December 2000 Edition
JUICE
Fruit juices continue to play an important role in the Canadian diet. Consumption of traditional products such as orange, apple and grape juices was just over 25 litres per person in 1999, up more than 27% from 1990. Stronger demand for traditional and tropical blended juice products has contributed in some part to this growth.
BALLAST
New measurements show ballast water in ships teems with dangerous microbes that can spread infectious diseases and threaten ecological systems around the world. Probing this "virtually unexplored" mechanism for global dispersal of potentially lethal microorganisms. The investigators uncovered evidence of bacteria--including one that causes cholera epidemics--and virus-like particles stealthily hitching a ride by the billions from foreign ports to the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Chesapeake Bay alone receives some 10 billion litres of foreign ballast water every year.
FOOTWEAR
Import duties on non-rubber shoes will drop to zero three years ahead of schedule if trade representatives in the U.S., Mexico and Canada give final approval to a proposal by the footwear manufacturers and importers. When the NAFTA was negotiated, footwear was a very contentious issue with the industry giving it a 10-year phase out period for import duties, one of the longest. Many U.S. manufacturers have now become importers, so opposition to free trade has diminished.
CHINA
The country's economy will grow over 8 per cent in 2000 to reach about US$1.8 trillion. China's gross domestic product (GDP) will break the US$1 trillion barrier for the first time and putting per-capita GDP at US$849. It is expected that China's GDP will grow even faster in 2001 at 8.5 per cent. The country has set the middle of the century as the date for the economy to reach that of the middle tier of developed countries.
CONCRETE
According to the French cement maker Lafarge Coppee SA, concrete is second only to water as the most consumed substance on earth, with almost one ton being used each year for each human.
INCOME
A new survey has found that fifty-four percent of owners of small businesses in operation since at least 1995 depended on their business as the only source of income for their household. An additional 26% relied on the business as the most important source of income (though not the only source), and 20% reported that the business was neither the only, nor the most important, source of income. The Survey of Micro-enterprises, conducted by Statistics Canada during the summer of 2000, received responses from the majority owners of about 1,500 businesses.
AIRLINES
Online travel is one of the fastest-growing segments of the travel industry. Recent research predicts that online travel sales will quadruple to nearly $120 billion in 2003. There are an estimated 3.5 million seats unoccupied each week and airlines, through their websites, are hoping to generate some revenue from those previously empty seats without diminishing the sales of their full-fare tickets.
CANAL
Panama is faced with a shortage of freshwater needed to float ships through the 51-mile canal and officials are urgently exploring ways to acquire more water and conserve what they already use. Under present operations, each ship that passes through the canal requires 52 million gallons of freshwater to float it through a series of locks. Canal officials are now considering the construction of new reservoirs in the canal's western regions which would collect and store water during Panama's seven-month rainy season.
ACCESS
This year, 68 per cent of Canadians aged nine to 14 have access to the Internet, compared with just 50 per cent a year earlier. However, according to a survey by YTV Canada, this increased computer usage by "tweens" has not cut into their TV viewing time.
RAILWAYS
In an effort to win business from trucks and rebuild credibility with customers, several major U.S. railways are launching new freight services. Some are reviving refrigerated trains for carrying fruit and vegetables. Others are planning fast shuttle trains from dock to dock. Even passenger trains are now hauling fast freight. Though updated with modern technology, some of the new services borrow from concepts that were in vogue when railways still dominated the freight market after the Second World War. The moves are part of the railways' attempt to boost sluggish revenues.
WESTERN EXPORTS
The U.S. West Coast has seen a surge in exports this year due to Asia's economic boom. California has seen a 26 per cent increase in Asian exports. Asia was the destination for 40 per cent of West Coast exports while lesser percentages went to nations of the EU, Mexico and Canada. Much of the increased demand has been for high-tech goods, including telecommunications equipment, computers, semiconductors and machines used to manufacture semiconductors. Other major exports include agricultural products and aircraft.
WOMEN
A study by the J.C. Williams Group of Toronto shows that 55 per cent of Canadian women on-line use the Internet for such items as queries on accounts, transferring funds from accounts and paying bills. Only 14 per cent of those who bank on-line have applied for a credit card over the Internet. Eight per cent have applied for a loan or mortgage, eight per cent have sought investment advice and five per cent purchased insurance. 83 per cent of those polled expressed concern about privacy and security of their personal information.
