April 2001 Edition
FRAUD
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced the launch of a Web site at which consumers, reporters, students, researchers, law enforcers and others will be able to tap into a wealth of statistics about fraud, fraud on the Internet, and identity theft, and information on how to spot and avoid fraud and deception online and off. The site, www.consumer.gov/sentinel, contains aggregated complaint information culled from a database of more than 300,000 consumer complaints lodged with the FTC and shared with more than 250 law enforcement partners in the U.S. and abroad, including Canada.
MEXICO
Retail sales in Mexico rose 10 per cent in 2000 over 1999 figures, supported by a strong rise in grocery and general merchandise sales. Grocery sales increased 6.8 per cent in 2000 from the previous year, general merchandise sales rose 14.1 per cent and clothing sales grew 11.6 per cent. Retail sales grew 9.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2000, growth for the second half of the year was 10.1 per cent.
PRICE FIXING
The European Commission said that it was investigating price fixing by the five big music companies--Vivendi Universal, Sony, EMI, AOL Time Warner and Bertelsmann--and some big retailers. The companies settled a similar case in America last year. The companies control 77.5% of music sales
SURPLUS
Canada registered a record international merchandise trade surplus of $54.5 billion in 2000, as exports to its largest trading partner, the U.S. rose at more than twice the pace of imports. Canadian companies exported a total of $417.7 billion worth of goods to the world in 2000, up 15.8 per cent from 1999. At the same time, their imports rose 11.1 per cent to $363.2 billion. About 86 per cent of Canada's exports flowed to the U.S. in 2000, while 74 per cent of imports came north from the U.S. Exports to the U.S. rose 16.2 per cent in 2000, while imports from there were up just 7.3 per cent.
WRINKLES
Anti-aging skin care, which grew in sales nearly 25 per cent from 1999 to 2000, is the fastest growing segment of the U.S. cosmetics business. This year, it is estimated that Americans will spend $950 million (U.S.) for anti-wrinkle cream alone.
FOOD
Prices in the U.S. will rise by a modest 2 to 2.5 percent this year, according to the Agriculture Department (USDA). Americans spent a total of about $842.7 billion on groceries, restaurant meals and other food purchases in 2000. Food prices went up by 2.3 percent last year and 2.1 percent the year before. The largest increase in food prices for 2001 was forecast for fresh vegetables, up 4 to 6 percent. Most foods were forecast to see price rises of 1 to 3 percent. Farmers get about 20 cents from every $1 spent on food by Americans. The rest goes to handlers, processors and retailers.
EDUCATION
In 1999, for the first time in 14 years, the number of doctorates awarded by research universities in the U.S. declined. The biggest drops came in engineering and the physical sciences.
GRANTS
Tesco is the U.K.'s leading supermarket chain. Recently the government announced a grant of $1.45 million U.S. to Tesco for in-store Internet Web surfing facilities. The grant is part of the U.K. government's plan to attract more people onto the information super highway. Tesco has firm plans to install public computers in "internet cafes" at 10 of its sites, and is likely to extend the move to all 400 of its retail outlets.
TOPS
According to a survey by the high-profile international consultancy firm William M. Mercer, Vancouver has been ranked as one of the top two cities in the world to live. After rating 215 cities around the world in terms of quality of life, Vancouver and Zurich were deadlocked at number one. Montreal and Toronto were tied for 19th place. The ratings are based on such measures as personal safety, entertainment and economic and social factors.
TASTE
Beef now outsells chicken in U.S. restaurants. 7.2 billion servings to 5.2 billion.
FASHION
Fashion consultants Kurt Salmon Associates claim that fashion trends now have an average lifespan of just eight to 12 weeks, instead of five months two years ago.
POPULATION
Canada's population will continue growing in the next quarter century, but it will age considerably and the proportion of young people will shrink significantly, according to new population projections. On July 1, 2000, Canada's population was an estimated 30,750,000. In 25 years, it is expected to be between 34 million and 39 million. The growth rate will continue to decelerate. From 1996 to 2000, the population grew at an average annual rate of 0.9%. This growth rate is projected to slow to 0.5% by 2026. From 2046 to 2051, the population could eventually decline at an average rate of 0.1% a year.
GLASS
British glass manufacturer Pilkington PLC says it has invented the world's first self-cleaning glass. The product is undergoing trials in Europe and North America. The product reacts chemically with sunlight to break down unwanted dirt and causes water to form a sheet on the surface that allows grime to wash away.
HACKING
The FBI reports that organized hacking groups, primarily from former Soviet countries, are responsible for recent increases in credit card thefts. It said e-commerce companies should be more vigilant in protecting their customers' credit card numbers. Last December, a Russian hacker stole more than 55,000 credit cards from one site. More than 40 companies in 20 U.S. states have been identified as targets.
