P: I come to hear about your offer for bristles.
L: We have the offer ready for you. Let me see. Here it is. 100 cases Tsingtao Black Bristles, 57mm, at …pounds sterling per kg, CIF European Main Ports, for shipment in June, 1980. The offer holds for three days.
P: Why, your price has soared. It's almost 25% higher than last year's. It would be impossible for us to make any sales at such a price.
L: I'm rather surprised to hear you say that. You know very well that markets for bristles have gone up a great deal in recent months. The price we offer compares favorable with quotations you can get elsewhere.
P: I'm afraid I can't agree with you there. I must point out that your price is higher than some of the quotations we've received from others sources.
L: But you must take quality into consideration. Everyone in the trade knows that China's bristles are of superior quality, above that from others sources.
P: I grant that yours are of better quality. But there's competition from the synthetic products, too. You can't very well ignore that. Prices for synthetic bristles haven't changed much all these years.
L: There is practically no substitute for bristle in certain uses. That's why demand for natural bristles keeps rising in spite of cheaper synthetic ones. To be frank with you, if no for the long-standing relationship between us, we would hardly be willing to make you a firm offer at this price.
P: Well, we'll have a hard time persuading our clients to buy at this price. But I guess I have no choice?
