Until a few years ago, the pans and griddles were made in China, but most of the materials that went into them were not. Companies imported most of the resins, pigments and pastes for his coatings from multinational suppliers, such as Dow Chemical Co. of the US and Eckart Effect Pigments of Germany.
Now, in a shift that is echoing throughout China’s vast manufacturing sector, companies are buying more than 70 per cent of those things from local suppliers. China, long the world’s factory floor, is taking control of a bigger portion of the world’s supply chains as well, causing a shift in global trade patterns by buying less from abroad.
The No. 2 economy after the US pulls in huge volumes of raw materials and components, from aluminum to microchips, which it fashions into finished products, such as iPhones and George Foreman grills, for sale around the world. These supply flows turbocharged global trade for years and made China one of the top export destinations.