The Olympics were, by common consent, seen by the Chinese authorities as the confirmation of the country’s ordination as the heart beat of a brave new world. For many commentators, however, its crown is already beginning to slip.

Much was made of figures showing that China’s economic output had fallen in August as the shutdown of factories in and around Beijing took its toll. While shrugged off as a blip by some, others have jumped on the stats, believing them to do symptomatic of a deeper malaise – a conclusion that an investigation by the Sunday Times here in London seems to support.

“The fabled “China price” of cheap consumer goods has kept global inflation low, undercut workers in every industrialised nation and brought millions of Chinese peasants into a raw capitalist economy,” the report read.

Citing soaring shipping costs – according to The Times it now costs around £3000 to ship a 40 foot container filled with toys or shoes from Shanghai to Manchester, double the price when oil was available at just $20 a barrel – the report included an interview with an un-named UK supermarket buyer who claimed that eastern Europe, Thailand, Vietnam and even Israel, now offered s cheaper alternative than China.

Qing Yuan, the owner of a Chinese textile mill, said that profit margins were being eaten into to such an extent that the days of making “money with my eyes closed”, were now at an end. Other companies operating in China said that they were now having to offer preferential exchange rates to keep their customers. “If we don’t, foreigners won’t buy our products,” Xu Zhaolong, sales manager at another garment maker said.

The Olympic hosts are back-peddling – and is finding out to its cost, that overseas business is starting to get on its bike.