October 1998 Edition
PALLETS
U.S. companies importing from China will likely be forced to abandon the use of wooden pallets by December following a recent decision by the U.S. agriculture department aimed at keeping out the troublesome long-horned beetle. Importers will face a tight window to treat or eliminate beetle-infested wooden pallets, or their cargoes will be banned from American ports which could affect a third to a half of China's $62 billion exports to the United States. Experts warn that the simplest solution, which is to treat the wood that goes into the pallets, might not be the best answer. The answer for the future, according to scientists, is for shippers to quit using wood pallets, or wooden crates and boxes, and to shift to manufactured or molded pallets that won't carry hitchhikers.
FRESH
Health magazine states that canned fruit and vegetables are as good for you as fresh. This is because they're processed within hours of being picked. Fresh ones may sit on the road or at the store, losing nutrients, for weeks before you get them.
EXPORTS
A recent Canadian Alliance of Manufacturers conference warned that British Columbia's faltering economy can expect little help from Southeast Asian countries for several years. About a one-third of B.C.'s exports go to Southeast Asia making the region vital to the province's economic well-being. Asia's economic and political turmoil will aggravate the problems already faced by the province, which has seen its exports to Asia fall by 36 per cent in the first six months of 1998.
UNEMPLOYMENT
China's state enterprises, most of which are big money-losers, shed 3.53 million workers over the past year under a stepped-up government drive to end their drain on the state budget.
INVENTING
Scientists predict that an abundance of new raw materials will make it possible to revolutionize manufacturing and construction in the next century. Already, a California group has proposed the construction of a new bridge near San Diego that would be made of composite materials reinforced with plastic, carbon and glass fibres. Scientists continue to experiment with atoms, rearranging the familiar into entirely new commodities.
RESERVATIONS
American Airlines is implementing a computer program that will understand spoken instructions from a select group of most-prized customers instead of taking commands from touch-tone telephone keypads.
FAITH
Seven British insurance company workers on a motivation course were rushed to hospital with severe burns after trying a fire-walking trick perfected by Indian fakirs. The coals they were persuaded to walk on turned out to be red hot instead of merely glowing. The exercise was part of a training course on teamwork and motivation and was supposed to show them that they could overcome anything.
ALTERNATIVES
Politicians have talked about a possible east-west link across South America for years. Now, some transportation companies are quietly testing the idea with an eye toward an intermodal corridor which would spare a trip around Cape Horn or through the Panama Canal. An Argentine railroad is carrying containers to the Chilean border where they are loaded onto trucks and ferried to a Chilean railroad which takes freight to Valparaiso for export to Asia. The savings is not so much in cost, but rather in time.
YEAR 2000
Businesses are stepping up efforts to avoid computer problems when the calendar hits January 1, 2000, according to a follow-up survey conducted by StatsCan. Virtually all firms (99%) reported being aware of the so-called "millennium bug" and more than two-thirds (70%) said they had taken steps to prepare their systems for it. This compares with a similar survey conducted last year, which found that less than half (45%) of firms had taken any action, with about 1 in 10 not even knowing about the issue. These improvements mainly reflect changes among small businesses (6 to 50 employees), where the overall proportion of firms taking action jumped from 39% to 66%, and among medium-sized firms (51 to 250 employees), where there was an increase from 70% to 94%.
VIEWING
A U.S. survey of visually impaired and blind people found that they watched television an average of 25 hours a week. Among the shows that interest the severely sight impaired are: news shows, talk shows and the shopping networks.
MOVIES
The California Film Commission estimates that every year $1 billion (U.S.) in economic impact from TV and film production in the state is being lost to Canada. A CFC report states that in 1997, TV production days were down 29 per cent and feature-film days 25 per cent. The Hollywood Reporter says that 250 productions went to Canada in 1997 where they spent $600 million.
WOOL
U.S. makers of high-end men's suits and formal wear are faced with huge tariffs, up to 31 per cent. These wools come primarily from Italy and England and can add from $60 to $200 per suit. Canada cut its tariffs on European wools while the U.S. did not. Through the NAFTA, Canadian-made suits are exempt from import duties in the U.S. While U.S. production of men's wool suits has fallen about 40 per cent in the last decade, Canada's exports of quality suits to the U.S. have surged from nearly zero to 1.5 million annually. Employment in the U.S. tailoring industry has dropped from 58,000 to 30,000 in the last decade and may drop another 10,000 by 2006.
