Low demand during 2011 was caused by high rare earths prices from both heavy and light rare earths metals, which despite their fluttering prices, remain historically high.
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Names like Jimmy Choo, Prada, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton are often best selling styles despite their high prices.
Retailers were forced to match on-line prices, despite their higher overhead, or lose the business.
Petrol prices, despite their recent retreat, hurt nearly everyone.
Investors put out the welcome mat for homebuilders in the first half of the year, pushing up their share prices despite the worst pace of new-home sales since the Great Depression on expectations of a long-awaited rebound after the 2008 and 2009 slump.
So it makes perfect sense for Japanese exporters to avoid cutting their prices too far despite the weak yen.
That raised hopes retail prices, which have risen in recent months despite easing wholesale prices, may now be on their way down.
The companies saw their share prices balloon, despite losses.
This only adds to our argument that we could see oil prices continue at their current levels despite a weaker global economy and softening demand for oil.
So the recent fall in share prices (still down by 15% from their peak, despite this week's rally) has actually come as a bit of a relief.
From investing some 20% of sales in 1996, their capital expenditure dropped to almost nothing, and this year, despite high prices, will still be less than 10% of sales.
Despite Saudi efforts, their Muscovite counterparts were simply in no fit state to help moderate prices across non-OPEC production.
This implies that Japanese companies are holding their foreign-currency prices more or less steady to book higher yen revenues despite slack volume.
Despite the recent rally, Mr Barty points out, even in the south prices are still below their long-run average relative to incomes.
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"Due to the current weak market, we wanted to offer attractive prices to our customers to boost their morale, " the spokesman said, explaining the decision to cut its car prices despite an increase in input costs.
The persistent strength of commodity prices helps to explain why headline inflation rates have been stubbornly high in many countries, despite their struggling economies.
By knowing their way around ticket prices, schedules and flight availability, they have been able to hold their own, despite the airlines' efforts to sell straight to consumers and avoid paying the agents' 10% commission.
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