4 ms·

Yup - economies of scale + cheap labor. We ship a lot of animal products (I think medium sized fish and chicken were some of the examples) to entirely differen

by s5300 5y ago

Yup - economies of scale + cheap labor. We ship a lot of animal products (I think medium sized fish and chicken were some of the examples) to entirely different countries to have them processed and then sent back to us. I've been completely amazed at seeing assembly lines in things as simple as sardine canning factories. Dozens upon dozens of workers literally just shoving sardines in cans, and they aren't sold for much. The tins actually cost more than the sardines going in them. Absolute dirt cheap wages, quite depressing to think about as somebody from the US That said though, the domestic US flower industry could be potentially ripe for disruption if somebody wanted to front the money to do so.

SergeAx 5y ago
Chicken is dirt cheap, like $2/kg wholesale. Price of air freight is about the same on large long contracts and twice of that over the counter. Hauling chicken two ways will increase a final product price at least threefold. Sorry, I can't believe it. BTW, fish are mostly canned right in the sea on board of fishing vessel or on a bigger factory ship nearby.
- s5300 5y ago
  Some articles in no explicit order with some fairly visible biases but: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2014/03/chicken-from-china-your-seafood-is-already-being-processed-there/ https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2014/03/chicken-from-china-yo... https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-seafood-industry-vulnerable-to-tariffs-aimed-at-china-1533812400 https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-seafood-industry-vulnerable... https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2016/12/05/tale-fish-two-countries https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2016/12/05/tale-fish-two-cou... https://boingboing.net/2018/09/14/usda-approves-shipping-slaught.html https://boingboing.net/2018/09/14/usda-approves-shipping-sla... https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/china-chicken-reshipped/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/china-chicken-reshipped/ https://weuseit2.com/blogs/we-use-it-2/shipping-live-hogs-poultry-to-china-to-process-and-send-back-to-usa https://weuseit2.com/blogs/we-use-it-2/shipping-live-hogs-po... I'm unfortunately still not able to remember for the keywords of the one good reputable article I know of that details most of what is shipped for processing and back to multiple countries and the margins involved, but it's out there if you ever feel the need to dig into it. I am aware of the fish being canned on board vessels and factory ships. There are still a large amount that aren't. Here is one video demonstrating a large amount of people being involved in the simple canning of cheap sardines... It's definitely much better and more orderly than another video based out of a somewhat open-air assembly line in Portugal I believe. https://youtu.be/WPpFjl8qeM4 https://youtu.be/WPpFjl8qeM4 I could however be completely wrong about all of this. There is some information on the internet that is not amazingly easy to find and verify. When you think about the fact there are many countries with large populaces that are still treated as literal slave labour though and also lesser quality standards involved, so more ability to quite literally cram a shipping container to the brim with whatever they want, margins are incredibly slim, but still money is being made.
  - SergeAx 5y ago
    Thanks for the links! As I scanned them briefly, air freight is never mentioned, and sea transportation is explicitly mentioned couple of times. This is still crazy (frozen containers has to be powered 24/7), but not unbelievable crazy.

by s5300 5y ago

SergeAx 5y ago

Chicken is dirt cheap, like $2/kg wholesale. Price of air freight is about the same on large long contracts and twice of that over the counter. Hauling chicken two ways will increase a final product price at least threefold. Sorry, I can't believe it. BTW, fish are mostly canned right in the sea on board of fishing vessel or on a bigger factory ship nearby.

s5300 5y ago
Some articles in no explicit order with some fairly visible biases but: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2014/03/chicken-from-china-your-seafood-is-already-being-processed-there/ https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2014/03/chicken-from-china-yo... https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-seafood-industry-vulnerable-to-tariffs-aimed-at-china-1533812400 https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-seafood-industry-vulnerable... https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2016/12/05/tale-fish-two-countries https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2016/12/05/tale-fish-two-cou... https://boingboing.net/2018/09/14/usda-approves-shipping-slaught.html https://boingboing.net/2018/09/14/usda-approves-shipping-sla... https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/china-chicken-reshipped/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/china-chicken-reshipped/ https://weuseit2.com/blogs/we-use-it-2/shipping-live-hogs-poultry-to-china-to-process-and-send-back-to-usa https://weuseit2.com/blogs/we-use-it-2/shipping-live-hogs-po... I'm unfortunately still not able to remember for the keywords of the one good reputable article I know of that details most of what is shipped for processing and back to multiple countries and the margins involved, but it's out there if you ever feel the need to dig into it. I am aware of the fish being canned on board vessels and factory ships. There are still a large amount that aren't. Here is one video demonstrating a large amount of people being involved in the simple canning of cheap sardines... It's definitely much better and more orderly than another video based out of a somewhat open-air assembly line in Portugal I believe. https://youtu.be/WPpFjl8qeM4 https://youtu.be/WPpFjl8qeM4 I could however be completely wrong about all of this. There is some information on the internet that is not amazingly easy to find and verify. When you think about the fact there are many countries with large populaces that are still treated as literal slave labour though and also lesser quality standards involved, so more ability to quite literally cram a shipping container to the brim with whatever they want, margins are incredibly slim, but still money is being made.
- SergeAx 5y ago
  Thanks for the links! As I scanned them briefly, air freight is never mentioned, and sea transportation is explicitly mentioned couple of times. This is still crazy (frozen containers has to be powered 24/7), but not unbelievable crazy.