If real estate collapses and the resulting banking crisis affects the rest of the economy, there will be a substantial drop in the demand for raw materials, with a corresponding fall in exports from countries that produce and export raw materials, and in OECD exports to emerging middle classes.
"It is only the surface that has been scraped for metals around the world, " said Magnus Ericsson, a senior partner at Raw Materials Group, a Solna, Sweden-based consultancy.
Fifty-year-old Basuki Rachmad, a furniture maker from Banjarmasin, complains he cannot get a permit to obtain his raw materials since a legal license to buy wood is only granted to businesses that purchase over 100 cubic meters a month, three times his requirement.
"I would not like to look at agriculture as a different path to growth than raw materials in a country that has both, " he said.
Because American Giant's supply chain can be traced all the way back to the US cotton fields, with fabric being specially woven and dyed for it, getting a new shipment of raw materials wasn't as simple as making a phone call and waiting for an overnight delivery.
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Associated building costs have also increased owing to a shortage in raw materials.
Even exports, which might have received a boost from the weakened rupiah, have been crippled by manufacturers' dependence on relatively expensive imported raw materials and a credit crunch that has tied their hands.
In America, for instance, a magnificent endowment of raw materials was decisive early on.
Brazil is resource rich, while China remains a big importer of raw materials and on balance is resource poor.
Firms with a big exposures to raw materials and commodity products have faced rising input costs as of late.
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For commodity bulls, the really big worry is China, which cancelled a slew of raw-materials orders in the spring.
As one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, supporting jungle, high mountains and coastal desert, Peru calls upon a formidable stash of raw materials to concoct its cuisine.
Part of it funds the next round of letters of credit the manufacturer will use to ensure a steady supply of raw materials over the life of the supply contract.
He bequeathed to his son two precious gifts: a love of language, and a passion for the raw materials of life and industry timber, such as western red cedar, metals, stones and minerals.
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At the same time, many companies in Asia source a sizable percentage of raw materials from their own country, so they are paying relatively less for inputs -- yet they sell in U.S. dollars.
The United States was one of the top three foreign targets for sovereign-wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Kuwait from 2006 to 2009, according to data provider Dealogic, but it fell to seventh place in 2010 and 2011, as Australia a major supplier of raw materials to China and Spain became main focuses of interest in those years.
That meant their margins took a double hit from rising raw materials and labour costs.
America has a far richer endowment of raw materials than its primary competitors, including the European Union, India, China and Japan.
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However, too much public focus on these opportunistic feedstocks has presented a misleading picture that free raw materials are widely available.
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There are a number of factors behind the trend, not least the rise of China as a consumer of goods and raw materials.
Chinese banks were offering loans to producers of raw materials at a time when it was hard for them to attract financing from elsewhere.
Already pummeled by higher costs for raw materials and a dramatic shift away from highly profitable trucks, carmakers now are facing serious liquidity challenges.
It brings up many questions, such as if the final place of assembly counts as the country of origin, or if a certain percent of the raw materials are made overseas, for instance.
In his sights is a status unrivaled in the raw materials sector since Cecil Rhodes held sway over much of southern Africa in the 19th century through the diamond trading company he founded, De Beers.
"We may experience a significant disruption in the supply of fabrics or raw materials from current sources or, in the event of a disruption, we may be unable to locate alternative materials suppliers of comparable quality at an acceptable price, or at all, " the company said in the filing.
The U.S. has a large pool of available labor, abundant raw materials and falling energy costs, said Paul van Eeden, president of Cranberry Capital, a private Canadian holding company.
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To meet a high domestic demand, more raw materials may be imported to the United States.
First, the high U.S. corporate demand for foreign labor and raw materials alone causes a trade imbalance.
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