Fremont Lancaster, LLC

05/04/2020

14/03/2016

While we at Fremont Lancaster are interested in Alibaba's increasing role in financial systems and logistics, anyone interested in business in general will want to keep tabs on the behemoth. Because it doesn't disclose financial details, keeping an eye on its public acquisitions and investments can be very helpful to supply chain professionals and investors alike.

Cainiao, a three-year-old Alibaba-backed company specializing in logistics, has confirmed its maiden external funding round from Temasek Holdings and GIC in..

10/12/2015

One great thing about working with people from other countries is receiving beautiful, thoughtful holiday gifts from another place. Today we received this beautiful Yixing ("yee-shing") clay teapot from one of our most trusted manufacturers in China! Yixing clay teapots absorb the flavor of tea over time, and so tea connoisseurs devote one to each type of tea. While the techniques used to make them are old, the craftspeople were scattered early in the 20th century during war time; the oldest workshop dates back to 1958, when a cooperative revived the techniques and strict standards of the past.

08/12/2015

“Is that real vanilla?” -- Vanilla is the second most expensive spice in the world, following saffron, and vanilla prices surged to extreme highs in 2015: wholesale prices have fluctuated between $30/kg and $200/kg. Extremely labor intensive, vanilla production is only viable in the world’s cheapest labor markets - while it originated in Mexico, most vanilla is produced in Madagascar and Uganda. Pure vanilla extract can be $10/oz in the grocery store, but websites like Amazon have brought prices down. As raw vanilla costs, and thus consumer prices, have increased in 2015, Mexican vanilla has become more popular. Many Americans are unaware that it contains a toxic chemical called coumarin, banned by the FDA since 1954 (the coumarin comes from the extract of the tonka bean, added for its similar taste and smell to vanilla). When you’re looking for vanilla this season, remember – if it seems too cheap to be true, it probably is – and it might be toxic. Coumarin is apparently only toxic for humans over time, so a taste from the bottle your cousin got in Cancun probably won’t hurt you, but if you’re comparison shopping to afford buying in bulk, be warned.

**In the spirit of full disclosure, Fremont Lancaster markets the Shank’s Pure Vanilla Extract brand on Amazon.com; Shank’s is produced in Lancaster, PA from the highest quality vanilla beans.

17/11/2015

Fans of the TV show ‘Parks and Rec’ will be familiar with the annual “Treat Yo' Self” holiday celebrated by Tom and Donna. China has recently adopted a similar holiday, Singles Day, that merges Cyber Monday’s online shopping free-for-all with a ‘Valentine’s Day for Singles’ concept.

Celebrated 11/11 (the ‘singles’ angle comes from all the 1’s in the date), Singles' Day (or Bachelors’ Day) originated at Nanjing University in 1993, and was celebrated at various universities in Nanjing during the 1990s. Upon graduating, these college students carried the university tradition into society, and as internet shopping has exploded in China, Singles' Day has been widely popularized. It has also become an unofficial barometer of the health of the Chinese economy – and that’s where things get interesting.

Singles' Day serves as an occasion for single people to party with single friends, and for everyone to take part in the online shopping extravaganza. The holiday was initially only celebrated by young men, hence the name, "Bachelors' Day," but is now widely celebrated by both genders. 'Blind date' parties are also popular, as young Chinese people who are acutely aware of their parents’ desire for grandchildren attempt to say goodbye to their single lives. The conflict between traditional Chinese values of family duty and the modern consumer culture developing in China is poignantly visible on this day: the celebration is in many ways a reaction to both the pressure to marry young and the pressure to save instead of spend.

The drivers of e-commerce in China – a combination of small sellers and the Alibaba Group behemoth - have capitalized on this holiday with steep discounts meant to entice shoppers, as on Black Friday or Cyber Monday in the US. Brick and mortar stores also offer sales, but the one-day online sales data have become an important indicator of the growth of the Alibaba Group, which in turn is seen by some analysts as a useful measure of economic activity in China, where official financial data can be unreliable. On Singles’ Day, retailers are pushed to make as many sales as possible, often resorting to sketchy accounting tactics in order to make this possible. For example, this year customers were offered discounts on several different sales channels, including at brick and mortar stores, if the customers paid for their goods online on 11/11 regardless of when they purchased them. The need to meet e-commerce sales projections by any means necessary is part of a larger economic and political backdrop in China, where it is the constitutional duty of the government to provide for economic growth; the failure to do so has serious political implications, and the pressure to avoid these implications filters from the sphere of government into financial reporting, making for some interesting shopping, and reading, on Singles’ Day.

