Economy

Manufacturing is booming south of the border

Kelsi Maree Borland writes that e-commerce has become the principal, or at least the most fervent, driver of industrial activity in the United States and particularly in Southern California, which is home to some of the country’s tightest industrial markets. While e-commerce dominates U.S. industrial activity, manufacturing activity is still booming—south of the border. Mexico has picked up much of the industrial manufacturing business, and as a result the north Baja industrial region is seeing record-breaking stats.

Beijing to shut 1,000 manufacturing firms by 2020

China’s capital, Beijing, will shut about 1,000 manufacturing firms by 2020 as part of a program aimed at curbing smog and boosting income in neighboring regions, state media said. Beijing will focus on dynamic, high-tech industries and withdraw from “ordinary” manufacturing, reported the People’s Daily, a Chinese Communist Party newspaper, citing a recent policy document published by the Beijing municipal government.

U.S. manufacturing sees record output at falling prices

U.S. manufacturing is not in decline but alive and well, producing record levels of output in recent quarters despite significant price deflation for manufactured goods. No other sector of the U.S. economy delivers greater value to American consumers than manufacturing when it comes to providing more and more output at prices that have declined annually by 2.64 percent in real inflation-adjusted terms over the past quarter century.