China’s Export Machine Goes High-End: tonybricks

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• 1. Chinas Export Machine Goes High-End
• 2. From its sprawling manufacturing base deep in China’ssouthwestern Hunan province, some 100 kilometers fromwhere Mao was born, construction-machinery maker SanyGroup plans to take on the world. While workers in blueoveralls and yellow hard hats crawl over huge mobilehydraulic cranes and cement mixer trucks in a gleamingfactory, Sany President Tang Xiuguo sits in his expansiveoffice nearby, discussing the opening of Sany factories inBrazil, India, and Alabama, as well as the soon-to-be-completed $475 million acquisition of Germany’sPutzmeister, the world’s largest maker of cement pumps.The bespectacled Tang, one of four founders of the 22-year-old company, aims to lift overseas sales, now some5 percent of its $16 billion revenue, to up to one-fifth ofrevenues within five years.
• 3. The phrase “Made in China” summons up images ofcheap shoes, plastic toys, and electronics assembled inthe vast factory complexes of Foxconn TechnologyGroup (HNHPF). While China built its powerful exportbusiness—increasing 17 percent a year over the lastthree decades—on such light industry and electronicsassembly, that is fast changing. Rising labor costs, up15 percent annually since 2005, plus an appreciatingcurrency, are putting new pressures on China’s cheapmanufacturing model and driving textile, shoe, andapparel factories to close or relocate to Vietnam,Cambodia, or Bangladesh. “China’s share of the world’slow-end exports has started to fall. This reflects a shift byChinese producers into sectors where margins arehigher rather than a failure to compete,” wrote U.K.-based Capital Economics in a March 28 note.
• 4. Chinese-built ships, for example, dominated the globalmarket with a 41 percent share last year, well ahead ofSouth Korea and Japan, according to London-basedshipping services company Clarksons. Data from theInternational Trade Centre, a joint agency of the UnitedNations and the World Trade Organization, also showstrong gains in China’s global share of the markets forrailway locomotives and wagons, machinery, and industrialboilers. In construction machinery, Sany’s specialty, threeChinese companies (Sany included) now rank in the top tenglobally. Many of the new exporters are producing frominland China, rather than the coast, the traditional region formanufacturing.
• 5. Overall, the portion of China’s exports made up by heavyindustry, about two-thirds of which is machinery, has grownfrom 29 percent in 2001 to 38.7 percent last year,surpassing light industry and electronics, according toBeijing-based economics consultants GK Dragonomics.“They are making different products with higher technology,things they can charge more money for,” says AndrewBatson, GK Dragonomics’ research director, who estimatesthat the new industries can help lift China’s share of globalexports from 10 percent now to 15 percent by 2020. “Thetypical Chinese exporter is not a shoe factory in Guangdonganymore. Instead it is some kind of equipment or machinerymaker.”
• 6. The Chinese makers of this machinery are targetingIndia, South America, and the Middle East, as Europe,still China’s largest export market, struggles with its debtcrisis. Europe, the U.S., and Japan accounted for48 percent of China’s total exports last year, down from56.1 percent in 2003, with developing countries nowtaking the majority, says Louis Kuijs, an economist at theHong Kong-based Fung Global Institute. “We have anadvantage because our technology and our productslevel are more suitable for these countries,” says Sany’sTang. “And our price is a bit lower than otherinternational brands.”Policy makers have made upgrading industry a nationalpriority. Equipment manufacturing, shipbuilding, and carsare among the industries slated to receive $2.5 billionfrom the government
• 7. this year to improve technology and product quality.Mergers and acquisitions inside China and overseas arealso being encouraged Says Shao Ning, vice minister ofthe powerful State-Owned Assets Supervision andAdministration Commission of the State Council: “Ourposition is we support Chinese companies investingabroad.”While China’s new manufacturers are not competing indeveloped markets yet, already they arechallenging Caterpillar (CAT), Siemens (SI),GeneralElectric (GE), and other established equipment makersin places like South America and Russia. China’sconstruction-machinery industry is expected to overtakeJapan’s and Germany’s soon, making it the world’ssecond-largest exporter in the category, behind the U.S.
• 8. Winning market share in the U.S. and Europe could takeyears, in part because of concerns over Chinese quality(the crash of a Chinese-built high-speed train in Zhejiangprovince in July hurt China’s reputation as amanufacturer). Sany says it spent $240 million last yearupgrading its factories, including the installation ofwelding robots. As Sany expands overseas, it aims toimprove its products to match the quality achieved by itsnewest acquisition, Germany’s Putzmeister, which willshare engineering know-how and suppliers with itsChinese parent. Says Tang, “We know that ‘Made inChina’ doesn’t have a great reputation. We want tochange this through selling high-quality products.”
• 9. The bottom line: Chinese exports havebeen rising 17 percent a year on average.To keep that pace, China is trying to grabmarket share in high-end machinery.