WHEAT
The Canadian Wheat Board has long been condemned by the U.S. government as an unfair trader. While many Canadian grain farmers would like to leave the Wheat Board, negotiations are now underway to see if North Dakota farmers could join it and sell grain through the board. Joining forces could give farmers on both sides of the border more marketing clout instead of competing with each other. North Dakota farmers finds themselves somewhat isolated in the U.S. They grow several crops in common with Prairie farmers namely spring and durum wheat, while the rest of the U.S. grows mainly winter wheats.
PROGRESS
A new variety of rice that can outperform the most prolific strains by up to 25 per cent is being developed by the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. The new rice produces more grains and is ready for harvest in 100 days, 30 days sooner than present high-yielding varieties and 40 to 80 days earlier than traditional rice.
INSURANCE
Canada's insurance industry paid out an unprecedented $1.4 billion Canadian dollars (US$924 million) for some 70,000 claims resulting from last January's ice storm. The storm, principally in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario although reaching into Atlantic Canada, produced the most expensive catastrophic loss ever experienced by the Canadian insurance industry. Insurance payments for storm damage generated additional sales in Canada of $2.2 billion and created 16,000 jobs. The insurance industry helped hundreds of thousands of Canadians repair their cars (from damage from fallen trees and branches), rebuild their roofs, restore their household pipes and resume their lives.
BEEF
Scientists have discovered a simple way to dramatically reduce the risk of people getting sick from E.coli-tainted beef. Feeding cows grain to fatten them up, as most farmers do, encourages the growth of E.coli bacteria that are strong enough to cause sickness in humans. By feeding cows hay instead of grain for a mere five days before they're slaughtered could virtually eliminate the risk and would also save farmers money. Questions including whether abruptly changing a cow's diet from starchy grain to fibrous hay overnight might cause digestive problems, should be answered within a year.
LOSS
Toyota's four-wheel-drive Land Cruiser is 23 times more likely to be stolen or broken into than the average U.S. car, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute.
COSTS
A study by the Wall Street Journal suggests that the cost of keeping a typical home up to current standards for 30 years is almost four times the purchase price. Some experts claim that it may actually be cheaper to by a new or fully remodelled home every ten years than to deal with the mounting repair problems that occur as materials fail.
PROFESSIONS
Census figures show women represented about 9 per cent of engineers in Canada as of 1996, 18 per cent of architects, 30 per cent of physicians, 31 per cent of lawyers, 34 per cent of university professors and 45 per cent of accountants. In contrast, 71 per cent of all interior designers are women, as are 95 per cent of nurses and 81 per cent of elementary school teachers. One in eight employed Canadian women owns her own business.
PENSIONS
The market value of assets in trusteed pension funds, a key source of retirement income for many Canadians, surpassed the half-trillion dollar mark during the first three months of 1998, riding the strength of financial markets. Total assets grew an impressive 8.1% in the first quarter, pushing this form of household wealth to $506 billion. This represents an average value of just over $130,000 for each of the 3.8 million members covered by these funds. The net income (revenues minus expenditures) of trusteed pension funds for the first quarter of 1998 amounted to $11.6 billion, about 2.5 times larger than the benefit payments of $4.5 billion.
FISHING
According to the Worldwatch Institute, in 1996, the world's fisheries caught and sold commercially 16 kilograms of fish per person on the planet. They also hauled in and later discarded about 200 kilograms per person of sea urchins, sponges and other marine life.
JOBS
Technology has changed the world throughout the twentieth century and will continue to do so into the twenty-first. Farming, for example, used to employ some 65 per cent of all working Americans; it's now down to 3 per cent. Likewise manufacturing will become more efficient and, as a result, employ fewer people, By 2025, a mere 5 per cent of the world's workers could be producing all the manufactured goods of the entire population.
TRENDS
Now that new cars and trucks have cup holders in just about every conceivable place and enough electrical outlets for cellphones, video games and computers, designers are now filling the interior of vehicles with pockets for tennis balls, backpacks, sneakers and more. Car companies say that market research tells them that having a map pouch in the door, a glove compartment and space in the console doesn't provide enough space for the necessities of life.
ROOM WITH A VIEW?
A top security London prison is offering 200 guests a bed-and-breakfast special in its cells in a bid to show the public a glimpse of life behind bars. Guests will be housed in a recently refurbished part of the 19th century Brixton jail and get a prison supper before being locked in their cells for the night.
Thank you for reading the A & A Economic News Digest. For more information visit our website www.aacb.com or contact A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. at strehler@aacb.com.
