Content about China

The market for LED lighting is expected to double, from 16 million units in 2012 to a forecasted 33 million in 2013, and will nearly triple by 2016, according to the NPD DisplaySearch “LED Lighting Market and Forecast Report.”

San Diego-based WD-40 Co. reported net income of $10.5 million in the second quarter, down 1% compared with the previous year.

Net sales for the quarter ended Feb. 28 increased 1% to $86.7 million.

Gross margin was 50.9% in the second quarter compared with 49.0% in the same quarter last fiscal year.

The World Wildlife Fund recognized Charlotte, N.C.-based WORX Yard Tools USA for its environmentally progressive manufacturing facility in China. 

WORX, a division of Positec Group, was presented a Platinum Low Carbon Award for sustainable manufacturing by the WWF. The award acknowledges the WORX manufacturing facility in China for its low carbon footprint.

Seeing opportunity in China for brands such as Irwin, Dymo and Lenox, Newell Rubbermaid pushes what it calls a "Growth Game Plan." 

Newell Rubbermaid announced the expansion of its office in Shanghai as the company continues to drive its Growth Game Plan. The expanded Shanghai office currently houses nearly 200 employees, with additional capacity for future growth. 

Riding an improving housing market around the country, Atlanta-based Home Depot posted third-quarter sales of $18.1 billion, up 4.6% from the same period last year. Comp-store sales increased 4.2% overall, and increased 4.3% in the United States. 

Despite a charge of about $165 million to close seven stores in China, the company posted net earnings of $947 million, up 1.4% from $934 million in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, the company's net earnings rose 23.3% to $1.1 billion, the company said.

A price index of lumber and panels used in actual construction for Oct. 26, 2012

*Western - regional species perimeter foundation; Southern - regional species slab construction.

Crow's Market Recap -- A condensed recap of the market conditions for the major North American softwood lumber and panel products as reported in Crow's Weekly Market Report.

Water technology company A. O. Smith Corp. reported third-quarter earnings from continuing operations of $37.0 million, up 38% from $26.9 million in the prior-year third quarter.

Sales for the three-month period ended Sept. 30 were $462.2 million, up 12% from third-quarter 2011 sales of $412.0 million, driven by incremental Lochinvar sales and strong organic growth in China.

A new front opened in the trade war against China when a group of U.S. plywood manufacturers filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission. The Coalition for Fair Trade of Hardwood Plywood (CFTHP) claimed that Chinese manufacturers are “dumping” plywood on the U.S. market at unfair prices, a practice enabled by subsidies from the government of China.

Disputes over dumping -- selling products in the U.S. market at prices below the cost of production or for less than what the products are sold in the home market -- are a major thorn in the side of companies wanting to do business internationally. The United States enacted the antidumping law to protect U.S. manufacturing companies from “unfair” imports, but the real impact of the law is to bankrupt legitimate U.S. companies and destroy U.S. jobs.

A. O. Smith Corp. has posted first-quarter net earnings of $47.5 million, compared with $24.2 million in the prior-year quarter. Net earnings included an after-tax gain of $16.7 million, related to the sale of shares of Regal Beloit Corporation, which were received from the 2011 divestiture of the electric motor business.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a Chinese trade group have signed a major exhibition agreement that will bring a large number of additional manufacturers and products to the annual NAHB International Builders' Show in Las Vegas in January 2013.

A formal signing ceremony was held April 19 in Foshan, China, between officials from the China Building Ceramics & Sanitaryware Association and NAHB's immediate past chairman Bob Nielsen, a home builder and developer in Reno, Nev., and Mark Pursell, NAHB senior VP for exhibitions, marketing and sales.

Gutterglove Inc., a Rocklin, Calif., maker of gutter guards, will bring its manufacturing from China back to California by the end of the second quarter of 2012, the company announced.

CEO and president Robert Lenney, who founded and invented the multi-patented Gutterglove Gutterguard, started manufacturing his gutter cover in 2003.