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The Coming Decline of 'Made In China'

retroworks writes: Adam Minter documents the move of Chinese steel mills to Africa, and speculates that China's years of incredible rates of economic growth may already be over. This one steel mill's move to Africa, by itself, increases Africa's production by two-thirds. "The officials in Hebei Province who oversee the company may have felt they had no choice. First, they undoubtedly faced political pressure to reduce their environmental impact in China: reducing production of steel, cement and glass -- all highly polluting industries, especially in developing countries -- will have a direct impact on Xi Jinping’s pollution goals. (Starting in Hebei will have the added benefit of cleaning up polluted, neighboring Beijing.) Second, Hebei may simply be at a loss as to how to scale back businesses that they recognize have become massively bloated. Officials in China’s construction-related industries clearly have too much capacity and too little demand." It's also possible that these moves will be encouraged by China's transition to clean economy, though that could be a bad thing for pollution in Africa.

2 of 327 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No African OT either.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Americans won't stand for "slave wages" in Africa. They would boycott anything "made in Africa" because they'd fear the workers are slaves.

  2. Re:Automated manufacturing by Sir_Eptishous · · Score: 3, Funny

    The main thing you don't understand is that people create jobs, not the other way around.

    I don't know about that, I'm sure there have been quite a few(ahem...) jobs that have created people...

    --
    We play the game with the bravery of being out of range