On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 09:51:48 GMT, "Charles Self"
wrote:

"Swingman" wrote in message
...

"Robatoy" wrote in message

I just can't get my head around the whole idea of plywood being shipped
from China and retailing for same/less money than our stuff.

That's just nuts.

.... snip
I think you're right. I know for a fact that local cabinet shops use the
stuff by the pallet. Around here, it is about $12 a sheet cheaper than run
of the mill birch/soft maple plywood. I've used some, and it's pretty
decent. Built a wood rack out of it earlier in the year. The only thing
wrong was the planning--the rack is too small.

I'm another who has difficulty with the pricing and shipping. From what I
understand (and I may not understand all that well), we sell them the logs,
which are then shipping to China. They process it and return the plywood and
come in about 40% under plywood produced only 3000 miles away--or 500.

It makes no sense to me, but my guess is we're looking at some kind of
government support of that industry so it can get a foothold worldwide.


That and several other factors. The Chinese are artificially keeping the
exchange rate of the Yuan (think that's how it's spelled) fixed relative to
the dollar at a value advantageous to them. That kind of artificial
control only works for a certain amount of time before the control can no
longer be maintained. Since the Chinese government is a totalitarian
entitity, the idea that artificial controls won't work is foreign to them
and will most likely cause them problems further down the road. The other
factor is the labor rate, if you can get a Chinese worker to work a whole
day for less than what a first-world worker gets for one hour's worth of
work, and if you have relatively the same level of productivity, you can
make up a lot of shipping costs. That's even more true if the Chinese
worker receives no benefits (apparently some of the more rural areas of
China no longer receive government-sponsored health care). It does seem
difficult to believe that one can make up two-way shipping (raw material
over + finished product back) with just labor savings alone however.


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If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

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