As consumers demand safer and more environmentally friendly products, Portman are continuing to see interest from companies keeping a close eye on every step of their supply chain, in order to prevent costly and embarrassing product recalls. After countless tainted product scandals coming from China and other Asian countries over the past two years, Factory Audits in Asia jumped +61% from the same quarter one year ago while Product Inspections were also stronger with +26% growth.

Companies around the globe are striving to improve their product, environmental, and social standards. As an example, Wal-Mart recently announced that by 2012, 95% of their production must come from factories that receive the highest environmental and social audit rankings.

China continues to be the world's manufacturing floor

Sales of Inspections by client zone echo the daily news with the United States remaining the most affected by the crisis in terms of imports from Asia. In contrast, Europe was bullish with +29% growth, and emerging markets in Asia and South America saw brisk growth of +73%.

Based on the geographical split of Inspections performed by Portman, China continues to be the world's manufacturing floor.

At a time when markets are contracting, this reflects the ongoing trend of companies securing their supply chain while maintaining costs low by producing in Asia.

Governments and consumers are making quality a priority. After millions of toy recalls throughout the world in 2007 and 2008, toy Inspections performed by Portman had an impressive year over year growth of +42%.