Past issues of the A&A Economic News Digest can be found at http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/index.asp
U.S. companies importing from China will likely be forced to abandon the use of wooden pallets by December following a recent decision by the U.S. agriculture department aimed at keeping out the troublesome long-horned beetle. Importers will face a tight window to treat or eliminate beetle-infested wooden pallets, or their cargoes will be banned from American ports which could affect a third to a half of China's $62 billion exports to the United States. Experts warn that the simplest solution, which is to treat the wood that goes into the pallets, might not be the best answer. The answer for the future, according to scientists, is for shippers to quit using wood pallets, or wooden crates and boxes, and to shift to manufactured or molded pallets that won't carry hitchhikers.
FRESH
Health magazine states that canned fruit and vegetables are as good for you as fresh. This is because they're processed within hours of being picked. Fresh ones may sit on the road or at the store, losing nutrients, for weeks before you get them.
EXPORTS
A recent Canadian Alliance of Manufacturers conference warned that British Columbia's faltering economy can expect little help from Southeast Asian countries for several years. About a one-third of B.C.'s exports go to Southeast Asia making the region vital to the province's economic well-being. Asia's economic and political turmoil will aggravate the problems already faced by the province, which has seen its exports to Asia fall by 36 per cent in the first six months of 1998.
UNEMPLOYMENT
China's state enterprises, most of which are big money-losers, shed 3.53 million workers over the past year under a stepped-up government drive to end their drain on the state budget.
INVENTING
Scientists predict that an abundance of new raw materials will make it possible to revolutionize manufacturing and construction in the next century. Already, a California group has proposed the construction of a new bridge near San Diego that would be made of composite materials reinforced with plastic, carbon and glass fibres. Scientists continue to experiment with atoms, rearranging the familiar into entirely new commodities.
RESERVATIONS
American Airlines is implementing a computer program that will understand spoken instructions from a select group of most-prized customers instead of taking commands from touch-tone telephone keypads.
FAITH
Seven British insurance company workers on a motivation course were rushed to hospital with severe burns after trying a fire-walking trick perfected by Indian fakirs. The coals they were persuaded to walk on turned out to be red hot instead of merely glowing. The exercise was part of a training course on teamwork and motivation and was supposed to show them that they could overcome anything.
ALTERNATIVES
Politicians have talked about a possible east-west link across South America for years. Now, some transportation companies are quietly testing the idea with an eye toward an intermodal corridor which would spare a trip around Cape Horn or through the Panama Canal. An Argentine railroad is carrying containers to the Chilean border where they are loaded onto trucks and ferried to a Chilean railroad which takes freight to Valparaiso for export to Asia. The savings is not so much in cost, but rather in time.
YEAR 2000
Businesses are stepping up efforts to avoid computer problems when the calendar hits January 1, 2000, according to a follow-up survey conducted by StatsCan. Virtually all firms (99%) reported being aware of the so-called "millennium bug" and more than two-thirds (70%) said they had taken steps to prepare their systems for it. This compares with a similar survey conducted last year, which found that less than half (45%) of firms had taken any action, with about 1 in 10 not even knowing about the issue. These improvements mainly reflect changes among small businesses (6 to 50 employees), where the overall proportion of firms taking action jumped from 39% to 66%, and among medium-sized firms (51 to 250 employees), where there was an increase from 70% to 94%.
VIEWING
A U.S. survey of visually impaired and blind people found that they watched television an average of 25 hours a week. Among the shows that interest the severely sight impaired are: news shows, talk shows and the shopping networks.
MOVIES
The California Film Commission estimates that every year $1 billion (U.S.) in economic impact from TV and film production in the state is being lost to Canada. A CFC report states that in 1997, TV production days were down 29 per cent and feature-film days 25 per cent. The Hollywood Reporter says that 250 productions went to Canada in 1997 where they spent $600 million.
WOOL
U.S. makers of high-end men's suits and formal wear are faced with huge tariffs, up to 31 per cent. These wools come primarily from Italy and England and can add from $60 to $200 per suit. Canada cut its tariffs on European wools while the U.S. did not. Through the NAFTA, Canadian-made suits are exempt from import duties in the U.S. While U.S. production of men's wool suits has fallen about 40 per cent in the last decade, Canada's exports of quality suits to the U.S. have surged from nearly zero to 1.5 million annually. Employment in the U.S. tailoring industry has dropped from 58,000 to 30,000 in the last decade and may drop another 10,000 by 2006.
