Wal-Mart to open 15 stores in China and export 18 bln usd of goods

[oblivious]

05.17.2005, 01:27 AM

BEIJING (AFX) - US retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it will grow both its retail and export business in China this year, opening up to 15 stores and exporting 18 bln usd of goods from the country in 2005.

Wal-Mart chief executive John Menzer said in Beijing that: 'right now China, percentage-wise, is our fastest growing market.'

...Wal-Mart will open its 46th China store in Beijing tomorrow.

Now with permission to expand westward, Wal-Mart expects to open 12 to 15 stores across China this year, with Chongqing its next target, he said.

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/05/17/afx2032203.html

[cornermouse]

1. Good.

Let them prey on China.

[Lochloosa]

2. And in a later development.....

They announced that they had reached a trade deal to import goods from Taiwan to stock their shelves.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

4. And in a still further development...

WalMart will announce the closings of hundreds of stores in America due to "profitability" problems because the starving Americans can no longer afford to buy new plastic crap every week.

In place of the stores, WalMart announced an innovative program which will allow local tradesmen to lease the space for shops and industrial use.

[MADem]

3. Now this will be interesting

What crappy shit can we send them in exchange for the crappy shit they send us??

[cap]

6. yeah, but just imagine how crappy the stuff the Chinese will get..

it's Chinese crap reused... and you know, that crap was not built to last.

[TahitiNut]

7. I haven't seen any indication it's US goods that'll be sold.

Who knows what they'll stock? Thongs made in Bangladesh? :shrug:

[KansDem]

13. I was wondering the same thing...

And when WalMart opens stores in Bangladesh, where will the goods come from?

In a recent development, Walmart CEO announces agreement with Antarctic to import products to stores in Bangladesh. Penguins have been successfully trained to make WalMart-brand crap. "It's a dream come true; no "sweatshop" criticism! Do you know how much work you have to do to work up a sweat in the Antarctic?"

[oblivious]

5. The Indian situation is getting interesting.

Wal-mart wants in, but only if India permits 100 direct foreign investment. Wal-Mart's CEO's over there this week promising to buy a lot of Indian foodstuffs if India changes its laws and lets them in. Walmart's got companies like Pepsico India behind them saying this will be great for Indian food producers.

But Indian retailing involves about 12 million mom and pop operations and the communist parties say they will be destroyed if Walmart comes in, so they don't want the law changed.

Walmart says, no, there's no reason at all small Indian retailers would be hurt by Wal-mart's entry into the retail market. India's market is big enough for everyone.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[napi21]

8. OK, what am I missing here? 80%+ of WM merch. comes from China.

What is the $18B of US goods they plan on sending? Are they perhaps playing with words and claiming merch is US goods once they receive it in their Whse. no matter where it was made? That would be very dumb, I would think, because you're paying for double shipping on this stuff if you send it BACK to China, but it gives WM a better image if people actually think they are improving the trade balance.

[hector459]

9. Precisely what I was going to ask. WTF is this. If it weren't for China

Wal-Mart could not exist.

[Tempest]

10. It's not $18B of U.S. goods, it's $18B of Chinese goods

"exporting 18 bln usd of goods from the country"

They will be exporting the goods from China.

Otherwise they would have said they were importing $18B worth of goods.

[TahitiNut]

14. Yep. It's TWO discrete business objectives.

(1) Open stores in China.
(2) Import $18B in Chinese goods to the US.

There's no indication what goods will be sold in the Chinese stores. One can only speculate what the totalitarian regime in China would permit.

[Tempest]

19. Good sold in Chinese stores

Chinese goods, Indian goods, Latin American goods and goods from other Asian nations.

I read somewhere that China was negotiating with India and Latin American countries for trade deals. The Latin American country's deals were in conjunction with the oil and natural gas deals they've been making.


What I haven't heard of is China negotiating with American companies to sell goods made in the U.S. in China. Except for U.S. car companies who will sell China cars made in China.

[Toots]

11. Not US goods but US dollars

They will sell the same crap in China as they do in the US but at a cheaper price because they don't have to pay big labor costs or insurance or freight costs and besides child labor laws don't apply or any labor laws for that matter. Only good thing about this whole thing is China could take their stores away from them on a whim.

[Toots]

12. 18 billion of USd means US dollars

:shrug:

[Algomas]

15. Ahhso, coals to Newcastle, Grasshopper.

Maybe they will close all their stores here and relocate entirely to China. They could convert their stores here into urban prisons for dissidents.
Why not, anything is possible in Bu$h world....

[cascadiance]

20. This could be their new logo!

[cascadiance]

16. Are they giving Chinese workers a wage increase to prevent strikes?...

If not, I wonder what will stop Chinese workers from striking again and demanding a union, like they were earlier in December. I think China has been far more supportive of workers being able to demand and get worker's unions than the U.S. or Canada have been to the likes of Wal-Mart...

http://www.asianlabour.org/archives/003269.php

[Zorra]

17. Wal-Mart, the largest corporate republican campaign contributor, is

going to export $18 billion of goods made in a totalitarianist communist country, costing the people of the US jobs.

How very republican of them.

Please, Buy Blue, Buy American.

[Enraged_Ape]

18. WalMart: Destroyer of Communities

More and more cities are getting hip to the economic devastation that occurs whenever a WalMart comes to town. I heard on Ed Schultz yesterday that Scottsdale, AZ, has passed a law that effectively prohibits "superstores" from opening up for business. Good for them.

So now WalMart is trying to move their medicine show to other countries. Just let them try to exploit the Chinese consumer (they already exploit their labor) the same way they've tried to exploit us. I, frankly, don't think the Chinese will stand for it.

[denverbill]

21. Monopoly meets fascism. A match made in heaven.

Jesus, Walmart won't need to worry about locking employees in and forcing them to work for free. That's SOP in China. Maybe they need to see if they can import some free H1B slave labor from China into the US to save a few more bucks.