One more doubling of import demand and China will be wanting to import 600 million tons per year, about the total amount of coal exported by all exporting nations last year.

FORBES: Reading China's Mixed Signals

Iran is working feverishly to build up refining capacity because it currently must import a significant amount of its gasoline.

FORBES: The Big Blow-Up

And, while call centers, internet sales, IT services, and remote education may be exportable, we currently import a considerable amount of these services.

FORBES: Joe Stiglitz's Story on Why We Won't Bring Manufacturing Back

The fines reduce the amount of milk produced, there is now a shortage of milk and butter and you need to lift the import restrictions so that the citizenry can have a butter biscuit at Christmas time.

FORBES: The Great Norwegian Butter Famine

Another drag on prices has come from India, the world's biggest buyer of gold bullion, which introduced a 50% import tax that has triggered a 24% fall in the amount of gold brought into the country in the first quarter of this year.

BBC: Gold price declines to two-year low