China owns less than 1% of the world’s chrome reserves. However, thanks to strong growth in stainless steel demand and relatively cheap production costs, China’s domestic ferrochrome capacity has steadily increased over the past decade, with China overtaking South Africa in the first half of 2012 to become the world’s largest ferrochrome producer. Yet, the lack of both upstream and downstream capabilities, along with looming chrome export restrictions, rising domestic production costs and stricter environmental controls, is putting Chinese ferrochrome producers in an increasingly precarious situation. To overcome these obstacles, Chinese ferrochrome producers will continue going overseas to gain control over upstream resources, significantly altering the global balance of the chrome ore trade. By Jeff Dong
Recent developments in the Chinese economy have drawn renewed media attention to rising labour costs in China. More than 50 years ago, economist Arthur Lewis pointed out that with the expansion of the modern sector of a low-income country, the unlimited labour supply (from the rural sector’s labour surplus) would disappear and, as a result, the country will enter into a phase of faster real wage increases. Many countries, including South Korea and Japan, have experienced such a change. What about China—is it already at the Lewis turning point? If so, does this signal the end of cheap labour in China? By Li-Chia Ou
The Beijing Axis Procurement Process Flow encapsulates the full extent of project engagement, from the point of first enquiry to the range of services in the solution process and benefits provided for the customer. In this edition, we focus more closely on step 10 of the Beijing Axis Procurement Process Flow: Quality Management (QA/QC), Expediting and Third-Party Management.