Omaha Time Capsule: Church hit by explosion :south korea group of springhill

What happened in the Midlands on this day? Here's a sampling from the World-Herald archives.

ST. PETER'S CHURCH HIT BY EXPLOSION

March 31, 1936: Dozens of windows were shattered in surrounding buildings and a number of persons were knocked off their feet by a terrific blast in the boiler room of St. Peter church. Firemen think gas accumulated in the flue, ignited and exploded. No damage was done to the furnace and boiler. Carl Schrattenberger, engineer, who was firing the boiler at the time, escaped without injury. He was hurled 15 feet. Persons in the vicinity said a huge cloud of smoke rolled out of the chimney. The force of the blast was felt up to six blocks away.

1964: Representatives of city employees' unions said the proposed $338,000 increase in the city's pay plan was not enough. The unions recommended, instead, an increase of at least 10 percent. The proposal sent to the Personnel Board by Personnel Director Ernest W. Howard called for an annual increase of about 5 percent. It would give raises to about 80 percent of the city's 1,700 employees.

1987: People wanting to establish a day shelter for the homeless would be required to obtain a city permit under a proposal to be reviewed by the City Planning Board. The board also would consider a redevelopment plan for the Lackawanna leather-processing plant a 2420 Z St. The plan called for the city to provide a $250,000 tax-increment loan to help expand the plant. The homeless shelter permit proposal came from City Councilman Walt Calinger. He said the city needed to have some controls over the establishment of shelters.

1996: The gypsy-moth spraying in the previous May that cost the City of Bellevue $15,000 seemed to have taken care of the moth infestation. Only one male moth was found in traps set during the summer. "We're looking real good there," said Stephen Johnson, an entomologist with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. Johnson said that if traps laid out for the next two years didn't contain any moths, the problem would be considered solved.

Tunnel linked to looming North Korea nuclear test? South Korea thinks so

By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

Updated at 8:35 a.m. ET: Recent satellite images show North Korea is digging a new underground tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third nuclear test, according to South Korean intelligence officials.

The excavation at North Korea's northeast Punggye-ri site, where nuclear tests were conducted in 2006 and 2009, is in its final stages, according to a report by intelligence officials that was shared Monday with The Associated Press.

Its release comes as North Korea prepares to launch a long-range rocket with an observation satellite that Washington and others say is a cover for testing missile technology that could be used to fire on the United States.

North Korea shows off its launch pad, satellite

Observers fear a repeat of 2009, when international criticism of the North's last long-range rocket launch prompted Pyongyang to walk away from nuclear disarmament negotiations and, weeks later, conduct its second nuclear test. A year later, 50 South Korean were killed in attacks blamed on the North.

"North Korea is covertly preparing for a third nuclear test, which would be another grave provocation," said the report, which cited U.S. commercial satellite photos taken April 1. "North Korea is digging up a new underground tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, in addition to its existing two underground tunnels, and it has been confirmed that the excavation works are in the final stages."

Inside North Korea: Closely watched rocket launch poses risks

Dirt believed to have been brought from other areas is piled at the tunnel entrance, the report said, something experts say is needed to fill up underground tunnels before a nuclear test. The dirt indicates a "high possibility" North Korea will stage a nuclear test, the report said, as plugging tunnels was the final step taken during its two previous nuclear tests.

A U.S. official told NBC News it was possible that North Korea could be about to test a thermonuclear weapon, dozens of times more powerful than the weapons they have tested in the past. The North has carried out significant research into both "boosted fission" and thermonuclear weapons development in recent years. However, without testing, the North could not be certain that such a weapon is reliable.

