Mounting Piles of Unsold Goods Spelling Trouble at Golden Networking's China Leaders Forum 2012

Aug. 24, 2012 - PRLog -- (August 16, 2012, New York) After three decades of torrid growth, The New York Times reports, China is encountering an unfamiliar problem with its newly struggling economy: a huge buildup of unsold goods that is cluttering shop floors, clogging car dealerships and filling factory warehouses.

The glut of everything from steel and household appliances to cars and apartments is hampering China’s efforts to emerge from a sharp economic slowdown. It has also produced a series of price wars and has led manufacturers to redouble efforts to export what they cannot sell at home.

The severity of China’s inventory overhang has been carefully masked by the blocking or adjusting of economic data by the Chinese government — all part of an effort to prop up confidence in the economy among business managers and investors.

But the main nongovernment survey of manufacturers in China showed on Thursday that inventories of finished goods rose much faster in August than in any month since the survey began in April 2004. The previous record for rising inventories, according to the HSBC/Markit survey, had been set in June. May and July also showed increases.

Problems in China give some economists nightmares in which, in the worst case, the United States and much of the world slip back into recession as the Chinese economy sputters, the European currency zone collapses and political gridlock paralyzes the United States.

China is the world’s second-largest economy and has been the largest engine of economic growth since the global financial crisis began in 2008. Economic weakness means that China is likely to buy fewer goods and services from abroad when the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is already hurting demand, raising the prospect of a global glut of goods and falling prices and weak production around the world.

Corporate hiring has slowed, and jobs are becoming less plentiful. Chinese exports, a mainstay of the economy for the last three decades, have almost stopped growing. Imports have also stalled, particularly for raw materials like iron ore for steel making, as industrialists have lost confidence that they will be able to sell if they keep factories running. Real estate prices have slid, although there have been hints that they might have bottomed out in July, and money has been leaving the country through legal and illegal channels.

China Leaders Forum 2012, "Will the Chinese Tiger Come Roaring Back After the Crisis?"(http://chinaleadersforum.eventbrite.com/), October 2nd, New York City, will provide attendees with the responses to the above-mentioned questions and the most up-to-date review of where the Asian giant stands and the challenges and opportunities for businessmen looking to expand their business with China when others only see growth contraction. Recognized experts, regulators, and strategists, will return to China Leaders Forum 2012 in its fourth edition to provide the information practitioners are looking for in an open and unbiased environment, highly conducive to the most efficient and effective networking.

China Leaders Forum 2012 is produced by Golden Networking, the premier networking community for business executives, entrepreneurs and investors. Panelists, speakers and sponsors are invited to contact Golden Networking by sending an email to info@goldennetworking.net.