The hard edge to softs

THE ALCHEMIST

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Friends, there is song in the Welsh valleys this moon. The nation has reason to celebrate. The value of Welsh exports (derived largely so far from Catherine Zeta-Jones, the other Jones, and Charlotte Church) is about to soar. The hill farmers are set to sign a deal to supply lamb to China.

In terms of North-South trade, it does not get much better than this, unless you are selling something to the several billion Chinese they must use every day, rather than once a week. Meat consumption rises with urbanisation and general prosperity, and China likes the whiff of Welsh lamb. New Zealand might be a thousand miles closer, but there is no accounting for taste. It is a coup for the valleys. Emerging markets used to be simply a beer-and-cement play. Sales of those commodities could always be counted on, even if both were shamelessly diluted by the end users. But increasingly ...

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