LAWNS
An automatic lawnmower called the RL500 Robotic Mower has been introduced in the U.S. The 78-pound unit sells for US$800, looks like a vacuum cleaner and is powered by 12-volt batteries. You set up a wire perimeter around your lawn that the mower follows. It circles the lawn at first and then works its way to the centre, using tactile sensors to avoid any objects left in its path. It will mow a 3,000 square foot lawn on a single charge.
DRILLING
The Petroleum Services Association of Canada predicts that 16,699 wells will be drilled in Western Canada in 2001, just topping the previous record of 16,484 wells set in 1997. Of those, 4,851 are expected to be oil wells, 9,831 gas wells, and the remainder will be service and other types of wells. PSAC has forecast 15,345 wells for this year. However, a shortage of workers, especially in entry-level roughneck and drilling jobs could put a damper on drilling activities.
FATS
By the end of the 1990s, each Canadian was consuming just over 45% more oils and fats than at the beginning of the decade. Much of this growth can be attributed to the increasing use of canola, soybean, olive and other specialty oils used by households and food service outlets in salad dressings, deep-fried products and commercially-prepared baked goods.
INFLATION
Throughout the industrialised world, inflation is creeping upward. With the exception of Japan and Denmark, most of the rich countries have seen consumer prices rise faster from October 1999 to September 2000 than they did in the year to September 1999.
HEALTH
Daimler-Chrysler Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers Union have launched a unique workplace campaign against the overuse of antibiotics, part of their commitment to a healthier work force. The initiative has won the immediate endorsement of local physicians who say they are constantly pressured by patients to prescribe antibiotics--often in cases where the patients are suffering from viral infections that will not respond to the drugs. The "Stop Superbugs" campaign is aimed at all employees, their families and the surrounding community in Ontario.
CHARITY
Slightly fewer Canadian taxfilers reported charitable donations on their 1999 tax returns, but they gave substantially more. About 5,394,000 people, or 25.5% of all taxfilers, reported charitable donations, down slightly from 5,396,000 in 1998. However, the amount of donations reached $4.8 billion, up 2.7% compared with 1998, after adjusting for inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Donations have increased every year since 1991. Ontario taxfilers gave just under $2.4 billion, accounting for 49% of the 1999 total. Ontario was home to 37% of all taxfilers.
GROWTH
Until 10 years ago, Pudong was a vast expanse of farmland nearly the size of Singapore on the eastern side of the Huangpu River in Shanghai. Now it's home to offices of 100 of the world's top 500 multinationals, including companies such as Intel, Siemens and NEC. Over 70 foreign and joint-venture companies have set up Research & Development facilities in its industrial parks. And some 80 foreign and domestic financial institutions employ an estimated 150,000 white collar staff in 20 office towers.
SAVINGS
Contributions by Canadians to registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) rebounded to their second highest level ever in 1999. A record 6,207,000 taxfilers contributed to an RRSP during the year, up 1.4% from the previous year. They contributed $27.8 billion, a 2.6% increase from 1998, after adjusting for inflation. The number of contributors and the amount of their contributions both recovered, after declining in 1998 for the first time since 1991. Contributions last year were still short of the record $28.2 billion set in 1997. About 29% of all taxfilers contributed in 1999, or 36% of those eligible to contribute.
ORGANIC
Representatives of two major U.K. supermarkets have told the government that Britain cannot keep up with demand for organic food. In many cases, they can produce only small quantities, which in turn cost more to transport to the few plants certified to process chemical-free food, and they have to import organic food to overcome the shortage of home-grown produce. The British farming community has reacted very slowly to this market, whereas other countries are modernizing their farms to produce organic food.
FRIES
While the U.S. already claims to be awash in Canadian wheat and lumber, the next threat strikes at the heart of U.S. food culture. Nearly 85 per cent of the 2 billion pounds of frozen french fries produced in Canada are sold in the U.S. The lure of cheap Canadian potatoes, which now account for 10 per cent of the U.S. market, is so strong that even U.S. chip makers are setting up shop north of the border. Americans love their fries and each eat an average of 59 pounds a year.
WINE
Chilean wine exports have increased over the last decade with an annual growth rate of 30 per cent. In 1999, sales exceeded $500 million, a record figure for the country. This year, exports are expected to exceed $600 million and $670 million in 2001.
FEAR
In Hampshire, England, a window cleaner shouting that he was scared of heights was rescued from a garage roof by firefighters. Usually he only cleans ground-floor windows.
