China |

Chinese-made American flags

patrick | June 28, 2012
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With July 4th around the corner — and Memorial day just a month ago — we’re right in the middle of flag-flying season. And if flag imports are any measure of patriotic fervor, this year seems to be a slightly weak one. In April 2012, the U.S. imported 1 million flags at a total cost of $310,000. That’s down from nearly 2 million flags, at $520,000, for the same month last year.

The yearly flag shipment cycle rises and falls with the early summer “patriotic” holidays, and March, April, and May are peak months for imports. Yet one trend remains stable month after month: nearly all of the Stars and Stripes the U.S. imports are manufactured in China. Since 2009, China has exported $9.9 million of American flags to the U.S., which is about 90% of a total of $11 million.

In April 2012, U.S. flag imports totaled $310,000, or 1.1 million units — all of which were from China. By comparison, American flag exports of the next two biggest suppliers, India and Taiwan, totaled just 51,000 units from January-April of this year. View Panjiva’s Trendspotting report for more on American flag imports.

Believe it or not, the U.S. also exports quite a few American flags. In March of this year, the U.S. exported over $140,000 of flags, which was the second highest total after September 2009. The top buyer of U.S. flags? Mexico, by an overwhelming measure. The country south of the border has imported $720,000 of American flags since 2009. View Panjiva’s Trendspotting report for more on American flag exports.

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Quality Control, Safety, and Sourcing Overseas

Emily | March 26, 2012
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This weekend the New York Times published a story about the ongoing criminal trial over the 2008 crane collapse in NYC that killed two people.   In brief, the crane owner, New York Crane and Equipment Corporation, needed a critical part manufactured to repair the crane and the owner found quotes from US-based companies to be too expensive; he then instructed an employee to find a cheap solution, leading the company to hire China-based RTR Bearing to manufacture the needed bearing at a comparatively low price. But during the trial, some troubling truths were revealed:

  • Joyce Wang, RTR’s owner, claimed to have two factories.  In fact, she was an agent who liaised with independent factories.
  • RTR’s website claimed RTR had been operating since 1998.  In an affidavit for the criminal case, Ms. Wang stated that the company had only been operating for six months when they were contacted about the crane part in 2007.
  • RTR provided no references about their prior work to New York Crane and Equipment Corporation.
  • Of the two parts RTR shipped to New York Crane and Equipment Corporation, one was deemed too defective for use upon receipt.

Notably, New York Crane and Equipment Corporation did not have anyone experienced in sourcing working on this project. The entire research-to-installation cycle was handled by a mechanic working for James F. Lomma, the company owner.

The tragedy highlights problems that sourcing professionals face often: ascertaining supplier company credentials and ensuring quality control can be difficult, especially when using company-provided information to do it.   Top-level assessments of a manufacturer’s history and production levels can be made with services like Panjiva, but that is only the first step. These are real problems that require experience and attention, as well as comprehensive product assessments and quality control procedures, to deal with properly. They don’t—and can’t—afford shortcuts.

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Limits on China’s Rare Earth Mineral Exports?

Josh Green | August 28, 2009
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Thanks to Paul Kedrosky for highlighting Ambrose Evans-Pritchard’s article about China’s plans to limit exports of rare earth minerals.

Specifically, there’s discussion of limiting exports of terbium, dysprosium, yttrium, thulium, lutetium, neodymium, europium, cerium, and lanthanum.  We took a look at who’s sending shipments to the United States that include these rare earth minerals.  Results below:

If you dig into the searches, you can see the geographic distribution of these suppliers.  Some are the original suppliers; others are middlemen.

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Panjiva in the News: Is April Trade Data Reason for Optimism?

Josh Green | June 4, 2009
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Earlier this week, Panjiva released data showing that, after several months of free-fall, the number of global manufacturers shipping to the U.S. market appears to have stabilized.  Of course, there’s still a lot of risk in the system, as highlighted in many of the news accounts of our analysis.  Here’s a sampling of the coverage:

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The New York Times: “‘The free fall in global trade seems to have halted,’ said Josh Green, the chief executive of Panjiva…”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/business/economy/29norris.html?_r=1

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The Wall Street Journal: “‘The number of companies shipping to U.S. customers is no longer in free fall — definitely a reason for optimism,’ Panjiva said.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/05/29/signs-of-stabilization-in-trade/

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BusinessWeek: “‘Unfortunately, there is still substantial risk facing those engaged in global trade, and the global trading system remains vulnerable to further shocks,’ cautions CEO Green.”

