Like I said....

Correspondent:: polar bear
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 06:52:17 -0700

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October 19 ­ Financial Times (Alexandra Harney):  ³Rising world
commodity prices are narrowing Chinese exportersı already-slim profit
margins and forcing them to charge more for their goods.  Chinese
manufacturers at the countryıs largest trade exhibition, the Canton
Fair, said this week that sharp increases in the prices of oil, steel,
copper and plastic were making it necessary for them to raise prices to
foreign buyers.  But they have not been able to pass on the entire
increase in material prices to their customers, cutting into their
profitability.  ŒItıs killing me,ı said Sunny Chan, director of
Guangzhou-based lighting manufacturer Tak Fu Hong Trading, of the oil
price rise. ŒThe steel price has doubled in the last eight months.
Plastic has doubled. It has doubled - not just [risen] 10 per cent.
Itıs terrible.ı²

pb