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
Fruit juices continue to play an important role in the Canadian diet. Consumption of traditional products such as orange, apple and grape juices was just over 25 litres per person in 1999, up more than 27% from 1990. Stronger demand for traditional and tropical blended juice products has contributed in some part to this growth.
BALLAST
New measurements show ballast water in ships teems with dangerous microbes that can spread infectious diseases and threaten ecological systems around the world. Probing this "virtually unexplored" mechanism for global dispersal of potentially lethal microorganisms. The investigators uncovered evidence of bacteria--including one that causes cholera epidemics--and virus-like particles stealthily hitching a ride by the billions from foreign ports to the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Chesapeake Bay alone receives some 10 billion litres of foreign ballast water every year.
FOOTWEAR
Import duties on non-rubber shoes will drop to zero three years ahead of schedule if trade representatives in the U.S., Mexico and Canada give final approval to a proposal by the footwear manufacturers and importers. When the NAFTA was negotiated, footwear was a very contentious issue with the industry giving it a 10-year phase out period for import duties, one of the longest. Many U.S. manufacturers have now become importers, so opposition to free trade has diminished.
CHINA
The country's economy will grow over 8 per cent in 2000 to reach about US$1.8 trillion. China's gross domestic product (GDP) will break the US$1 trillion barrier for the first time and putting per-capita GDP at US$849. It is expected that China's GDP will grow even faster in 2001 at 8.5 per cent. The country has set the middle of the century as the date for the economy to reach that of the middle tier of developed countries.
CONCRETE
According to the French cement maker Lafarge Coppee SA, concrete is second only to water as the most consumed substance on earth, with almost one ton being used each year for each human.
INCOME
A new survey has found that fifty-four percent of owners of small businesses in operation since at least 1995 depended on their business as the only source of income for their household. An additional 26% relied on the business as the most important source of income (though not the only source), and 20% reported that the business was neither the only, nor the most important, source of income. The Survey of Micro-enterprises, conducted by Statistics Canada during the summer of 2000, received responses from the majority owners of about 1,500 businesses.
AIRLINES
Online travel is one of the fastest-growing segments of the travel industry. Recent research predicts that online travel sales will quadruple to nearly $120 billion in 2003. There are an estimated 3.5 million seats unoccupied each week and airlines, through their websites, are hoping to generate some revenue from those previously empty seats without diminishing the sales of their full-fare tickets.
CANAL
Panama is faced with a shortage of freshwater needed to float ships through the 51-mile canal and officials are urgently exploring ways to acquire more water and conserve what they already use. Under present operations, each ship that passes through the canal requires 52 million gallons of freshwater to float it through a series of locks. Canal officials are now considering the construction of new reservoirs in the canal's western regions which would collect and store water during Panama's seven-month rainy season.
ACCESS
This year, 68 per cent of Canadians aged nine to 14 have access to the Internet, compared with just 50 per cent a year earlier. However, according to a survey by YTV Canada, this increased computer usage by "tweens" has not cut into their TV viewing time.
RAILWAYS
In an effort to win business from trucks and rebuild credibility with customers, several major U.S. railways are launching new freight services. Some are reviving refrigerated trains for carrying fruit and vegetables. Others are planning fast shuttle trains from dock to dock. Even passenger trains are now hauling fast freight. Though updated with modern technology, some of the new services borrow from concepts that were in vogue when railways still dominated the freight market after the Second World War. The moves are part of the railways' attempt to boost sluggish revenues.
WESTERN EXPORTS
The U.S. West Coast has seen a surge in exports this year due to Asia's economic boom. California has seen a 26 per cent increase in Asian exports. Asia was the destination for 40 per cent of West Coast exports while lesser percentages went to nations of the EU, Mexico and Canada. Much of the increased demand has been for high-tech goods, including telecommunications equipment, computers, semiconductors and machines used to manufacture semiconductors. Other major exports include agricultural products and aircraft.
WOMEN
A study by the J.C. Williams Group of Toronto shows that 55 per cent of Canadian women on-line use the Internet for such items as queries on accounts, transferring funds from accounts and paying bills. Only 14 per cent of those who bank on-line have applied for a credit card over the Internet. Eight per cent have applied for a loan or mortgage, eight per cent have sought investment advice and five per cent purchased insurance. 83 per cent of those polled expressed concern about privacy and security of their personal information.
