Communist China has plenty of people – about 1.3 billion of them. But it doesn’t have enough of the right kinds of trees to make the disposable chopsticks needed by all those people at their dinner tables.
Well, China’s lack of trees is apparently Americus, Ga.’s gain. Responding to China’s high demand for chopsticks, a manufacturing plant in Americus started cranking out the utensils – 2 million per day! – in May. South Georgia, where Americus is located, has a bumper crop of the poplar and sweet gum trees that are ideal for chopsticks.
Now, in addition to China, some of the utensils are going to Japan and South Korea.
International trade, it seems, makes strange bedfellows.