North Korea announced plans last month to launch the satellite using a three-stage rocket during mid-April celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung.

Casino cheats' camera scam discovered after 3 years

A three-year plot involving hidden cameras at card tables to help gamblers cheat the Kangwon Land Casino in South Korea has finally been discovered.

Local police have detained two employees of the casino after wireless cameras in two card boxes were found, the Korea JoongAng Daily reports.

Suspicion was aroused when a gambler at one of the casino's baccarat tables identified a pinpoint red light coming from a card box. Police believe that the cameras were recording the cards as they were dealt so that a member of the criminal gang could then relay the information back to a gambler at the table.

One of the men detained admitted that he had received a request to plant a camera in 2009. It is understood that the two men were paid thousands of dollars each time they installed a camera.

Police are now reviewing CCTV footage to track down others involved in the scam and, according to the newspaper, the casino has subsequently removed several executive-level officials in the wake of the discovery.

Oft-tested routine for nuclear reactor VIPs

As the film about the APR-1400 reactors ends in the darkened room, automated shades draw back from floor-to-ceiling windows to reveal the immense concrete domes and construction cranes at the edge of the blue sea. Steam floats from a boiler undergoing tests, and workers in blue hard-hats confer at the base of the reactor buildings that seem as vast as a mall in Abu Dhabi.

The design of Shin-Kori 3 and 4, as the reactors are called, is to be nearly identical to the four a South Korean consortium is building in the UAE. Adjustments for the Gulf's climate, from larger pumps to more air-conditioning units, are undergoing review, along with the rest of the design, by the UAE regulator.

On a recent day at Kori, visitors representing some of the highest levels of the nuclear industry, from Japan to the Czech Republic, crowded towards the irresistible view.

South Korea has a well-rehearsed routine for international visitors to the world's newest nuclear exporter, from photo ops to special earphones for listening to engineers in the noisy interior of functioning plants nearby.

The first reactor is scheduled to come online next year, five years after the first spadefuls of earth were dug from this spot on Korea's south-east coast. The second reactor is due to follow in 2014. Another four are planned at the same site.

"The construction schedule is going well," said Lee Young-il, a vice president at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, the company hosting the visit.

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News Center – Springhill Group Home Loans: Tibetan Set Himself On Fire Amid Protests

A Tibet national in India has set himself on fire and ran shouting protests through a demonstration in New Delhi on Monday just before a visit by China’s leader.

The man seems to have doused himself with a flammable substance and set himself on fire then ran past the area where speakers were protesting the visit of President Hu Jintao. He ran across the Springhill Group Home Loans venue and reached 50 meters just before he collapsed. Other activists tried to put out the flames by pouring water onto him.

At first, fellow protesters have prevented police from getting to him but the officers were able to take him away eventually. He was on fire for less than 2 minutes but most of his clothing has already disintegrated and his skin started to have black scorched patches when he was brought to the hospital.

The man sustained burns on more than 80% of his body, leaving him in critical condition. He was identified by fellow activists as Jampa Yeshi, a 27-year old exile from Tibet who had been living in India since 2010.

Chinese president Hu Jin Tao is set to arrive on Tuesday for a 5-nation economic summit in India.

Over 600 demonstrators have participated and took to the streets near the Indian Parliament to make it known that Hu Jin Tao is not welcome at the summit. Some even carried placards that say “Tibet is not part of China”.

This recent protest in New Delhi came amidst a series of self-immolation in Tibet where 30 people have set themselves on fire, mostly consisting of young nuns and monks who calls for the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet and the ousting of Chinese rule over their nation.

Chinese government accuses the Dalai Lama of starting the protests as the latter blame the ruthless policy of China as the real reason for a number of self-immolation. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against the Chinese rule.

China insists that Tibet has always been a part of their territory while Tibetans argue that the Himalayan region is practically independent for centuries already.

Authorities in New Delhi are preparing themselves for protests by thousands of Tibetans living in India after they were exiled. In addition, security around the location of the summit has also been stepped up while the nearby roads are set to be closed one day before the Springhill Group Home Loans meeting.

Self-immolation is a form of protest common for Tibetans who are striving for true autonomy from China.

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