mbarker: (Default)
'nother Mike ([personal profile] mbarker) wrote2010-09-09 11:37 am
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I don't understand...

This morning, we stopped at a local grocery (here in Japan). And they had some cereal, which my wife glanced at, said, "Cheap!" and bought a box. Corn flakes, Sugar Flakes, or Honey pops (little balls) were on sale.

The thing that confused me is that I glanced at the ingredients, etc. label -- and realized that they were from Egypt? So this is presumably corn grown and turned into corn flakes in Egypt, then shipped to Japan? I'm surprised that the economics of shipping it that far makes sense -- we have corn growers and even cereal manufacturers here in Japan. Even assuming almost zero cost for manufacturing in Egypt, it seems like the shipping cost would swamp everything else.

Weird.

[identity profile] dialyn.livejournal.com 2010-09-09 12:48 pm (UTC)(link)
I've always wondered why California imports oranges from Florida. We have oranges. Lots of oranges. Still the cheapest oranges come from Florida. I understand there is a business reason for doing this, but it seems silly, even if it wasn't such a waste of limited resources. I have to admit, I didn't know Egypt was known for its cereals. I learn something every day.