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I'm in the manufacturing business. We are constantly being underbid by offshore manufacturers who can undercut us because their labor costs are dramatically lower than ours. Many of our customers have bailed on us and go for the quick savings of offshore manufacture. However, some are beginning to come back after they realize that product quality, long lead times, freight costs and language barriers start to come into play, and the savings aren't as great as they originally hoped. China's economy is booming. With that boom, comes inflation. As the Chinese continue to demand a higher standard of living, labor rates will rise. Also, right now many countries are selling raw materials to China at a discount rate to earn their business (sort of like a 'loss leader' when a new product is introduced to get you to buy it.) The United States has not yet imposed duties to China on steel and brass. They are buying up so much American steel, stainless steel and brass, that I often run into problems procuring it to make parts. But, if shortages continue to get worse, the government will be forced to implement export duties which will cause Chinese raw material costs to go up. All in all, this is an ugly, but temporary situation. As China comes into the 21st century, their labor and material costs will bring prices up, competition will cause American prices to come down, and things will equalize. I suspect that, at that point, you will see the market for Chinese Z parts all but disappear. But the long-term concern (and this really has nothing to do with offshore Z parts, just my 2 cents) is the Global Economy is knocking on our door. We need to figure out what it is that we do better than anyone else, and start doing it.
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