30/09/2015

As anyone involved in trade or logistics knows, commercial trucking faces challenges that have the potential to spur on industry wide changes. Imported tires from China have shaken up the marketplace, making it important to be aware of anti-dumping measures on Chinese tires.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has affirmed its determination that certain passenger and light truck tires imported from China have benefited from market-distorting moves and unfair subsidies. The DOC has calculated subsidy rates for the affected tire manufacturers, and in nearly every instan…

17/09/2014

Business dinners are a major part of professional life in China. We offer these tips to keep you from going in unprepared.

Guanxi & The Business Dinner in China: Sea Cucumbers, Who Gets Drunk? and Where to Put Your Chopsticks

Fremont Lancaster is a trading and professional services firm based in New York and Shanghai - we bring the world market to you.

18/08/2014

We help companies save money and control quality by shortening their supply chain. We offer savings in procurement, manage production and inspect goods before shipment, we know the import/export obstacles that can arise and solve them proactively, and we provide transportation solutions tailored to your location and line of business.

We do not deal directly in commodities or trade financing, but we monitor trade issues that may be relevant to our partners and customers. The port of Qingdao is China’s fifth largest by throughput, and this New York Times article discusses irregularities in the oversight of commodities held in the port of Qingdao. The commodities, many of them metals like copper and aluminum, were used as collateral against commercial loans made by international banks to Chinese companies.

The authorities are investigating loans based on collateral of metals at a Chinese port, with implications for Western banks and the Chinese credit market.

31/07/2014

Photos from Suzhou, Beijing, Qingdao province, and Shanghai

31/07/2014

For your Throwback Thursday enjoyment - Fremont Lancaster: Traveling to Asia Since 1998. Here is a picture of one of our founders, Alex Henderson, on a trip to Taiwan in 2004.

31/07/2014

If you're following the West coast ports labor negotiations, the contract expired last night at midnight, but talks are expected to resume Monday. Here's an interesting look at possible reasons why this negotiation could be going more smoothly than 2008.

Even though it now looks like it will be sometime in August before a new agreement between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and employers is in place, no one is panicking and tensions appear low. Why?

11/10/2013

While many government websites are shut down, Fremont Lancaster, LLC can help you answer trade questions. We host the Harmonized Tariff Code on our website, but are there other resources that you'd like to be able to access any time?

16/04/2013

One of the largest problems faced by our clients is the need to anticipate production and transportation delays. Fremont Lancaster monitors the local holiday schedules wherever we source our products, and we stay on top of economic, political and social issues that can cause delays, including union negotiations, port closures, and health and safety issues that can cause delays in import/export clearance.

Chinese New Year
The Chinese lunar calendar sees Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, fall on different dates each year. The holiday, during which factories are generally closed for 1-2 weeks, took place in mid-February this year, which Chinese and foreign financial analysts agree contributed to a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing during the first two months of the year. However, many factories were closed for more time than has been common in the last few years, with a sizable portion of factories closing for 3-4 weeks; production delays were significant. Given the low level of activity for many Chinese manufacturers in the lead up to the holiday, it is likely that long factory closures were the result of low levels of economic activity, instead of the reverse, as some analysts have suggested.

March Bounce back?
One measure of Chinese economic activity is the PMI (purchasing managers index) released by the National Bureau of Statistics. A PMI of 50 is the line of demarcation between contraction and growth; international observers generally assume of inflation of these numbers. February's PMI was 50.4; March was 50.9, an eleven month high for China. After the severe (and in recent years, atypical) delays experienced over Chinese New Year, many factories came back to work busy clearing backlogged orders. It is unclear whether March's increase in manufacturing activity will continue through the year, but the longer production times seen in March seem to be going back down as April gets underway. Anyone watching China's financial numbers over the long term will be aware that the Chinese government has a habit of "cannibalizing" future economic growth to bolster weak numbers in the present; it remains to be seen whether the slowdowns at Chinese New Year represented a saving up of activity to finish the 1st Qtr of 2013 with strong March results.

