A: I've come about your offer for bristles.

  B: We have the offer ready for you． Let me see..． Here it is． 100 cases of Tsingtao Bristles, 57mm, at..． pounds sterling per kilogram, CIF European Main Ports, for shipment in June, 2009． The offer is valid for three days.

  A: Why, your price has soared．It's almost 25 % higher than last year's． It would be impossible for us to push any sales at such a price.

  B: I'm a little surprised to hear you say that． You know very well that market for bristles has gone up a great deal in recent months． The price we offer compares favourably with quotations you can get elsewhere.

  A: 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 have received from other sources.

  B: But you must take the quality into consideration． Everyone in the trade knows that China's bristles are of superior quality to those from other countries.

  A: I agree that yours are of better quality． But there's competition from synthetic products, too． You can't ignore that prices for synthetic bristles haven't changed much over the years.

  B: There's practically no substitute for bristles for certain uses． That's why demand for natural bristles keeps rising in spite of cheaper synthetic ones． To be frank with you, if it were not for the long-standing relationship between us, we would hardly be willing to make you a firm offer at this price.

  A: Well, we'll have a lot of difficulties in persuading our clients to buy at this price． But I'll have to try, I suppose.