[conistonwater]

> This cost the industry $17.3 million a year, according to the China National Light Industry Council.

Is this meant to be a lot of money? On the global trade scale? Or on the scale of China?

[rsynnott]

No. That’s why no-one bothered to do anything about it for so long.

[dmix]

Considering they manufactured "38 billion ballpoint pens a year" that isn't much no. They probably made all of the costs of buying it from suppliers back in sales margins.

This is more symbolic of their manufacturing and design prowess which historically has been limited to: everyone else does the design, we just build it.