Currency Shift
As the Chinese Yuan slipped below 6.2CNY:1USD, a mark around which the currency has hovered for the last few months, Chinese factories being paid in USD are feeling squeezed, even as domestic wages and other industrial inputs continue to rise in price. Feeling strong political pressure not to lay off workers, many factories keep their workers, but restrict production to a few days per week to save on rising electricity prices. Unable to reduce their costs significantly, and tied to a constantly sinking exchange rate, factory managers are having trouble achieving the price reductions constantly sought by foreign buyers. This kind of pressure makes it especially important, when buying in China, to have contracts in place that specify exactly what product is being purchased and the quality that the manufacturer is expected to provide; when manufacturers experience pressure both domestically and from the international community, quality can suffer if expectations of quality are not made clear. Buyers should also be on the lookout for factories attempting to raise prices during production; to combat this concern, deposits should be made as conservatively as possible, proof of production should be required midway through the run, and inspections should be performed wherever possible. Manufacturers will sometimes cause delays as part of an attempt to raise prices during production.

Health Concerns
China's food supply has been dealt a series of blows in recent months. In addition to the perennial scandals over chemicals in common processed foods, a new strain of avian flu, H7N9, has appeared and resulted in enormous pressure on domestic food prices as poultry fowl are destroyed to prevent the spread of disease. Also in March, around 15,000 dead pigs were discovered in the Huangpu River in Shanghai, leading to fears that the water supply was contaminated. China's Xinhua news agency reports that no link has been found between the two health issues. In addition to potentially causing delays in transportation and customs clearance in China, food-related health scares like these are a large part of the upward pressure on Chinese wages in manufacturing. Poultry and pork are two of the most common protein staples for the Chinese diet, and their prices have effects throughout the economy: if prices are too low, farmers will stop producing or destroy stock entirely. If prices for one staple go to high, producers of other foods will switch production to the high-priced item, creating shortages – and high prices – for another staple. Inflation in the cost of food relative to increases in wages is one of the largest causes of dissatisfaction among Chinese citizens, and is one of the chief problems with China remaining a low wage manufacturing economy in the long term.

Source Material:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/01/us-global-economy-idUSBRE9300B320130401
http://www.exchangerates.org.uk/USD-CNY-exchange-rate-history.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-04/02/c_132277513.htm
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/05/lessons-from-sars-how-the-new-bird-flu-could-shock-the-chinese-economy/
http://shanghaiist.com/2013/03/26/illegal_pig-dealers_in_zhejiang_linked_to_shanghai_river_hogs.php

16/04/2013

Inspecting in Korea! Fremont Lancaster is a global sourcing agent and we can handle importing and inspecting from any country.

26/03/2013

It's hard to convey sometimes how much China has changed in the past 20 years. Here's a photo that expresses it visually. This is our home-away-from-home, Shanghai, as it was in 1990, and 20 years later.
Let us help you connect with this amazing growth, whether you want to make or sell products here. Our company, with bases here and in NY, is ready to serve.
Alex and Sarah
fremontlancaster.com.

We never get tired of this amazing image, Shanghai in 1990 vs Shanghai in 2010 (h/t: Mike A).

24/03/2013

Fremont Lancaster is building a new model for the way products are made--and sold--in China. Our Shanghai-based office, staffed by two expat Americans, is ready to help! Or, you can call our NY team, too! Here's a thought for your Sunday. fremontlancaster.com

27/02/2013

Greetings from Shanghai, where the population of avid consumers is growing as much as the buildings! Fremont Lancaster wants to help you sell your products here. We're a young American company with principals living in Shanghai, who can help you sell online via our SellChinaOnline.com service. We look forward to working with you!

27/02/2013

Fremont Lancaster

Chinese manufacturers are developing the skills needed to produce more technically advanced materials. By sharing management practices, statistical principles, and production controls, we enable our suppliers to produce the product we need, at the right price, without reducing quality.

Fremont Lancaster is a trading and professional services firm based in New York and Shanghai - we bring the world market to you.