WHEAT
The Canadian Wheat Board has long been condemned by the U.S. government as an unfair trader. While many Canadian grain farmers would like to leave the Wheat Board, negotiations are now underway to see if North Dakota farmers could join it and sell grain through the board. Joining forces could give farmers on both sides of the border more marketing clout instead of competing with each other. North Dakota farmers finds themselves somewhat isolated in the U.S. They grow several crops in common with Prairie farmers namely spring and durum wheat, while the rest of the U.S. grows mainly winter wheats.
PROGRESS
A new variety of rice that can outperform the most prolific strains by up to 25 per cent is being developed by the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. The new rice produces more grains and is ready for harvest in 100 days, 30 days sooner than present high-yielding varieties and 40 to 80 days earlier than traditional rice.
INSURANCE
Canada's insurance industry paid out an unprecedented $1.4 billion Canadian dollars (US$924 million) for some 70,000 claims resulting from last January's ice storm. The storm, principally in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario although reaching into Atlantic Canada, produced the most expensive catastrophic loss ever experienced by the Canadian insurance industry. Insurance payments for storm damage generated additional sales in Canada of $2.2 billion and created 16,000 jobs. The insurance industry helped hundreds of thousands of Canadians repair their cars (from damage from fallen trees and branches), rebuild their roofs, restore their household pipes and resume their lives.
BEEF
Scientists have discovered a simple way to dramatically reduce the risk of people getting sick from E.coli-tainted beef. Feeding cows grain to fatten them up, as most farmers do, encourages the growth of E.coli bacteria that are strong enough to cause sickness in humans. By feeding cows hay instead of grain for a mere five days before they're slaughtered could virtually eliminate the risk and would also save farmers money. Questions including whether abruptly changing a cow's diet from starchy grain to fibrous hay overnight might cause digestive problems, should be answered within a year.
LOSS
Toyota's four-wheel-drive Land Cruiser is 23 times more likely to be stolen or broken into than the average U.S. car, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute.
COSTS
A study by the Wall Street Journal suggests that the cost of keeping a typical home up to current standards for 30 years is almost four times the purchase price. Some experts claim that it may actually be cheaper to by a new or fully remodelled home every ten years than to deal with the mounting repair problems that occur as materials fail.
PROFESSIONS
Census figures show women represented about 9 per cent of engineers in Canada as of 1996, 18 per cent of architects, 30 per cent of physicians, 31 per cent of lawyers, 34 per cent of university professors and 45 per cent of accountants. In contrast, 71 per cent of all interior designers are women, as are 95 per cent of nurses and 81 per cent of elementary school teachers. One in eight employed Canadian women owns her own business.
PENSIONS
The market value of assets in trusteed pension funds, a key source of retirement income for many Canadians, surpassed the half-trillion dollar mark during the first three months of 1998, riding the strength of financial markets. Total assets grew an impressive 8.1% in the first quarter, pushing this form of household wealth to $506 billion. This represents an average value of just over $130,000 for each of the 3.8 million members covered by these funds. The net income (revenues minus expenditures) of trusteed pension funds for the first quarter of 1998 amounted to $11.6 billion, about 2.5 times larger than the benefit payments of $4.5 billion.
FISHING
According to the Worldwatch Institute, in 1996, the world's fisheries caught and sold commercially 16 kilograms of fish per person on the planet. They also hauled in and later discarded about 200 kilograms per person of sea urchins, sponges and other marine life.
JOBS
Technology has changed the world throughout the twentieth century and will continue to do so into the twenty-first. Farming, for example, used to employ some 65 per cent of all working Americans; it's now down to 3 per cent. Likewise manufacturing will become more efficient and, as a result, employ fewer people, By 2025, a mere 5 per cent of the world's workers could be producing all the manufactured goods of the entire population.
TRENDS
Now that new cars and trucks have cup holders in just about every conceivable place and enough electrical outlets for cellphones, video games and computers, designers are now filling the interior of vehicles with pockets for tennis balls, backpacks, sneakers and more. Car companies say that market research tells them that having a map pouch in the door, a glove compartment and space in the console doesn't provide enough space for the necessities of life.
ROOM WITH A VIEW?
A top security London prison is offering 200 guests a bed-and-breakfast special in its cells in a bid to show the public a glimpse of life behind bars. Guests will be housed in a recently refurbished part of the 19th century Brixton jail and get a prison supper before being locked in their cells for the night.
Thank you for reading the A & A Economic News Digest. For more information visit our website www.aacb.com or contact A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. at strehler@aacb.com.
Past issues of the A&A Economic News Digest can be found at http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/index.asp
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