By Miguel Helft and Nick Bunkley
New York Times, March 15, 2011
Japan is an important producer of chips that are used in many different electronics sold around the world. Many devices that aren’t made in Japan still have parts that made in Japan and included in the manufacturing process. With the devastating earthquake and tsunami many factories have closed down and that has driven the world price of memory chips up almost three dollars. At the same time production of many Japanese cars has halted in Japan and it is being slowed down in other countries as well because the cars often require parts that are made in Japan. We could see a shortage of new cars and electronics on the market in the next few weeks which can drive up the price temporarily.
4 comments:
I don't see my name anywhere on my post so I'm just adding it in case you can't find it.
Sam Gardner
This is a very hot topic right now in many circles. For quite some time we have lived in a global market where troubles in one land have rippling effects through out the supply chain. We will certainly see it here again with origination in Japan. Good article Sam.
I really liked reading this brief because it reminded me of how interconnected all the world's economies are. Whereas once a region's natural disaster only affected them, now, a natural disaster anywhere in the world affects all other economies and countries. While it is bad that disasters anywhere in the world can affect us, I think it is more of a hopeful thing the fact that we are one global family and rely on one another.
Wow, this seems like it will really affect other industries that use the parts here. I wonder what the extent of the effect this tsunami has on the global economy will be.
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