August 2000 Edition
SINGAPORE
Canada and Singapore are exploring the possibility of negotiating a free trade agreement. In 1999, Canada exported $367 million in goods to Singapore and imported about $1.2 billion. The largest sector in Canada-Singapore trade is information technology and telecommunications equipment. Sectors emerging as opportunities for Canadian business in Singapore are the agri-food, aerospace, defence, life sciences and environmental industries. Canadians invested about $2.4 billion in Singapore in 1999.
RESERVATIONS
British Airways, along with Air France and nine other European carriers, announced plans to launch a joint Internet travel agency. The airlines hope to cut their high ticketing and distribution costs by moving online. This may be good news for travellers but bad news for traditional travel agents.
SECURITY
British Telecom has developed an electronic tagging system that makes domestic appliances "aware" of their locations and prevents stolen items from working if they are plugged in to a household electrical supply they do not recognize. The system consists of a home-control centre connected by a modem to a remote operations centre. New appliances will have a memory chip containing a unique serial number and a disabling switch that cannot be bypassed. When purchased and plugged in for the first time, the appliance sends a signal via the house wiring to a home-control centre. If plugged in elsewhere, the unit's memory is erased and it will not work.
ASSISTANCE
Ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have said they will provide technical assistance to the developing economies in the region. They have also agreed to refrain from imposing customs duties on e-commerce transactions. APEC's 21 member countries, including Canada, are pushing for a new round of talks aimed at breaking down trade barriers and lifting economies worldwide.
WEALTH
Compared with Canada, the U.S has more rich families and more poor ones, but in the U.S., the rich pay lower taxes than their Canadian counterparts, and the poor pay more, according to Statscan. About 11 per cent of American families had an income in 1997 of less than $10,000 (Can) compared with just over seven per cent of Canadian families. Poor Americans paid 2.3 per cent of their income in taxes while Canadians paid one per cent. At the high end, 5.7 per cent of American families, but only 1.8 per cent of Canadian families, had an income over $150,000. The rich Americans paid 27.6 per cent of that sum in taxes while rich Canadians paid 32.8 per cent.
VISITORS
Statistics Canada reports that a record 1.1 million Americans made overnight visits to the Atlantic provinces in 1999, up 8.7 per cent over 1998. This strong growth made up for gains of only 2.4 per cent in Atlantic Canada in 1998, while the rest of Canada was enjoying double-digit increases. American visits to Quebec rose 5.6 per cent in 1999, the second highest regional increase. All provinces west of Ontario saw fewer American travellers except B.C. where the number of American visits rose 2.0 per cent. Texans took 13.2 per cent more overnight trips to Canada in 1999, the largest increase among the top 10 states of origin.
TEXTILES
A group of 24 developing nations has criticized the EU, USA and Canada for failing to open their markets to clothes and textiles. The 24, who comprise the International Textiles and Clothing Bureau, called textiles one of the most important exports for poorer nations, representing about 20 per cent of all the manufactured goods they sell overseas. In Canada, only 29 out of 295 categories where there had been quotas are now free of restrictions. In the EU, the figure is 14 out of 219 and in the USA, a mere 13 out of 750.
STOCKS
According to Equity magazine, the average stock price of 25 publicly traded U.S. companies run by women grew by 58 per cent in the past year.
CHICKENS
Researchers are embedding dime-sized radio transmitters under the breast bones of live chickens and linking them to artificial intelligence computers. The goal is to reduce heat stress and regulate the birds' diets. In time, these implanted transmitters may one day watch over the flocks in chicken houses, delivering food and adjusting comfort levels far more precisely than their human caretakers ever could. And researchers say the development could mean safer food for consumers by reducing the risk of disease outbreaks in chicken houses.
BILLING
A limited number of Canadian companies offer on-line billing; however, research shows that almost one-third of Canadian companies are planning to offer these services within a year. According to an Angus Reid Group survey, 64 per cent of consumers want this service. It is claimed that billing consumers on-line reduces billing costs by up to 75 per cent.
DRINKS
Canadians still preferred beer by far to any other alcoholic beverage in the fiscal year 1998/99. However, sales of spirit-based coolers soared during the year, and red wine became almost as popular as white. Liquor authorities, wineries and breweries sold 2.5 billion litres of alcoholic beverages in 1998/99, up 2.6% from the previous year. Beer accounted for the vast majority of sales, 83%, while wine accounted for 11% and spirits 6%. Wine lovers continued their trend of turning from white to red. Sales of red wine grew more than 10% for the sixth straight year. In 1998/99, red wine accounted for 47% of sales volume, and white 53%.
STEEL
Big Steel is launching a $115 million (U.S.) campaign to increase steel markets by 25 per cent in the U.S. and Canada. The five year marketing and development strategy is designed to keep steel at the forefront of new technologies and get it into new applications. Steel wants to maintain its edge in traditional segments, such as the auto industry, and build its share in such largely untapped areas as homes and household products.
GREAT LAKES
Three years ago, some of the highest water levels this century floated the giant cargo freighters transporting coal, grain and iron ore across the Great Lakes and ships could be filled to capacity. No longer. Water levels throughout the Great Lakes have dropped from one to three feet in just two years, forcing ships to lighten their loads, thus cutting profit margins. The shipping industry is already pinched by high fuel costs and the receding waters have made competing against rail and trucking that much tougher.
FORESTS
Canada contains more than 10% of the world's forests and, in fact, half of the nation is covered by forest. Out of a total land area of 921.5 million hectares, 417.6 million hectares are defined as forestland, and much of it remains in a natural state. The nation also accounts for almost 20% of the total value of the global forest products trade. One out of every 17 jobs depends on it. At least 337 communities are considered heavily dependent on the forest. In each of these communities, employment income derived from forest products industries accounts for more than 49% of the community's income.
ONE VOICE
Leaders of 18 Latin American and Caribbean nations, making up the so-called Rio Group, are preparing a strategy that would enable them all to "speak with a single voice" in the world's decision-making forums. They feel that they should commit to working together and to see that the region finds its positive slot in the global economy so as to ensure the fair distribution of the profits arising from the world's markets.
CAVIAR
Russian exports of black caviar will plunge by more than 80 per cent this year because of a rapidly dwindling population of adult sturgeon, who have been hurt by poaching and rising pollution. Russia will export between 50 and 60 tons this year compared with 170 tons last year. Western Europe, North America and the Far East have sought to fill the demand, but caviar from sturgeon caught in the Caspian Sea and Volga River is the most highly prized.
MEXICO
The president of the Mexican national manufacturing industry chamber, Canacintra, says that Mexican companies are not in a position to be able to compete on the Chinese market, while the entry of China into the World Trade Organization will result in the loss of 60 percent of small and medium companies in Mexico. These companies lack the financing and training to be able to compete with Chinese companies while current development banks are insufficient.
COFFEE
The government of Brazil, the world's leading coffee producer, is supplying 13 warehouses capable of holding 20 per cent of Brazil's coffee exports. This is to help carry out its part of an OPEC-like plan, agreed on by the world's largest coffee producing nations, to keep stocks off the market until prices rise to their satisfaction. Fed up with the decline in coffee prices, members of the Association of Coffee Producing Countries, approved a plan to reduce exports by 20 percent.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the California Prune Board (CPB) permission to use "dried plums" as an alternative name to "prunes." The CPB requested the name change after research showed that the name "dried plum" offers a more positive connotation than "prune" and would encourage more people to try the fruit. The CPB hopes the name change will attract its target audience, women 35 to 50. This group of 44 million people makes up approximately 16 percent of the U.S. population and makes the majority of household purchase decisions.
LEISURE
Canadian and U.S. tourists spent $11.7 billion on nature related activities such as hiking, hunting and skiing in Canada in 1996. Overall in 1996, nature related expenditures contributed about $12 billion to Canada's gross domestic product, generated 5.4 billion in tax revenue and created 215,000 jobs. On average, Canadian outdoor enthusiasts spent $704, with those exceeding the average being from Alberta ($836), B.C. ($902) and Yukon ($1,298).
PASSWORDS
The U.S. army, whose computers suffer an average of nine hacker attacks a week, is about to begin using security systems that identify body parts, voice patterns and even body odours to replace the password-based systems that now control everything.
HOMES
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that, unless coastal erosion is halted, every year roughly 1,500 buildings, mostly houses, will disappear at a cost of $530 million (U.S.). In 60 years, a quarter of the buildings within 500 feet of the country's shoreline could be destroyed.
OLYMPIC TRIVIA
Literary and archaeological evidence shows Olympic authorities tried to crack down on cheating in the fourth century BC. Athletes who cheated were forced to buy bronze statues and inscribe them with maxims expressing their regret. The statues were then placed along the route to the Olympic stadium to remind athletes of the penalties for breaking the rules.
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
Canada and Singapore are exploring the possibility of negotiating a free trade agreement. In 1999, Canada exported $367 million in goods to Singapore and imported about $1.2 billion. The largest sector in Canada-Singapore trade is information technology and telecommunications equipment. Sectors emerging as opportunities for Canadian business in Singapore are the agri-food, aerospace, defence, life sciences and environmental industries. Canadians invested about $2.4 billion in Singapore in 1999.
RESERVATIONS
British Airways, along with Air France and nine other European carriers, announced plans to launch a joint Internet travel agency. The airlines hope to cut their high ticketing and distribution costs by moving online. This may be good news for travellers but bad news for traditional travel agents.
SECURITY
British Telecom has developed an electronic tagging system that makes domestic appliances "aware" of their locations and prevents stolen items from working if they are plugged in to a household electrical supply they do not recognize. The system consists of a home-control centre connected by a modem to a remote operations centre. New appliances will have a memory chip containing a unique serial number and a disabling switch that cannot be bypassed. When purchased and plugged in for the first time, the appliance sends a signal via the house wiring to a home-control centre. If plugged in elsewhere, the unit's memory is erased and it will not work.
ASSISTANCE
Ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have said they will provide technical assistance to the developing economies in the region. They have also agreed to refrain from imposing customs duties on e-commerce transactions. APEC's 21 member countries, including Canada, are pushing for a new round of talks aimed at breaking down trade barriers and lifting economies worldwide.
WEALTH
Compared with Canada, the U.S has more rich families and more poor ones, but in the U.S., the rich pay lower taxes than their Canadian counterparts, and the poor pay more, according to Statscan. About 11 per cent of American families had an income in 1997 of less than $10,000 (Can) compared with just over seven per cent of Canadian families. Poor Americans paid 2.3 per cent of their income in taxes while Canadians paid one per cent. At the high end, 5.7 per cent of American families, but only 1.8 per cent of Canadian families, had an income over $150,000. The rich Americans paid 27.6 per cent of that sum in taxes while rich Canadians paid 32.8 per cent.
VISITORS
Statistics Canada reports that a record 1.1 million Americans made overnight visits to the Atlantic provinces in 1999, up 8.7 per cent over 1998. This strong growth made up for gains of only 2.4 per cent in Atlantic Canada in 1998, while the rest of Canada was enjoying double-digit increases. American visits to Quebec rose 5.6 per cent in 1999, the second highest regional increase. All provinces west of Ontario saw fewer American travellers except B.C. where the number of American visits rose 2.0 per cent. Texans took 13.2 per cent more overnight trips to Canada in 1999, the largest increase among the top 10 states of origin.
TEXTILES
A group of 24 developing nations has criticized the EU, USA and Canada for failing to open their markets to clothes and textiles. The 24, who comprise the International Textiles and Clothing Bureau, called textiles one of the most important exports for poorer nations, representing about 20 per cent of all the manufactured goods they sell overseas. In Canada, only 29 out of 295 categories where there had been quotas are now free of restrictions. In the EU, the figure is 14 out of 219 and in the USA, a mere 13 out of 750.
STOCKS
According to Equity magazine, the average stock price of 25 publicly traded U.S. companies run by women grew by 58 per cent in the past year.
CHICKENS
Researchers are embedding dime-sized radio transmitters under the breast bones of live chickens and linking them to artificial intelligence computers. The goal is to reduce heat stress and regulate the birds' diets. In time, these implanted transmitters may one day watch over the flocks in chicken houses, delivering food and adjusting comfort levels far more precisely than their human caretakers ever could. And researchers say the development could mean safer food for consumers by reducing the risk of disease outbreaks in chicken houses.
BILLING
A limited number of Canadian companies offer on-line billing; however, research shows that almost one-third of Canadian companies are planning to offer these services within a year. According to an Angus Reid Group survey, 64 per cent of consumers want this service. It is claimed that billing consumers on-line reduces billing costs by up to 75 per cent.
DRINKS
Canadians still preferred beer by far to any other alcoholic beverage in the fiscal year 1998/99. However, sales of spirit-based coolers soared during the year, and red wine became almost as popular as white. Liquor authorities, wineries and breweries sold 2.5 billion litres of alcoholic beverages in 1998/99, up 2.6% from the previous year. Beer accounted for the vast majority of sales, 83%, while wine accounted for 11% and spirits 6%. Wine lovers continued their trend of turning from white to red. Sales of red wine grew more than 10% for the sixth straight year. In 1998/99, red wine accounted for 47% of sales volume, and white 53%.
STEEL
Big Steel is launching a $115 million (U.S.) campaign to increase steel markets by 25 per cent in the U.S. and Canada. The five year marketing and development strategy is designed to keep steel at the forefront of new technologies and get it into new applications. Steel wants to maintain its edge in traditional segments, such as the auto industry, and build its share in such largely untapped areas as homes and household products.
GREAT LAKES
Three years ago, some of the highest water levels this century floated the giant cargo freighters transporting coal, grain and iron ore across the Great Lakes and ships could be filled to capacity. No longer. Water levels throughout the Great Lakes have dropped from one to three feet in just two years, forcing ships to lighten their loads, thus cutting profit margins. The shipping industry is already pinched by high fuel costs and the receding waters have made competing against rail and trucking that much tougher.
FORESTS
Canada contains more than 10% of the world's forests and, in fact, half of the nation is covered by forest. Out of a total land area of 921.5 million hectares, 417.6 million hectares are defined as forestland, and much of it remains in a natural state. The nation also accounts for almost 20% of the total value of the global forest products trade. One out of every 17 jobs depends on it. At least 337 communities are considered heavily dependent on the forest. In each of these communities, employment income derived from forest products industries accounts for more than 49% of the community's income.
ONE VOICE
Leaders of 18 Latin American and Caribbean nations, making up the so-called Rio Group, are preparing a strategy that would enable them all to "speak with a single voice" in the world's decision-making forums. They feel that they should commit to working together and to see that the region finds its positive slot in the global economy so as to ensure the fair distribution of the profits arising from the world's markets.
CAVIAR
Russian exports of black caviar will plunge by more than 80 per cent this year because of a rapidly dwindling population of adult sturgeon, who have been hurt by poaching and rising pollution. Russia will export between 50 and 60 tons this year compared with 170 tons last year. Western Europe, North America and the Far East have sought to fill the demand, but caviar from sturgeon caught in the Caspian Sea and Volga River is the most highly prized.
MEXICO
The president of the Mexican national manufacturing industry chamber, Canacintra, says that Mexican companies are not in a position to be able to compete on the Chinese market, while the entry of China into the World Trade Organization will result in the loss of 60 percent of small and medium companies in Mexico. These companies lack the financing and training to be able to compete with Chinese companies while current development banks are insufficient.
COFFEE
The government of Brazil, the world's leading coffee producer, is supplying 13 warehouses capable of holding 20 per cent of Brazil's coffee exports. This is to help carry out its part of an OPEC-like plan, agreed on by the world's largest coffee producing nations, to keep stocks off the market until prices rise to their satisfaction. Fed up with the decline in coffee prices, members of the Association of Coffee Producing Countries, approved a plan to reduce exports by 20 percent.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the California Prune Board (CPB) permission to use "dried plums" as an alternative name to "prunes." The CPB requested the name change after research showed that the name "dried plum" offers a more positive connotation than "prune" and would encourage more people to try the fruit. The CPB hopes the name change will attract its target audience, women 35 to 50. This group of 44 million people makes up approximately 16 percent of the U.S. population and makes the majority of household purchase decisions.
LEISURE
Canadian and U.S. tourists spent $11.7 billion on nature related activities such as hiking, hunting and skiing in Canada in 1996. Overall in 1996, nature related expenditures contributed about $12 billion to Canada's gross domestic product, generated 5.4 billion in tax revenue and created 215,000 jobs. On average, Canadian outdoor enthusiasts spent $704, with those exceeding the average being from Alberta ($836), B.C. ($902) and Yukon ($1,298).
PASSWORDS
The U.S. army, whose computers suffer an average of nine hacker attacks a week, is about to begin using security systems that identify body parts, voice patterns and even body odours to replace the password-based systems that now control everything.
HOMES
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that, unless coastal erosion is halted, every year roughly 1,500 buildings, mostly houses, will disappear at a cost of $530 million (U.S.). In 60 years, a quarter of the buildings within 500 feet of the country's shoreline could be destroyed.
OLYMPIC TRIVIA
Literary and archaeological evidence shows Olympic authorities tried to crack down on cheating in the fourth century BC. Athletes who cheated were forced to buy bronze statues and inscribe them with maxims expressing their regret. The statues were then placed along the route to the Olympic stadium to remind athletes of the penalties for breaking the rules.
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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