Group items tagged

This article is about Chinese oil supply and how China is attempting to overtake the United States in yearly oil productions. It is an example of a supply article, because it speaks of how lower prices directly relate to supply. It also speaks of how both China and India are putting a lot of money into foreign oil resources, hoping for the future. Looking forward, if China continues in its current footsteps, it will be obtaining the most oil in the world, and not only from domestic resources, but mainly foreign ones.

Analysis This article about oil prices and supply in China, relates to what we spoke of in class, because some of the key elements of supply and demand are included. The main issue of the article is Chinas oil supply, along with its demand for oil. China has a generous supply of oil from its own resources, whilst she is still trying to acquire a lot of oil from foreign sources. China is also attempting to up her quantities of oil to beat the United States within the next couple of years, and by 2020, China is to be the country that will be obtaining the largest quantities of oil. The article is related to our class topic of supply, because as China plans to sink its prices for oil, the supply, or quantities should go up with time. This is exactly what was discussed in class and is shown on supply curves or graphs.

Explain what you think is happening to the equilibrium quantity and price and what it means for signalling, incentives, and resource allocation. China has made constant attempts at increasing its oil supplies, which would lead to lower oil prices and economic growth. The equilibrium quantity of oil will increase and therefore the prices will be lowered. A higher supply of oil signals lower prices for both the producers and consumers. China will try to probably keep the price up, and the consumers will look for a substitute, or try to ration the good. Although, if the consumers are willing to buy at the old price, while the suppliers gain in resources, there will be a producer surplus. In other words, the producers, China, will gain more than they could be gaining if the consumers were to adjust their standards.

This article is acquainting us with China's plan to increase its supply of meat. Today, consumers in China are eating ten percent more meat than they did five years ago, so demand is increasing. However, the supply is lagging behind. Thus, Chinese officials have decided to buy millions of U.S. livestock and import it into China. This is a good example of how government intervention affects supply. By importing the U.S. livestock the cost of producing meat in China will be much less, whereas the quality will be much higher. However, critics from the U.S. are skeptic of this ordeal, as the cost of meat production is rising in the U.S. So the livestock exports to China would be increasing supply in China but they might decrease supply in the U.S. and lead to a future loss of a key U.S. export. 

Evidently, the reason for China's attempt to increase its supply of meat, is that there is an increase in the demand of meat. This means that meat has become scarcer. From a consumer perspective, the incentive now is to ration the amount of meat that is being consumed. Another consumer incentive might be to switch the consumption of meat with the consumption of a substitute good such as fish. From a producer perspective, an incentive is to produce more because the price is higher now. Therefore a producer is able to make a greater profit from the production of meat. There will also be a greater allocation of resources into the production of meat, as it is a more lucrative business.

The demand for iPhones is greatly increasing in China. In Apple's fiscal year of 2011, they were able to sell 72 million iPhones, a number that soon might almost be sold in China alone. Currently, 10 million iPhones are sold in China, but this is because China's lead mobile carrier; China Mobile, has a network that is not compatible with the iPhone 4s. However, this year China Mobile is flipping to their knew network; the 4G which is compatible with the iPhone 5. This will open up a new market for Apple, as now, millions Chinese will be able to effectively use the iPhone 5 with China Mobile's network. Therefore, the demand for the iPhones will greatly increase due to the 'new' market.

Apple sold 72 million iPhones in 2011 to more than 100 countries. It is said that Apple will sell 57 million more iPhones per year in China since the demand is increasing. There are currently 650 million people who are branched to China Mobile which does not carry the iPhone network which includes 100 million who have found ways to use the iPhone through the network. Next year, China Mobile will change to the 4G network which will allow those additional 500 million people to get the iPhone.

Demand article as Oil demand falls in China

This article describes the effect of price ceilings on goods in Asia. Most countries in Asia have set caps to petrol prices and only seldom raised these. Commentators argue that if price of petrol does not rise with the price of the crude oil in the world, consumers in Asia (where the price for petrol is low) will use up so much that the price of petrol will increase too much and harm the economy rather than help it. In China foods have been monitored as well. Price have a ceiling and if this is to be raise the company must seek approval of the government. This is only a temporary answer to the problem of keeping prices low.