OUTSOURCING
An International Data Corporation study concludes that companies in the U.S., faced with a persistent shortage of technology staff, will dramatically increase the amount of work outsourced in other countries. The value of overseas outsourcing by U.S. companies will grow from about US$5.5 billion in 2000 to more than US $17.6 billion in 2005. India is seen as capturing the lion's share, but companies will also turn to Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Israel, Ireland, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe.
TRENDS
In the London subway system, the first vending machines to sell fiction to commuters have just been introduced. Each Travelman Publishing story, which costs US$2.00, is printed on a pamphlet that opens like an accordion and offers enough reading to keep a person occupied for 40 minutes. Selections include classics and new works written for the venture.
NUTRITION
A study published recently in a British medical journal suggested that an extra soft drink a day increases the likelihood of children ending up obese. Now, Coca-Cola Co., under fire for aggressively marketing sugar-sweetened soft drinks to kids has said it will begin selling juices, water and other nutritional drinks to students as part of a makeover of its controversial school marketing strategy. The U.S. Agriculture Department has asked Congress for authority to regulate what foods and beverages can be sold to schoolchildren.
BUYING
A new survey suggests that two million more Canadians will buy on-line this year, increasing the total of Internet shoppers to seven million, just under half of the total on-line adult population. A growing proportion of Web shoppers will buy from Canadian e-tailers. Sixty-three per cent of respondents said their most recent on-line purchase was made at a Canadian Web site, up from 30 per cent two years ago.
SAFFRON
The world's most expensive food is saffron, which sells for a whopping US$2,000 per ounce! The price is due to the tedious process of harvesting it. Saffron comes from the inside of purple crocuses. To make a pound of saffron 70,000 to 250,000 crocus stigmas must be hand collected.
ART
A US$1.5 million sculpted mirror in England will have to be shielded from the sun when it is put outside a Nottingham theatre. If not, it will barbecue birds in mid flight. Experts have found that the highly polished steel mirror measuring 19 feet across will act like a giant magnifying glass during high summer, reflecting a beam of light packing the equivalent of 40 kilowatts, enough to blind people or start fires. Any pigeons which flew close to it could be barbecued in mid-air.
STAMPS
The Royal mail is taking a lighthearted look at Britain's often gloomy weather by creating heat-sensitive postage stamps that change grey skies to blue with a rub of the finger.
SHOES
China-made shoes currently account for approximately 43 per cent of the world's total and they make up 60 per cent of U.S. shoe imports. Amid sluggish domestic demand, shoe production in Mexico reached 270 million pairs for 2000, only 20,000 pairs more than in 1999. However, approximately 54 million pairs of China-made shoes also made their way into the Mexican market. Mexico has been battling imports of shoes from China for several years.
ICEWINES
The European Union has at last said it will open its borders to Canadian icewines, something that Canada has been negotiating for years. Canada has become a major producer of icewines, so named because they are made from grapes left on the vine to freeze before being harvested to make a sweet dessert wine. The Canadian wine industry played an important role in developing standards to meet EU quality requirements
RUSSIA
A food revolution is sweeping through Russia's supermarket shelves. Long dominated by Western brands that flooded into the country to exploit the post-Soviet collapse, grocery shops are now switching to dozens of aggressively marketed Russian products. It is a crucial sign of diversification in an economy still heavily dependent on oil and other commodities. Breweries and confectionaries are among the fastest growing domestic industries.
GENOMICS
Canada is making efforts to become a major player in genomics setting the goal of second to the U.S. within five years. Having missed out on the crucial mapping stage, the government has announced extra funds for research additional to the $160 million announced last year. Genome Canada is setting up five regional research centres and will shortly announce its first research grants.
MOVIES
For the third consecutive year, British Columbia has beaten Ontario as the Canadian province enjoying the biggest dollar value of film and TV activity in the country. In 2000, a total of $1.18 billion was spent on 192 productions in B.C., up 10 per cent from the total in 1999.
SACRIFICE
An Egyptian sheep destined for sacrificial slaughter forestalled its owner's plans by pushing him to his death off a three story building. Many Egyptian city-dwellers keep livestock on rooftops and balconies.
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
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced the launch of a Web site at which consumers, reporters, students, researchers, law enforcers and others will be able to tap into a wealth of statistics about fraud, fraud on the Internet, and identity theft, and information on how to spot and avoid fraud and deception online and off. The site, www.consumer.gov/sentinel, contains aggregated complaint information culled from a database of more than 300,000 consumer complaints lodged with the FTC and shared with more than 250 law enforcement partners in the U.S. and abroad, including Canada.