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/economic_recovery/blog/archives/2009/06/global_trade_tu.html#more

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MarketWatch: “Customers will have to decide whether they will share in the suppliers’ restructuring costs, or leave it entirely to the supplier “and run the risk of seeing [the] supplier go under.’”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gm-fallout-set-to-be-windfall-for-japan-automakers

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CIO: “New global trade data from Panjiva, a vendor that tracks the health of the world’s suppliers, shows that ‘after four months of free fall in the number of manufacturers shipping to American customers, there have been small increases from February 2009 to March, and then from March to April.”
http://www.cio.com/article/493868/Supply_Chain_Reality_Much_Risk_Tied_Up_in_Shrinking_Pool_of_Suppliers_

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The Business Insider: “[C]onfirming the rebound are privately collected numbers from the firm Panjiva, which monitors manufacturing and supplier information…”
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-rebound-in-china-is-real-2009-6

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Supply & Demand Chain Executive: “‘While some may interpret this data as a welcome sign that the global manufacturing economy has hit bottom and is rebounding, analysis of historical trends and additional shipment data points to a need for continued caution as significant risk still exists.’ Panjiva said.”
http://www.sdcexec.com/web/online/Decision-Support-News/Green-Shoots-in-the-Supply-Chain-Manufacturers-Shipping-to-US-Increases-for-Second-Month-in-a-Row/37$11389

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About.com: “[T]he risk for companies engaged in global trade remains high as the percentage of significant manufacturers on the Panjiva Watch List edged up from 30% in March to 31% in April.”
http://logistics.about.com/b/2009/06/01/reasons-to-be-cheerful.htm

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Reuters: “CEO Josh Green… warns further that, ‘there is still a tremendous amount of risk in the system.’”
http://economics.alltop.com/

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Reuters, SinoScreen: Panjiva In The News

Josh Green | May 15, 2009
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Thought you’d be interested in some of the recent coverage of Panjiva’s March data, as well as our recent initiative with Sinosure.  Lots of good commentary including, for the first time, thoughtful criticism.

Reuters on March Panjiva Data

Reuters: “On a basic level, the greatest threat companies on the watch list pose is that these factories could go out of business,” said Panjiva Chief Executive Officer Josh Green.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/reuters/2009/05/04/2009-05-04T172709Z_01_N28337426_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-SUPPLYCHAIN-ANALYSIS.html

About

About.com: “For purchasing professionals working with vendors in China, a new innovative solution will help to reduce their company’s supply chain risk. Panjiva, the online resource for information on suppliers around the world and Sinosure, the leading provider of credit information on companies in China, have combined their efforts to launch Panjiva SinoScreen, which will assist U.S. companies to assess if any of their Chinese partners are at risk.”

http://logistics.about.com/b/2009/04/29/panjiva-sinoscreen-reduces-supply-chain-risk.htm

Supply Chain & Demand Executive

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: “Leveraging various data sources, including U.S. customs data and credit information from Sinosure, Panjiva SinoScreen provides customers with an easy-to-interpret analysis of their Chinese supply chain.”

http://www.sdcexec.com/web/online/SourcingProcurement-News/New-Tool-Debuts-to-Help-Anxious-Companies-More-Quickly-Assess-Chinese-Supply-Chain/27$11316

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Supply Chain Management Review: “Sinosure has been the only provider of export insurance to Chinese manufacturers, which makes it a strong source of business intelligence…  They know which companies are financially stable and which ones are in trouble. At a time when many supply chains are vulnerable to collapse, this is vital information.”

http://www.scmr.com/article/CA6656198.html

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Procurement Leaders: “The service [Panjiva SinoScreen] is particularly timely. And while many larger, more mature, organisations would be expected to carry out such analysis themselves, there is no harm in having a little bit of extra intelligence and data.”

http://blog.procurementleaders.com/procurement-blog/2009/5/5/understanding-the-risk-of-chinese-suppliers-a-new-service.html

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Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies: “Panjiva will act as exclusive U.S. reseller of Sinosure’s credit reports on Chinese manufacturers.”

http://www.supplychainbrain.com/content/headline-news/single-article/article/panjiva-to-help-us-companies-mitigate-risk-of-business-in-china/

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Spend Matters:  “A business class ticket from the US or Europe and a stay in a Western style hotel to visit a single supplier will probably cost you more than the price of admission [to Panjiva SinoScreen]. But a onetime profiling effort should never be a substitute for consistent and proactive monitoring overtime — nor, when it comes to China especially, should it substitute for continuously monitoring supplier performance management trends as well. ”

http://www.spendmatters.com/index.cfm/2009/4/30/Panjiva-Partners-With-Sinosure-for-Supply-Risk-Part-2

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Panjiva SinoScreen: Assess Risk in Your Chinese Supply Chain

Josh Green | April 29, 2009
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Earlier today, Panjiva announced an exclusive relationship with Sinosure, the leading provider of information on the financial health of Chinese companies.  Now we’re moving quickly to provide you with the tools necessary to assess the health of your Chinese supply chain.

Specifically, I’m excited to tell you about Panjiva SinoScreen — a diagnostic tool that will help you quickly and inexpensively assess the health of your Chinese supply chain.  The Panjiva SinoScreen report will provide you with an assessment of 20 Chinese suppliers, based on Panjiva‘s analysis of import data and Sinosure‘s analysis of credit data.  Why two data sets?  No one data set is perfect, so triangulation using multiple data sources increases the likelihood that you’ll reach an accurate conclusion about which of your suppliers stand the best chance of surviving the downturn.

