweating, and the weather was cold!

I'm not sure I'd want to eat much imported food from China. I wonder what the lead content is.

[GeneChing]

China’s robot makers are hooked on subsidies, highlighting another red line in US-China trade war
Mentions of ‘Made in China 2025’ may have disappeared, but Beijing and local governments continue to subsidise emerging technologies, sparking US outrage
US President Donald Trump has long complained about China’s state subsidies, even accusing Chinese trade practises of ‘raping’ the American economy
SCMP
Orange Wang
He Huifeng
Sidney Leng
Published: 6:15am, 20 Jun, 2019


Last year China was the world’s largest producer of industrial robots – the machines that automate production lines – for the sixth successive year, with 147,682 units made, according to date from OFweek. Photo: Handout

Prospects of China and the US securing a deal to end the trade war are dwindling. This is the fifth in a series of long reads examining the elements of any deal that Beijing would be willing to agree to, those that are considered achievable in the long run, as well as the red lines, on which Beijing is unlikely to ever budge. Part five focuses on the complex issue of state subsidies for China’s hi-tech industries.
If Beijing’s phasing out of references to “Made in China 2025”, the ambitious blueprint for the country’s industrial upgrade, was supposed to convince the United States that it had dropped the plan, then an outburst from US President Donald Trump last week showed that the move had clearly failed.
In an interview with CNBC, Trump railed against the plan, claiming that he had told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that it was “insulting” to America, and that it was his own threat of retaliation that led to the brand being quietly dropped.
Washington has long complained about China’s state subsidies. Trump has often directed his fury at heavy industry, railing against cheap Chinese steel flooding US markets, even accusing Chinese trade practises of “raping” the American economy. However, it is arguably Beijing’s subsidies for hi-tech industries that the US fears most, as can be showed by its pursuit of China’s technology giants, Huawei and ZTE.
Both China and the US are aware that whoever dominates in technologies such as 5G, robotics, electric vehicles and cloud computing, could gain the upper hand in both trade and military terms in the decades ahead. Furthermore, the US government can look at industries such as electric vehicles and solar cells for precedents as to how China subsidises a developing technology to the point of dominance and only then winds down government support.
In the EV sector, China is beginning to reduce subsidies, but only at a stage when it is by far the global leader. In 2017, the country produced more electric vehicles than the rest of the world combined, 579,000, compared to 200,000 in the US and 98,000 in Japan.
China views these technologies as crucial to moving its manufacturing economy up the value chain and avoiding the dreaded middle income trap, where wages stagnate, igniting the potential for domestic unrest. In that regard, subsidising new industrial sectors – as with the state support continually pumped into job-rich industries like machinery and car manufacturing – helps keep discontent among the public muted.
For these reasons, hi-tech subsidies are viewed by many as a red line for China in the talks with the US to end the trade war. Conversations with industry insiders – many of whom receive subsidies – reveal little desire to change a model which suits them well.


In 2017, China produced more electric vehicles than the rest of the world combined, 579,000, compared to 200,000 in the US and 98,000 in Japan. Photo: AFP

In the robotics business, for instance – one of the 10 key industries named in Xi’s Made in China 2025 plan, launched in 2015 – subsidies are warmly welcomed and viewed as necessary if Chinese companies are to be competitive.
Some even think that even with the billions being pumped into the sector from government coffers, Beijing is not doing enough, even though last year China was the world’s largest producer of industrial robots – the machines that automate production lines – for the sixth successive year, with 147,682 units made, according to date from OFweek.
Sun Kai, the chief technology officer of Beijing Elite Technology, a privately-owned industrial robot maker which opened a production plant in the manufacturing hub of Suzhou near Shanghai last year, said that he “absolutely” wanted the Chinese government to grant more financial support to the industry, despite US demands to stop.
“[The subsidies for buying robots] make little sense in terms of boosting the R&D on industrial robot technologies,” Sun said.
This year, the picture has been less rosy, with tariffs and a slowdown in global demand forcing industrial robot production down by 10.2 per cent in the first four months, according to OFWeek, a data resource for China’s hi-tech industries.
But that does not mean that Beijing has stopped subsidies. Government handouts accounted for 44 per cent of net profits for 53 listed robotic companies in 2018, according to a research note by Sinolink Securities, a sharp rise from the 10 per cent recorded between 2012 and 2017.

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