MEXICO
Retail sales in Mexico rose 10 per cent in 2000 over 1999 figures, supported by a strong rise in grocery and general merchandise sales. Grocery sales increased 6.8 per cent in 2000 from the previous year, general merchandise sales rose 14.1 per cent and clothing sales grew 11.6 per cent. Retail sales grew 9.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2000, growth for the second half of the year was 10.1 per cent.
PRICE FIXING
The European Commission said that it was investigating price fixing by the five big music companies--Vivendi Universal, Sony, EMI, AOL Time Warner and Bertelsmann--and some big retailers. The companies settled a similar case in America last year. The companies control 77.5% of music sales
SURPLUS
Canada registered a record international merchandise trade surplus of $54.5 billion in 2000, as exports to its largest trading partner, the U.S. rose at more than twice the pace of imports. Canadian companies exported a total of $417.7 billion worth of goods to the world in 2000, up 15.8 per cent from 1999. At the same time, their imports rose 11.1 per cent to $363.2 billion. About 86 per cent of Canada's exports flowed to the U.S. in 2000, while 74 per cent of imports came north from the U.S. Exports to the U.S. rose 16.2 per cent in 2000, while imports from there were up just 7.3 per cent.
WRINKLES
Anti-aging skin care, which grew in sales nearly 25 per cent from 1999 to 2000, is the fastest growing segment of the U.S. cosmetics business. This year, it is estimated that Americans will spend $950 million (U.S.) for anti-wrinkle cream alone.
FOOD
Prices in the U.S. will rise by a modest 2 to 2.5 percent this year, according to the Agriculture Department (USDA). Americans spent a total of about $842.7 billion on groceries, restaurant meals and other food purchases in 2000. Food prices went up by 2.3 percent last year and 2.1 percent the year before. The largest increase in food prices for 2001 was forecast for fresh vegetables, up 4 to 6 percent. Most foods were forecast to see price rises of 1 to 3 percent. Farmers get about 20 cents from every $1 spent on food by Americans. The rest goes to handlers, processors and retailers.
EDUCATION
In 1999, for the first time in 14 years, the number of doctorates awarded by research universities in the U.S. declined. The biggest drops came in engineering and the physical sciences.
GRANTS
Tesco is the U.K.'s leading supermarket chain. Recently the government announced a grant of $1.45 million U.S. to Tesco for in-store Internet Web surfing facilities. The grant is part of the U.K. government's plan to attract more people onto the information super highway. Tesco has firm plans to install public computers in "internet cafes" at 10 of its sites, and is likely to extend the move to all 400 of its retail outlets.
TOPS
According to a survey by the high-profile international consultancy firm William M. Mercer, Vancouver has been ranked as one of the top two cities in the world to live. After rating 215 cities around the world in terms of quality of life, Vancouver and Zurich were deadlocked at number one. Montreal and Toronto were tied for 19th place. The ratings are based on such measures as personal safety, entertainment and economic and social factors.
TASTE
Beef now outsells chicken in U.S. restaurants. 7.2 billion servings to 5.2 billion.
FASHION
Fashion consultants Kurt Salmon Associates claim that fashion trends now have an average lifespan of just eight to 12 weeks, instead of five months two years ago.
POPULATION
Canada's population will continue growing in the next quarter century, but it will age considerably and the proportion of young people will shrink significantly, according to new population projections. On July 1, 2000, Canada's population was an estimated 30,750,000. In 25 years, it is expected to be between 34 million and 39 million. The growth rate will continue to decelerate. From 1996 to 2000, the population grew at an average annual rate of 0.9%. This growth rate is projected to slow to 0.5% by 2026. From 2046 to 2051, the population could eventually decline at an average rate of 0.1% a year.
GLASS
British glass manufacturer Pilkington PLC says it has invented the world's first self-cleaning glass. The product is undergoing trials in Europe and North America. The product reacts chemically with sunlight to break down unwanted dirt and causes water to form a sheet on the surface that allows grime to wash away.
HACKING
The FBI reports that organized hacking groups, primarily from former Soviet countries, are responsible for recent increases in credit card thefts. It said e-commerce companies should be more vigilant in protecting their customers' credit card numbers. Last December, a Russian hacker stole more than 55,000 credit cards from one site. More than 40 companies in 20 U.S. states have been identified as targets.
OUTSOURCING
An International Data Corporation study concludes that companies in the U.S., faced with a persistent shortage of technology staff, will dramatically increase the amount of work outsourced in other countries. The value of overseas outsourcing by U.S. companies will grow from about US$5.5 billion in 2000 to more than US $17.6 billion in 2005. India is seen as capturing the lion's share, but companies will also turn to Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Israel, Ireland, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe.
TRENDS
In the London subway system, the first vending machines to sell fiction to commuters have just been introduced. Each Travelman Publishing story, which costs US$2.00, is printed on a pamphlet that opens like an accordion and offers enough reading to keep a person occupied for 40 minutes. