June 2000 Edition
JORDAN
Jordan has become the 136th Member of the WTO. Under terms of its accession package, Jordan will reduce customs duties from 35 to 20 percent over the next ten years and reduce price controls on a number of goods, including gasoline and medicine. In anticipation of WTO membership, Jordan undertook major reforms of its economy, laws (including intellectual property rights legislation) and institutions in order to promote greater trade and investment. Oman and Saudi Arabia remain the only two Arab states outside the WTO.
COFFEE
Starbucks, the international coffee chain, has announced that it will sell Fair Trade Certified coffee in more than 2,000 cafes across the US beginning later in 2000. The coffee contract represents the largest purchase of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the US. Fair Trade Certified indicates that the coffee was grown by farmers earning a living wage from their harvest. The announcement comes as human rights activists launched a campaign to get major coffee companies to offer socially responsible coffee.
TAIWAN
Taiwan has signed a bilateral WTO accession agreement with Brazil, the last remaining country with which Taiwan needed to negotiate an accession agreement. Taiwan is now technically eligible for WTO membership pending approval of its full accession package at the next meeting of the WTO working group on Taiwan. However, that meeting is not likely to occur until after China completes its accession. China has been adamant that it should be admitted to the WTO before Taiwan.
GMOs
New laws requiring labelling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has come into force in England and Scotland. The labelling regime is administered under the newly formed UK Food Standards Administration (FSA). The regime, which will come into force in Wales and Northern Ireland at a later date, are designed to foster informed consumer choice. Also, Sri Lanka has announced an immediate ban on all imports of GMO foodstuffs. Sri Lanka, a significant importer of wheat and sugar does not produce any GMO crops.
TECHNOLOGY
Sony recently launched PlayStation2, a realistic games console. The PS2 has now had export controls slapped on it by the Japanese government on the grounds that it is so sophisticated that, when coupled with a video camera, it could make an ideal missile-guidance system. In 1998, the radar and global positioning system found on a captured North Korean submarine were found to be based on popular gadgets made by Japanese consumer-electronics firms.
GROWTH
The World Bank reports that many countries now experiencing recession in Latin America and the Caribbean should show an economic recovery in 2000-2001. Contributions to this growth will include: an acceleration of world trade, stabilization of commodity prices, a recovery in capital flows, greater exchange-rate flexibility in many countries, and less external debt amortization in 2000.
EUROPE
EU agriculture officials are close to reaching a deal with potential Eastern European states to further liberalise trade in farm goods. The deal will slowly bridge differences in prices, tariffs, and subsidy levels between western EU states and aspiring EU member-states in Eastern Europe. Poland-EU farm talks are expected to be the most difficult, as Polish farmers, fearful of losing their livelihood, rally against EU membership. Poland alone has 2 million farms employing 25 percent of the workforce, compared to 7 million farms EU-wide.
LAWS
Mexico's Congress has approved a bill that will recognize electronic business transactions and regard Internet purchase orders as binding contracts. Documents relating to online transactions will have to be kept for 10 years. The lack of this legal recognition has hampered the growth of Internet business.
COSMETICS
The EU has agreed to delay a marketing ban on cosmetics products tested on animals. The ban, originally scheduled for 1998, has been delayed for various reasons. The EU said it would delay a marketing ban at least until it introduced an EU-wide ban on animal tests for cosmetics, expected in two years. EU officials said banning animal-tested products would likely provoke a WTO dispute with trade partners and advised that a ban on animal testing would be WTO compatible as well as a more effective way to protect animal welfare.
INDIA
The Asian Development Bank, in its annual outlook, projected that India's economy would grow by 7% this year and next, outstripping China for the first time since 1990. The report also suggested that Asia's industrialised economies -- Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan -- would continue to grow by 6.5% in 2000 and 6% in 2001.
ETHICS
Employees are observing widespread illegal and unethical conduct in the workplace despite the presence of ethics programs at many companies, according to a US survey of more than 2,300 workers by KPMG LLP, the professional services firm. More than 75 per cent of those surveyed reported they had observed violations of the law or company standards in the previous 12 months. Nearly half said their company "would significantly lose public trust" if the infraction they had observed found its way into the news media.
IT
A study by the Information Technology Association of America predicts that employers will need an extra 1.6 million information technology (IT) workers by the end of this year. The ITAA also predicts that about 850,000 of those jobs--53 per cent--both within and outside the technology industry will not be filled. A similar picture of continued strong demand for IT workers is emerging in Canada.
GAMBLING
Casinos surpassed lotteries in 1998 as the largest generator of non-charity gambling revenue, according to Statscan data. Casinos accounted for 38% of all gambling revenue, compared with 35% for lotteries and 28% for video lottery terminals (VLTs). This is a drastic change from 1992, when casinos accounted for only 1% of revenue from gambling, while 90% came from lotteries and about 9% from VLTs. In 1999, $8.1 billion was wagered on some form of non-charity gambling activity, three times the $2.7 billion of seven years earlier. Between 1992 and 1999, the number of jobs in the gambling industry more than tripled, from 11,900 to 39,200.
ASIA
India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar have agreed to enter into a free trade arrangement to boost imports and exports in the Bay of Bengal region. The five countries agreed to establish immediately a series of preferential trade arrangements and to launch a free trade area within six months. The group hopes to benefit from synergies in knowledge-based industries including information technology and telecommunications.
GREENHOUSES
Canada's greenhouse industry grew in both size and sales in the 1990s. Between 1990 and 1999, the total area under glass and plastic grew by 129% to 3,631 acres, or 158 million square feet. Total greenhouse sales increased to $1.45 billion in 1999 from $1.3 billion in 1998. Thirty percent of revenues, or $438 million, were derived from greenhouse vegetable production.
WORK
A U.S. study of 6,357 workers of all ages and from companies of all sizes showed that 73 per cent would rather work harder and receive performance bonuses than work with minimal deadlines and low stress. 70 per cent said they feel loyal to their employer though more than 50 per cent feel it is foolish to commit to one employer for an entire career.
TOUR
Planes, trains, and automobiles whisked Produce Man and his team on its third "5-A-Day Across the USA" whirlwind tour, crossing the U.S. during June, covering 6,100 miles. The tour, sponsored by the Produce for Better Health Foundation and supporting partners, is an effort to reach large numbers of consumers with the message of eating 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day to improve their health.
BORING
A study by the AAUW Educational Foundation in the U.S., indicates that girls and women are avoiding high-technology careers, not because they fear failing, but because they believe computer jobs are boring and lonely. While they use e-mail, the Internet and word processing, when it comes to computer fluency--finding innovative ways to use information technology or to adapt new technologies as they emerge--girls and women are not in the forefront.
MEAT
Canadians consumed, on average, more pork and beef in 1999 than in 1998. Record pork and beef supplies in 1999 supported both record levels of meat exports and increases in domestic per capita consumption. Pork consumption at 27.4 kg per person increased 1.5% from 1998, while beef consumption, at 31.0 kg, was 1.3% higher than in 1998 and slightly above the 1997 level.
MOVING
According to the annual Allied Van Lines relocation survey, fifty-eight per cent of all employees transferred are in their 30s. Workers older than 45 make up just 4 per cent of corporate transfers.
RATING
Exporters who need to evaluate whether to offer short term credit to a foreign buyer can speed up the process by using a new Internet-based service. Created by Coface, a credit insurer based in Paris, it has a database of 25 million companies in 140 companies. The service is aimed especially at evaluating transactions in the $1,000 to $100,000 range. The site is at: www.cofacerating.com.
PRODUCTIVITY
Labour productivity in the Canadian business sector grew in 1999 at almost three times the 1998 pace. Productivity advanced 1.4% in 1999, compared with 0.5% in 1998. It grows both when businesses become more efficient and when businesses increase the amount of machinery and equipment and advanced technologies used by each worker. Productivity is a measure of production efficiency that economists regard as the foundation of a country's standard of living. Also, it is a measure of the output per hour worked, and is closely related to the remuneration paid to employees.
OOOPS
Porters at a London auction house put a $232,000 painting by artist Lucian Freud into a crusher because they thought it was rubbish
EDUCATION
Coventry University in Britain plans to offer a degree course on the Mafia. Students will study gangster films. Critics wonder what this will prepare them for!
VACANCY
Seamus McSporran, who has held fourteen jobs simultaneously on the Scottish island of Gigha, has retired after 35 years. He will give up his jobs of special constable, shopkeeper, postman, insurance agent, rent collector, pier master, registrar, fire chief, ambulance driver, school bus driver, guest-house owner, gas pump attendant, taxi driver and undertaker. The seven-day weeks and 15-hour days were starting to get to him.
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
Jordan has become the 136th Member of the WTO. Under terms of its accession package, Jordan will reduce customs duties from 35 to 20 percent over the next ten years and reduce price controls on a number of goods, including gasoline and medicine. In anticipation of WTO membership, Jordan undertook major reforms of its economy, laws (including intellectual property rights legislation) and institutions in order to promote greater trade and investment. Oman and Saudi Arabia remain the only two Arab states outside the WTO.
COFFEE
Starbucks, the international coffee chain, has announced that it will sell Fair Trade Certified coffee in more than 2,000 cafes across the US beginning later in 2000. The coffee contract represents the largest purchase of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the US. Fair Trade Certified indicates that the coffee was grown by farmers earning a living wage from their harvest. The announcement comes as human rights activists launched a campaign to get major coffee companies to offer socially responsible coffee.
TAIWAN
Taiwan has signed a bilateral WTO accession agreement with Brazil, the last remaining country with which Taiwan needed to negotiate an accession agreement. Taiwan is now technically eligible for WTO membership pending approval of its full accession package at the next meeting of the WTO working group on Taiwan. However, that meeting is not likely to occur until after China completes its accession. China has been adamant that it should be admitted to the WTO before Taiwan.
GMOs
New laws requiring labelling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has come into force in England and Scotland. The labelling regime is administered under the newly formed UK Food Standards Administration (FSA). The regime, which will come into force in Wales and Northern Ireland at a later date, are designed to foster informed consumer choice. Also, Sri Lanka has announced an immediate ban on all imports of GMO foodstuffs. Sri Lanka, a significant importer of wheat and sugar does not produce any GMO crops.
TECHNOLOGY
Sony recently launched PlayStation2, a realistic games console. The PS2 has now had export controls slapped on it by the Japanese government on the grounds that it is so sophisticated that, when coupled with a video camera, it could make an ideal missile-guidance system. In 1998, the radar and global positioning system found on a captured North Korean submarine were found to be based on popular gadgets made by Japanese consumer-electronics firms.
GROWTH
The World Bank reports that many countries now experiencing recession in Latin America and the Caribbean should show an economic recovery in 2000-2001. Contributions to this growth will include: an acceleration of world trade, stabilization of commodity prices, a recovery in capital flows, greater exchange-rate flexibility in many countries, and less external debt amortization in 2000.
EUROPE
EU agriculture officials are close to reaching a deal with potential Eastern European states to further liberalise trade in farm goods. The deal will slowly bridge differences in prices, tariffs, and subsidy levels between western EU states and aspiring EU member-states in Eastern Europe. Poland-EU farm talks are expected to be the most difficult, as Polish farmers, fearful of losing their livelihood, rally against EU membership. Poland alone has 2 million farms employing 25 percent of the workforce, compared to 7 million farms EU-wide.
LAWS
Mexico's Congress has approved a bill that will recognize electronic business transactions and regard Internet purchase orders as binding contracts. Documents relating to online transactions will have to be kept for 10 years. The lack of this legal recognition has hampered the growth of Internet business.
COSMETICS
The EU has agreed to delay a marketing ban on cosmetics products tested on animals. The ban, originally scheduled for 1998, has been delayed for various reasons. The EU said it would delay a marketing ban at least until it introduced an EU-wide ban on animal tests for cosmetics, expected in two years. EU officials said banning animal-tested products would likely provoke a WTO dispute with trade partners and advised that a ban on animal testing would be WTO compatible as well as a more effective way to protect animal welfare.
INDIA
The Asian Development Bank, in its annual outlook, projected that India's economy would grow by 7% this year and next, outstripping China for the first time since 1990. The report also suggested that Asia's industrialised economies -- Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan -- would continue to grow by 6.5% in 2000 and 6% in 2001.
ETHICS
Employees are observing widespread illegal and unethical conduct in the workplace despite the presence of ethics programs at many companies, according to a US survey of more than 2,300 workers by KPMG LLP, the professional services firm. More than 75 per cent of those surveyed reported they had observed violations of the law or company standards in the previous 12 months. Nearly half said their company "would significantly lose public trust" if the infraction they had observed found its way into the news media.
IT
A study by the Information Technology Association of America predicts that employers will need an extra 1.6 million information technology (IT) workers by the end of this year. The ITAA also predicts that about 850,000 of those jobs--53 per cent--both within and outside the technology industry will not be filled. A similar picture of continued strong demand for IT workers is emerging in Canada.
GAMBLING
Casinos surpassed lotteries in 1998 as the largest generator of non-charity gambling revenue, according to Statscan data. Casinos accounted for 38% of all gambling revenue, compared with 35% for lotteries and 28% for video lottery terminals (VLTs). This is a drastic change from 1992, when casinos accounted for only 1% of revenue from gambling, while 90% came from lotteries and about 9% from VLTs. In 1999, $8.1 billion was wagered on some form of non-charity gambling activity, three times the $2.7 billion of seven years earlier. Between 1992 and 1999, the number of jobs in the gambling industry more than tripled, from 11,900 to 39,200.
ASIA
India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar have agreed to enter into a free trade arrangement to boost imports and exports in the Bay of Bengal region. The five countries agreed to establish immediately a series of preferential trade arrangements and to launch a free trade area within six months. The group hopes to benefit from synergies in knowledge-based industries including information technology and telecommunications.
GREENHOUSES
Canada's greenhouse industry grew in both size and sales in the 1990s. Between 1990 and 1999, the total area under glass and plastic grew by 129% to 3,631 acres, or 158 million square feet. Total greenhouse sales increased to $1.45 billion in 1999 from $1.3 billion in 1998. Thirty percent of revenues, or $438 million, were derived from greenhouse vegetable production.
WORK
A U.S. study of 6,357 workers of all ages and from companies of all sizes showed that 73 per cent would rather work harder and receive performance bonuses than work with minimal deadlines and low stress. 70 per cent said they feel loyal to their employer though more than 50 per cent feel it is foolish to commit to one employer for an entire career.
TOUR
Planes, trains, and automobiles whisked Produce Man and his team on its third "5-A-Day Across the USA" whirlwind tour, crossing the U.S. during June, covering 6,100 miles. The tour, sponsored by the Produce for Better Health Foundation and supporting partners, is an effort to reach large numbers of consumers with the message of eating 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day to improve their health.
BORING
A study by the AAUW Educational Foundation in the U.S., indicates that girls and women are avoiding high-technology careers, not because they fear failing, but because they believe computer jobs are boring and lonely. While they use e-mail, the Internet and word processing, when it comes to computer fluency--finding innovative ways to use information technology or to adapt new technologies as they emerge--girls and women are not in the forefront.
MEAT
Canadians consumed, on average, more pork and beef in 1999 than in 1998. Record pork and beef supplies in 1999 supported both record levels of meat exports and increases in domestic per capita consumption. Pork consumption at 27.4 kg per person increased 1.5% from 1998, while beef consumption, at 31.0 kg, was 1.3% higher than in 1998 and slightly above the 1997 level.
MOVING
According to the annual Allied Van Lines relocation survey, fifty-eight per cent of all employees transferred are in their 30s. Workers older than 45 make up just 4 per cent of corporate transfers.
RATING
Exporters who need to evaluate whether to offer short term credit to a foreign buyer can speed up the process by using a new Internet-based service. Created by Coface, a credit insurer based in Paris, it has a database of 25 million companies in 140 companies. The service is aimed especially at evaluating transactions in the $1,000 to $100,000 range. The site is at: www.cofacerating.com.
PRODUCTIVITY
Labour productivity in the Canadian business sector grew in 1999 at almost three times the 1998 pace. Productivity advanced 1.4% in 1999, compared with 0.5% in 1998. It grows both when businesses become more efficient and when businesses increase the amount of machinery and equipment and advanced technologies used by each worker. Productivity is a measure of production efficiency that economists regard as the foundation of a country's standard of living. Also, it is a measure of the output per hour worked, and is closely related to the remuneration paid to employees.
OOOPS
Porters at a London auction house put a $232,000 painting by artist Lucian Freud into a crusher because they thought it was rubbish
EDUCATION
Coventry University in Britain plans to offer a degree course on the Mafia. Students will study gangster films. Critics wonder what this will prepare them for!
VACANCY
Seamus McSporran, who has held fourteen jobs simultaneously on the Scottish island of Gigha, has retired after 35 years. He will give up his jobs of special constable, shopkeeper, postman, insurance agent, rent collector, pier master, registrar, fire chief, ambulance driver, school bus driver, guest-house owner, gas pump attendant, taxi driver and undertaker. The seven-day weeks and 15-hour days were starting to get to him.
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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