Between now and May 31st, Panjiva SinoScreen is available for a one-time fee of $5,000.  Check out a sample of Panjiva SinoScreen.

To order your customized Panjiva SinoScreen report, contact us at +1 212 763 2125, or fill out this short form.

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Sinosure and Panjiva: Providing Transparency (!) in China

Josh Green |
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Over the last few years, I’ve heard many complaints about the lack of reliable information on companies around the world.  However, I’ve heard one complaint more than any other: “There just isn’t good information on the financial health of Chinese companies.”

Today, I’m pleased to announce that Panjiva is tackling this problem head on, by providing access to information on the financial health of 8 million Chinese companies.

How are we doing this?  Via an exclusive deal with Sinosure.  Let me explain…

For the last few years, we’ve been looking for credible information on the financial health of Chinese companies.  To be sure, there are lots of organizations offering information on Chinese companies — but credible information on financial health?  Tough to find.

About a year ago, we met Sinosure.  Sinosure is the organization that was originally set up by the Chinese government to provide export insurance to Chinese companies.  In order to correctly price this insurance, Sinosure had to develop an approach to assessing the financial health of exporters — and get access to the information needed to fuel these assessments.  Which brings me to why we concluded that Sinosure can provide the best possible perspective on the financial health of Chinese exporters:

  1. Access to the most information — By virtue of their government ties, Sinosure has access to an unbelievable array of data sources, providing Sinosure with a variety of data points on any individual company.
  2. Reliance on their analysis for decision-making — At Panjiva, we’re by nature skeptical of data sources — because every data source has a bias.  Interestingly, that’s what makes Sinosure so compelling.   Their bias is to get the analysis right.  After all, if they get the analysis wrong, they’re going to price insurance incorrectly and lose money.  At which point, the Chinese government loses money.

Is Sinosure data perfect?  Of course not.  No data set is.  That’s why we advocate looking at multiple data sets anytime you’ve got an important decision to make.  My next post will walk you through how Panjiva‘s making this kind of triangulation as easy as possible.

In the meantime, I want to welcome Sinosure to Panjiva‘s extended family.  In the months ahead, our U.S. customers will be able to get access to Sinosure reports on any Chinese manufacturer — only through Panjiva.

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Jason Busch: Alibaba 2.0

Josh Green | April 22, 2009
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Yes, I’m finally twittering:  http://twitter.com/panjiva

And, as a consequence, I’ve become more concise.  So, in response to Jason Busch’s SpendMatters post on Alibaba’s shortcomings and what the future holds for buyer-supplier marketplaces, I’ll simply say, “Amen.”

Check it out: http://www.spendmatters.com/index.cfm/2009/4/22/Alibaba–Is-China-Really-Still-the-Top-Supplier-to-Global-Buyers

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Panjiva In The News

Josh Green | April 2, 2009
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Thought I’d share some of the recent mentions of Panjiva across the web.

AP Associated Press

Associated Press

“One in four major Chinese manufacturers shipped less than half as much to U.S. customers in November through January than they did a year earlier, [Panjiva CEO Josh Green] said.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/191598

CIO Magazine on Panjiva

CIO

“Panjiva data shows that 132 of the Big Three’s overseas suppliers wound up on Panjiva’s watch list at the end of January 2009″

http://www.cio.com/article/486380/Why_U.S._Taxpayers_Will_Bail_Out_Foreign_Automotive_Suppliers_

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SpendMatters

“Yesterday, Panjiva came out with news that paints a dangerous and ugly picture when it comes to the financial viability of global suppliers.”

http://www.spendmatters.com/index.cfm/2009/3/12/Catching-up-With-Panjivas-Josh-Green–A-Scary-Global-Sourcing-Update

“What can you do about supplier disappearing acts? I’d recommend a heathy dose of supplier risk preventive medicine to start, using both internal performance and quality related information as well as proactive third-party content from providers like Panjiva and D&B.”

http://www.spendmatters.com/index.cfm/2009/3/16/When-Suppliers-Just-Disappear

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Supply & Demand Chain Executive

“Panjiva analysis shows nearly half of large U.S. buyers doing business with troubled global manufacturers; ‘they never even tell you they are in trouble…they just disappear’”

http://www.sdcexec.com/web/online/SourcingProcurement-Trends/Report–US-Supply-Chains-Face-Significant-Exposure-to-At-risk-Suppliers/13$11129

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America’s Most Dangerous Export?

Josh Green | March 13, 2009
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Remember when American officials were worried about the safety of Chinese exports?  How quickly the tables have turned.  Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is “worried” about the “safety” of America’s most dangerous export: U.S. Treasury bonds.

Five months ago, I wrote about the parallels between China’s product safety crisis and America’s financial crisis.  Today, there’s not much discussion about the safety of Chinese exports.  Wouldn’t it be nice if, five months from now, no one’s worried about the safety of U.S. Treasuries?

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