LAWNS
An automatic lawnmower called the RL500 Robotic Mower has been introduced in the U.S. The 78-pound unit sells for US$800, looks like a vacuum cleaner and is powered by 12-volt batteries. You set up a wire perimeter around your lawn that the mower follows. It circles the lawn at first and then works its way to the centre, using tactile sensors to avoid any objects left in its path. It will mow a 3,000 square foot lawn on a single charge.
DRILLING
The Petroleum Services Association of Canada predicts that 16,699 wells will be drilled in Western Canada in 2001, just topping the previous record of 16,484 wells set in 1997. Of those, 4,851 are expected to be oil wells, 9,831 gas wells, and the remainder will be service and other types of wells. PSAC has forecast 15,345 wells for this year. However, a shortage of workers, especially in entry-level roughneck and drilling jobs could put a damper on drilling activities.
FATS
By the end of the 1990s, each Canadian was consuming just over 45% more oils and fats than at the beginning of the decade. Much of this growth can be attributed to the increasing use of canola, soybean, olive and other specialty oils used by households and food service outlets in salad dressings, deep-fried products and commercially-prepared baked goods.
INFLATION
Throughout the industrialised world, inflation is creeping upward. With the exception of Japan and Denmark, most of the rich countries have seen consumer prices rise faster from October 1999 to September 2000 than they did in the year to September 1999.
HEALTH
Daimler-Chrysler Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers Union have launched a unique workplace campaign against the overuse of antibiotics, part of their commitment to a healthier work force. The initiative has won the immediate endorsement of local physicians who say they are constantly pressured by patients to prescribe antibiotics--often in cases where the patients are suffering from viral infections that will not respond to the drugs. The "Stop Superbugs" campaign is aimed at all employees, their families and the surrounding community in Ontario.
CHARITY
Slightly fewer Canadian taxfilers reported charitable donations on their 1999 tax returns, but they gave substantially more. About 5,394,000 people, or 25.5% of all taxfilers, reported charitable donations, down slightly from 5,396,000 in 1998. However, the amount of donations reached $4.8 billion, up 2.7% compared with 1998, after adjusting for inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Donations have increased every year since 1991. Ontario taxfilers gave just under $2.4 billion, accounting for 49% of the 1999 total. Ontario was home to 37% of all taxfilers.
GROWTH
Until 10 years ago, Pudong was a vast expanse of farmland nearly the size of Singapore on the eastern side of the Huangpu River in Shanghai. Now it's home to offices of 100 of the world's top 500 multinationals, including companies such as Intel, Siemens and NEC. Over 70 foreign and joint-venture companies have set up Research & Development facilities in its industrial parks. And some 80 foreign and domestic financial institutions employ an estimated 150,000 white collar staff in 20 office towers.
SAVINGS
Contributions by Canadians to registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) rebounded to their second highest level ever in 1999. A record 6,207,000 taxfilers contributed to an RRSP during the year, up 1.4% from the previous year. They contributed $27.8 billion, a 2.6% increase from 1998, after adjusting for inflation. The number of contributors and the amount of their contributions both recovered, after declining in 1998 for the first time since 1991. Contributions last year were still short of the record $28.2 billion set in 1997. About 29% of all taxfilers contributed in 1999, or 36% of those eligible to contribute.
ORGANIC
Representatives of two major U.K. supermarkets have told the government that Britain cannot keep up with demand for organic food. In many cases, they can produce only small quantities, which in turn cost more to transport to the few plants certified to process chemical-free food, and they have to import organic food to overcome the shortage of home-grown produce. The British farming community has reacted very slowly to this market, whereas other countries are modernizing their farms to produce organic food.
FRIES
While the U.S. already claims to be awash in Canadian wheat and lumber, the next threat strikes at the heart of U.S. food culture. Nearly 85 per cent of the 2 billion pounds of frozen french fries produced in Canada are sold in the U.S. The lure of cheap Canadian potatoes, which now account for 10 per cent of the U.S. market, is so strong that even U.S. chip makers are setting up shop north of the border. Americans love their fries and each eat an average of 59 pounds a year.
WINE
Chilean wine exports have increased over the last decade with an annual growth rate of 30 per cent. In 1999, sales exceeded $500 million, a record figure for the country. This year, exports are expected to exceed $600 million and $670 million in 2001.
FEAR
In Hampshire, England, a window cleaner shouting that he was scared of heights was rescued from a garage roof by firefighters. Usually he only cleans ground-floor windows.
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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