Thin fabric shows flaws in yoga apparel maker’s over-stretched supply chain. Lululemon Athletica warns that there will be shortages in its women’s pants made from its “signature” black Luon fabric, a blend of 86% nylon - 14% Lycra with a trademarked brand name and a...
Western Digital aims to get some hard disk drive production out of Thailand A new report from IHS iSuppli finds the global hard disk drive (HDD) industry fully recovered a year after flooding halted production in Thailand. Not only are HDD shipments forecast to reach...
US consumers acquire a taste for imported mangoes … Ever mangled a mango? Our own first attempt at slicing and dicing a mango was a fail. But the fact that we tried at all was a sweet success for the National Mango Board, which is on a mission to market the tropical...
Buyers seem indifferent to country-of-origin labeling, say USDA researchers This is counter-intuitive. The US Department of Agriculture reports that its researchers have been unable to detect any shift in the pattern of consumers’ purchases of shrimp from 1998 through...
In demand for fracking, supplies of the Asian beans are thin on the ground The new “black gold” isn’t oil, but guar, a bean whose seeds are made into a gum used to thicken sauces, ice cream, yogurts – and now “proppants,” the materials that are forced into fractured...
Flooding in Thailand creates global shortages in auto parts, hard disk drives The worst flooding in Thailand since 1942 has left a huge part of the country under water, putting the Thai people, who have already sustained more than 500 casualties, at risk for water-...
Datamyne’s bread-and-butter application: multiplying sourcing options “I HATE MY CABLE COMPANY.” It’s a staple of online community bulletin boards. People post a rant about the take-it-or-leave-it service provided by the cable TV company, or the phone company or pet...
Trade data captures disruptions in Japan’s organic chemicals exports In our last follow-up on Japan’s triple disaster in March (“Gauging Japan Disaster’s Impact”), we quoted Port of Long Beach spokesman Art Wong on the repercussions for container trade: “Ships take...
More FDA inspections and access to results are called for A new report from Food and Water Watch reprises a lengthy list of Chinese import disasters, from melamine-contaminated pet food in 2007 to antibiotic-laced honey in 2010. The point of Decade of Dangerous...
Not another Weiner story: this time it’s homegrown apples A Wall Street Journal story that the US Department of Agriculture found residues of 48 different pesticides in a recent sampling of apples bruises the reputation (and possibly sales) of America’s second most...
