When I need a base metal quote I just shout out my window and ask the guys on the floor

Justacommeman

All this happens outside my bedroom window in China. Somehow the rooster that wakes me up at 4 am is absent in the pictures. Probably taking a nap. Everyday the "yard" starts out empty and by the end of the day it's empty again. Completely empty. In between, there is scrap dumped, sorted and made into those "rods". I think they are making a giant straw so to drink the middle east's milk shake. Quite an operation.MJ

jmski52

Very interesting. Two questions - what's in the orange bucket, and what's the temp out in the yard?

Actually, three questions - do they make the tubing there from the scrap? Smelting operation?

TomB

I bet that they (and you, by proximity) are breathing tons-o'-stuff that is quite nasty to the body.

NitroCruiser

The view from the Hilton is really spectacular!

gsa1fan

It's 4am MJ

Justacommeman

I live besides that yard and yes the air quality is less the stellar......

Seven days a week a rooster crows at 4am

Trucks start dumping "junk" onto the cement at 7am

Work starts at 8am when the sorting begins.

By noon everything is sorted into boxes by type for further consolidation or redistribution. Everything is re used

The good stuff gets turned into those giant hollow rods

by night fall the yard is clean

This goes on seven days a week

This is less then a legal operation and stuff is brought in and out of the yard on school buses

As for the temps- Think Florida or Houston type humidity ( we are on the water) with Las Vegas type air temps in the summer months. 120's with 95% humidity aren't uncommon. It's winter here as well so the temps get get between 20 and 60 degrees.

Amazing is when the Chinese demo a building. They actually don't. Think of a cat cleaning a fish bone. The building including all glass and frames are carefully taken apart and reused in other buildings. The cement, beams, drywall.....everything is reused. Zero goes to waste. China is so hungry for raw materials that they have no choice. They can not get them fast enough at times. In those times they improvise.

MJ

cohodk

<< <i>I bet that they (and you, by proximity) are breathing tons-o'-stuff that is quite nasty to the body. >>



That was my first thought. Be careful.

Zubie

Hey MJ,
Where exactly in China are you? Do you mind me asking who you work for and what you do for a living? I have an opportunity to fly out of Honk Kong/Guangzhou for a couple years and was wondering if you live in the area?
Thanks, Tim

Justacommeman

Tim,

I'm in the Foshan area. Now that two new bridges and roads are finished I'm only 35 minutes in normal traffic from Guangzhou.

The Guangzhou airport is state of the art and expanding everyday. Guangzhou is prepaing for The Asian games much as Beiing did for The Olympics. Tons of improvements throughout the city. Traffic still sucks. It's two hours by normal train and closer to three hours to Hong Kong by car going through Shenzhen.

Hong Hong, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Macau and Guangzhou are all expatriate friendly and are all accessable by car or train from each other. The super train will be awesome when it's all linked shortly. There are several pubs and bars that if you would enter you would think you are in NYC, London, Sidney or Milwaukee. A lot of ex-pat's from Canada, Australia, NZ, England, Germany and the US. Matter of fact, we have a floor hockey match against those stock grabbing Aussies tonight.............And if your single, Asia can be, well........awesome

Tim, if you fly out of Hong Kong or Guangzhou it's a slam dunk. Hong Hong is a GREAT city. Think of it as NYC with a bigger Chinatown

As for a living- I'm a designer and I trade as well (commodities, stocks, currencies) during my down time. My job allows me to design during the day in China/Japan and trade at night. In the US I design by night and trade during the day. I'm trading less these days as the volatility is not to my liking. I never trade in the summer or when I'm in Europe. That's when I'm a slacker...............MJ

mrearlygold

<< <i>.And if your single, Asia can be, well........awesome MJ >>




And that's an understatement

Kameo

JM, your gut. What do you see the price of nickel doing in the future. About 2 years ago it was huge, and I read somewhere China had much to do with that. Anything like that going on now?

Thanks, Brad.

Justacommeman

China's thirst for raw materials is insatiable.................iron ore, copper, oil, nickel, cement.....yes cement

Australia, Canada and Brazil are China's new best friends. However, they also like to buy on the dips and they are the market at times. MJ

Weiss

Really cool perspective, Justacommeman!

I'm sure Gecko has asked you before, but do you see any physical PM trades? I'm interested specifically in what types of PMs are popular with the Chinese able to buy gold and silver, and if Pandas are being snapped us as quickly as Gecko (and I) believe the are or will be soon.

MrOrganic

thanx for all these real world economic insights!!!

jmski52

MJ, are you aware of any street-level discussions about the dollar, and US Treasuries or are those types of conversations too far removed from everyday discussion?

And like Weiss, I'd be interested if you've seen any evidence of China's making silver available for the people to purchase?

Justacommeman

You can buy silver and gold bullion and curio pieces in department stores in China. This cater's primarily to the wealthy. However, there are more and more gold and silver venues popping up in the local market right next to the places you can buy fake Gucci bags and fake Rolex's. I believe that these are mostly legit but why take the chance. I stay away from these. Pandas and coins with dragons or animals are very popular. The Chinese people seem to like ornate pieces and have an emotional attachment to the designs. This is my opinion only.

The savings rate amongst the Chinese is somewhere around 40%. Quite astonishing in my opinion. The gov't went on record in 2008 to make it easier on it's people to buy silver and gold in smaller quantities and are encouraging it's people to invest in this market. Also, gold is traded more actively on the Shanghai exchange. It used to be a minute market.

As far as raw materials go China has reportedly been building or rebuiling cities the size of Houston EVERY month. Hard to wrap ones head one this and it's hard to fathom or frankly believe. However, I've seen several examples of this. Some cities that I traveled to just five years ago are now unrecognizable. They are modern beyond anything we are building in the US.

When I first started traveling to China in 1987 up to 2007 EVERYBODY wanted to trade me for US dollars. That's the first thing they would ask me for. Can I buy your dollars? Now no one asks and I've been flat out refused turning US dollars into yuan/rmb. Last year I tried to exhange $5000 US into RMB. I was turned down by two China banks. Granted, this was during a time when the dollar was plummeting and quite frankly no one wanted to touch it. (even this seemingly small amount). I had to use my ATM card to get RMB and I went home with my dollars. It is what it is.

MJ