Commodities Report #2 For Uncle Mel

    Friends and family often ask a lot of questions regarding prices of things.  Bri and I find the price of most things to be comparable or less than at home.  One benefit of living in an enormous city is the choice to spend $10-$15 on a meal or to eat for a buck.  There is a pretty wide range on most products.  You can buy an affordably priced product made in China version or an imported version that is much more expensive.

     Some of the best deals you can score would be massages, house keeping, hair treatments, street food, pearls, and anything that could possibly be ripped off (DVDs, designer bags, designer watches, shirts, technology accessories, toys) with the overlying factor that it could be and probably is fake.

     Things that we find quite expensive here include coffee, wine (A $4 bottle of Carlos Rossi will run you about $15), english books and magazines, good beer (that seems to be an oxymoron in China), imported food and imported hygiene products.

    One of the questions people asked the most when we returned home for Christmas was predictable, "What's the price of gas?".  Neither of us had any idea because we hadn't used any gas and there aren't as many stations as we're accustom to seeing in the U.S.  I suspect there are less stations for a couple reasons.  I know the price is at least partially regulated by the government which could restrict the profit margins.  In addition, you have to receive special permits to have building sites less than 7 floors (I'm not sure of this number...it might be 11) in the city, so a gas station is giving up a lot floor space.  Space with which more profit could be made if it were used correctly.  Also, the convenience store model of gas stations we see in the U.S. don't exist here.  Gas stations sell gas only.  Snacks, drinks, etc. that we would expect in a Quik Shop or 7/11 are all sold in little shops.  There's probably one of those shops on nearly every block.  I took this picture of a gas station sign just a few blocks away.  At the time gas was about $4.60 per gallon in the city, quite expensive even though the government controls the price.

Here is the rest of this quarters commodities report.

- Complaints rise as gas prices in China exceed the price in the U.S.  Click here to view.

- Caterpillar fungus prices rise to over $13,000/pound!  I should have bought some when I could have ! Click here to view.

- A good break down of some easily comparable goods in comparison to other cities.  One example from this site says the average cost of a McDonald's value meal is $4.21.  Click here to view some more comparisons.

Here's a picture of the shrimp burger from McDonalds.  Bri thought it looked especially appetizing when we saw it on the menu, especially given the value at only $2.60.  Hope you enjoyed the commodities report.