T4
发帖数: 273 | 1 By DAVID WESSEL
Pecans are as all-American as anything can be. Washington and Jefferson grew
them. They are the state nut of Arkansas, Alabama and Texas. The U.S. grows
about two-thirds of the world's pecans and chews most of them itself.
Five years ago, China bought hardly any pecans. In 2009, China bought one-
quarter of the U.S. crop, and there's no sign demand is abating.
A pound of pecans in the shell fetched .14 on average last year, according
to the U.S Department of Agriculture, nearly double what they brought three
years earlier.
At a Carrefour store near Beijing's Sanyuan Bridge, Liu Wei, a 61-year-old
retired chemistry teacher, is buying a 260-gram (9.1-ounce) bag of Orchard
Farmer U.S.-grown pecans for 38 yuan (.78). That's nearly six times Beijing'
s official minimum hourly wage.
Pecans offer a case study in how China is reshaping entire industries for
its trading partners -- and not only by exporting goods made by its low-wage
workers. |
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