The elephant in the room as far as international trade is concerned has not gone away, in fact it is getting bigger. I refer, of course, to the US-China trade imbalance.

Beijing reports that China's exports for June hit a record high since July 2008 and the trade surplus also surged to the highest this year. Chinese Customs said on its website that China's shipment of exports last month grew by 43.9 percent from the previous year to $137.4 billion and imports rose by 34.1 percent to $117.4 billion, which led to a $20 billion trade surplus, another record high. Both the trade surplus and the exports are at their highest level in two years, compared with $136.68 billion in July 2008, according to Customs.

But I suppose all we can hope is that the sheer momentum of the developing economies will keep every manufacturer happy. India's industrial output growth slowed unexpectedly to 11.5 per cent in May, official data showed, as factories and mines ran into capacity constraints after months of breakneck expansion.

The 11.5 per cent growth for India from a year earlier was far below expectations of a 16.5-per cent increase due to weaker manufacturing and mining production. What Western economies would give to be able to describe 11.5% growth as a let-down!

I noticed an interesting potential opening for niche manufacturers in news of plans to create the UK's first cable car to cross the River Thames between the Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks in London. If the plans go ahead, the cable car would allow pedestrians and cyclists to travel between the O2 and ExCeL centres in around five minutes, cutting current travel times between the two major Olympic and Paralympic venues. Potentially, the cable car could provide a crossing every 30 seconds carrying up to 2,500 passengers per hour in each direction, and would cross the river at a height of more than 50m, offering spectacular aerial views of the Olympic Park.

David Siddall
david@manufacturingworldnews.com