Since when did Germany victimize itself into emerging market category?
I would be even more worried by the fact that it resembles Keeta, a delivery brand owned by Meituan, which actually operates in a bunch of large emerging markets.
Germany (~5% of SMEs underfunded [0]) isn’t underbanked; it’s just bureaucratically annoying; so more of an UX problem (which Kita helps address) with a somewhat similar outcome.
The US ("63M underbanked businesses") are already targeted: "Automate document review for business loan applications so you can fund more enterprises without scaling your back office." https://www.usekita.com/united-states
I have worked with the Chinese REE industry, and we've often bumped heads and shared ideas together with them and I can confidently tell you, the Chinese don't use anything novel that has not been established in Western science already. What they do have is executing rarely-used techniques confidently at scale, but all of that is already often published in the West. The only reason the West hasn't done it is because these techniques are less profitable, and, surprise, the CCP actually forces processors to minimize ecological damage, which further bumps up the costs to the point only large-scale players can exist making such lower profits. You'll often find them using some obscure process alteration that was published minutely in the West.
As an addendum, companies in the REE Sinosphere are often encouraged by the CCP to exchange ideas with each other quite often, while Western companies often lock them behind proprietary patents and competition. While both systems have their pros and cons, the former allows for faster process proliferation (and a lower profit incentive for the innovator).
> the Chinese don't use anything novel that has not been established in Western science already
Like they say: in theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice, they aren't.
It's all well and good to have knowledge of the techniques, or to even have published or created them. But applying them successfully, working out all the kinks, and streamlining everything to become profitable doesn't happen overnight.
I have no doubt alternate sources can exist, but not without significant time and effort.
> my experience with theory is that it includes time and effort considerations
I would never disagree with you here. But the point is that the time and effort you spend on theory doesn't translate to time and effort spent on practice.
What I mean is that since the peak of American REE in the 1970s and 1980s(?) a lot of the engineers who have working knowledge are retired. There's nothing theoretical we can't dig up but I think there will need to be a number of years for the US to catch up in terms of craft knowledge or "metis" (as Dan Wang likes to call it) and processing equipment and plants.
Maybe I'm wrong. I gained my knowledge second-hand/third-hand from books and podcasts so I would defer to you to your actual experience and observations about Chinese REE. What is your estimate on how long it would take the West to catch to at least supply some of the rare earth components and what the real barriers might be? Would love to hear your take on this.
Thanks for sharing your observations. I had no idea about the minutiae of that industry, i.e. the ecological control and its effects on the industry.
No, you're right. China, and even India and Russia, also do not have the same talent problem of the West, in that there is an undersupply of engineers, especially in the geological, processing and chemical sectors. In the US, the average age of the chemical process engineer was touching 50 a few years back. The average age of a process safety engineer is well past 50. While Russia and India lose their technical talent to brain drain, the Chinese govt has done quite a lot in trying to reverse that.
The real barriers are talent and the regulation vs profit motive balance. What I mentioned in my previous comment was effectively an effect of the intersection of the two - you can't find novel ways of processing harmful substances without having the technical talent to find these out in the first place, nor without giving them a free reign after deprioritizing profit.
Let's take arsenic for instance, a substance that's a harmful byproduct arising out of most mining operations. We already have the technology in the West to lock away arsenic into glass, but a.) apart from the big ones, most companies are unaware of them, and b.) even if they were aware of it, the tech is a significant line item that shies investors and companies away from investing into it.
> What is your estimate on how long it would take the West to catch to at least supply some of the rare earth components and what the real barriers might be?
Never. Yes, there are a few companies still engaged in trying to secure REE supply (Glencore being the most notable), but due to Western regulatory and policy limbo, the answer is never. For this to change, you need regulators open to experimentations and a concerted effort by the government in trying to reestablish REE independence, both in extraction and in processing, but I have yet to see either happening. It's telling when frankly the US is the country in the West most likely to catch up still, but the gap is deeper than the Darien Gap .
Terrorist government? This is the West Bank, which is currently governed by Fatah, which has global recognition as the rightful representative authority of the Palestinian people.
Well newsflash, the Israeli socialists and left wing have lost all influence for the most part. The only way you can form a government in the Knesset today is by a coalition of parties, most of which lean right-wing to far-right or ultra-Orthodox.
There's currently a gas crisis in India. A country that had a $10 billion investment in an Iranian port to trade oil and gas directly with them, except they decided to become America's bitch and halted the project after American sanctions.
Anyways, everyone's affected - gas cylinder booking requests which usually take a couple of days to fulfill currently have a 30 day period to fulfill in some major cities. Roadside vendors are shutting down temporarily, as are many restaurants.
At least EVs have had a good success rate in adoption, so commuting isn't as much affected. But freight is pretty much fucked.
Again, this is a country that could have gotten a sweetheart deal from Iran, just like China, but apparently decided to become a little bitch.
The benefits of living in an authoritarian state. The CCP says "we will provide for cheap electric trucks" and it happens, no matter if that displaces tens, if not hundreds of thousands of workers in ICE car manufacturers.
Poverty doesn’t have the luxury to choose or take moral stands. When a dollar worth oil price fluctuation can lead to thousands going hungry for a day, you as a leader will do everything to avoid catastrophic sanctions.
India agreed to capitulate on the Iranian port investments before the US-Israeli invasion, when Trump was playing the tariff games. If a growing economy can be subverted and forced to act against its interests, is it really a superpower at that point?
Guess the US Deputy Secretary was right when he stated that they'll never make the same mistakes with India that they made with China.
> Again, this is a country that could have gotten a sweetheart deal from Iran
India has a deal with Iran as well and the first ship to sail via Hormuz after the conflict started (the Shenlong Suezmax) ended up in India [0]
India giving sanctuary to an Iranian naval ship and offering sanctuary to a second one - which their captain rejected and is now at the bottom of the Indian Ocean (IRIS Dena) [1] - bought India the goodwill needed to implement the deal mentioned above.
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> We could have an entire Indian-owned port, outside the straits in question, with an attached O&G pipeline that we paid for, connected directly to the oil and gas fields in Iran
Duqm Port in Oman, Sohar Port in Oman, Fujairah Port in the UAE, and Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar, Iran are all either Indian operated or include an Indian financial stake with first right of refusal for Oil and LNG exports and outside the Straits of Hormuz.
> Yay, we got one ship to cross the straits
Did you even read the Bloomberg article? There were only 20 Indian LNG ships within the strait of Hormuz at this time, and they are being given passage. These aren't overnight tankers (that isn't even a thing at this size). The war only started a week ago and it's a Suez Supermax at that - they won't go beyond 15 mph/19 knots.
> the rare earth minerals in Afghanistan that we had received sanction to mine prior to the war, that would also have been shipped through this port
India still has access to Shahid Beheshti Port, and it's not like India has even completely taken advantage of the existing critical minerals within India, let alone hypothetical and high risk critical minerals projects in Afghanistan - a country literally in the middle of a war with Pakistan.
We could have an entire Indian-owned port, outside the straits in question, with an attached O&G pipeline that we paid for, connected directly to the oil and gas fields in Iran. Not to mention all the rare earth minerals in Afghanistan that we had received sanction to mine prior to the war, that would also have been shipped through this port.
The cognitive dissonance in nationalist Indians is honestly tiresome and unsurprising at this moment.
I would be even more worried by the fact that it resembles Keeta, a delivery brand owned by Meituan, which actually operates in a bunch of large emerging markets.
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