15/02/2013

Fremont Lancaster VP Alex Henderson spends a lot of time visiting factories to do inspections, and his guilty pleasure when arriving at a train station is stop at McDonald's for a fix of American breakfast.

McDonald's has been brilliant in its marketing in China, says Alex. It figured out that the way to get parents to allow their kids to visit Mickey D's is to have a Chinese entree, so the parents could still eat food to their taste. In this picture, you'll see the classic McMuffins along side a Chinese version complete with local shredded cabbage. Luckily, everyone seems to love hash browns!

14/02/2013

It's Chinese New Year week, so Fremont Lancaster, LLC's team is taking some time to relax while most factories are closed. Here's our VP Alex Henderson with the game of Risk he purchased on Taobao, a Chinese language web site for online shopping, similar to eBay and Amazon.

Taobao provides a platform for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs to open online retail stores that mainly cater to consumers in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

If you want to have us sell your products on Taobao, we provide affordable translation, listing, and management services for American businesses. Visit Fremont Lancaster's SellChinaOnline.com

12/02/2013

Chinese New Year fireworks can be majestic and city wide (here's Fremont Lancaster's view of Shanghai) - but they are also an intimate affair, with each family practicing its own celebration.

The Chinese invented fireworks during the first millennium A.D., and China is said to be the largest manufacturer and exporter of fireworks in the world. After a warehouse explosion at Guangdong province's Sanshui port, Shanghai also briefly banned the shipping of fireworks at its port in 2008, due to safety concerns during the Olympic Games.

But the Chinese government strengthened safety supervision during transport and storage, and the Shanghai port soon reopened. Today, Shanghai has replaced Sanshui as the biggest exporting port for fireworks, with 70 percent of Chinese pyrotechnics being shipped from there, according to International Fireworks Association.

11/02/2013

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the Year of the (Water) Snake, and he's a gorgeous jeweled version!

2013 - Year of the (Water) Snake!

09/02/2013

How will you celebrate Chinese New Year? It's happening already where we are in Shanghai!

08/02/2013

Fireworks are a BIG part of Chinese New Year's celebrations. Here's some that we've collected! It's almost time for the Year of the Snake!

06/02/2013

We love this Chinese New Year bracelet by Joanna Joy Seetoo Designs!

Chinese New Year is almost here!! All 12 signs are represented on my Chinese Zodiac Cuff Bracelet.
See this and more of my jewelry at the Time Out New York and Beck's Sapphire Event tomorrow 6-9pm at OPENHOUSE GALLERY!

06/02/2013

The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone. We also like the tradition of thoroughly cleaning the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and make way for good incoming luck. It's almost here!

05/02/2013

Fremont Lancaster | Wix.com

Chinese New Year is almost here, with the government announcing Feb. 9-15 as the public holiday time.

Last year, we found that factories were only closed for three to seven days; this year, many of the factories we talk to are planning to be closed from Feb 1st to Feb 22nd, or from Feb 8th to March 1st; others that aren't closed that long still are closed at least the 8th to the 18th.

We're encouraging all of our clients to get orders for the next few months placed ASAP so that we can try to lock in pricing.

Fremont Lancaster is a trading and professional services firm based in New York and Shanghai - we bring the world market to you.

04/02/2013

A lot of western sports are starting to catch on in China, but none so much as basketball. Chinese stars like Yao Ming and ethnically Taiwanese stars like Jeremy Lin have spurred Chinese interest in the sport. There is now even a Chinese basketball league which Fremont Lancaster VP Alex Henderson often listens to on long drives with suppliers when he's doing inspections.

30/01/2013

Sometimes it's difficult to imagine how many people populate China, but the Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station, should give you a hint. Its waiting hall area is more than 10,000 square meters and is capable of handling 10,000 passengers at a time. This is where many of China's high speed rail lines depart, including the Beijing–Shanghai line, the most important high speed rail line in China.

29/01/2013

Shipping products to or from China? Fremont Lancaster can help. With American boots on the ground in Shanghai, Fremont Lancaster can explain hidden costs a "bargain" shipper might not.

That "bargain" quote for ocean freight, for example, may fail to mention the port fees you must pay before your product can be released. These fees can increase costs by five times.

One of the most important benefits we provide to our clients is explaining "unknown issues" like these; we have the experience with logistics and transportation to factor in the unknowns.