A new study by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has found that chocolate is rising in demand in countries with new markets, such as China. However, due to global warming and a temperature rise of 2.3 degrees, the crops where cocoa is grown will halve by 2050. This will cause the entire demand curve for chocolate to shift to the right in the next 40 years. So far, an exact number for the price increase is unknown.  Price increases have occured in some places, such as West Africa, where the prices have gone up by 10 per cent.  Since cocoa needs a specific environment to grow (cool and moist), farmers can either decide whether to move their crops into the shade, which will have high costs, or to switch from growing cocoa  to another crop that CAN grow in the arid climate.  Some cocoa suppliers think that firms should focus on the quality and not the quantity of chocolate produced. This could have benefits, like better prices for farmers and less child labour. Not only is the chocolate market being affected by global warming, but also the French wine and Italian pasta market.  Non-price determinants such as the prices of related goods and expectations of future chocolate costs also play a large role in the chocolate market. If the demand for chocolate goes up in the next decades, the prices will also rise. Due to a change in prices more people will turn to chocolate-related goods like candy and pastries. Also, since a large price increase is expected to come, people will most likely buy as much chocolate as possible while it is still cheap. 

It can be deduced for this article that the scarcity for chocolate is increasing, just as the demand is. Due to shifts to the right in the demand curve, the price of chocolate has increased. Therefore, the demand curve will shift to the right and move up along the scarcity curve. Therefore, consumers will make sure to ration chocolate, as it has now become more expensive and less affordable. Other markets, like the candy market for example, that act as a substitute for chocolate will experience an increase in demand. On the other hand, markets like the chocolate chip cookie market, will experience a decrease in the supply curve, as chocolate is no longer as available as before. From the chocolate producers' perspective, they will increase the production of chocolate, as the prices are higher now and they can make more of a profit. Therefore, they will increase the allocation of resources towards the production of chocolate (like machinery, land for plantations, etc).

As the supply of diamonds keeps becoming scarcer, the demand for diamonds is increasing greatly. Global factors affecting the large demand for diamonds are increase in consumer wealth, better marketing tactics, western influence, and future value/prices. In India specifically where the population growth rate reached over 25 % - which has also led to the rise of a middle class - diamonds are now being seen as a "status symbol", or as a way to show off, the demand for diamonds is increasing quickly. China has as well due to strategically improved marketing tactics and western influences increased its use of diamond wedding rings up to 40 % of all women. As diamond prices are higher than a few years ago, diamonds can be seen as worthy to invest in because of their increasing value and finite supply. 

The world demand for diamond keeps increasing signaling that diamonds are becoming scarcer and scarcer. Producers will therefore increase the prices of diamonds as it is a limited source, producers will also however try to find more diamonds so that the resource isn't as limited. Depending on the consumer's income, demand for diamonds will decrease with higher prices. Consumers will also switch to an alternative market - an increase in demand for other stones, gems - as their behavior will change. Consumers will also ration diamonds and if purchasing it, purchase it in lower amounts.

This article covers a decrease in China's rate of inflation (disinflation, especially in regard to the prices for groceries. It also mentions that Chna 'may be reaching a new normal of growth'.

Floods have destroyed of up to 7 million tones of rice in Thailand, and therefore greatly decreasing the supply. Many of the farmers will greatly suffer due to the fact that they get half as much income as they normally would. Due to the supply shock of rice, the price raised a little bit. There is a supply shock in rice in Thailand and therefore the supply curve shifts to the left, increasing the price and decreasing the demand. As the price is higher for every quantity supplied, the producer have less incentive to produce more as they have a smaller profit margin and therefore they decrease production. At the same time, the demand will decrease as the price is higher.

In Malaysia, 14 items have been put under a price control scheme until November 17th. There are certain pink tags which must be displayed on products to help differentiate between them. There are large fines for traders who do not comply within the rules.

Tis is an example for an demand article because it shows that the scarcity of diamonds if driving the prices up. In the last couple of years experts have seen a constant rise in the price for diamonds. This is because of the number of potential buyers has risen because coutries like China, India and russia are economily growing and creating more wealth. The interest is growing and the scartcity aswell. A lot of old diamond mines are running out and one is not sure if there are a lot more around the world.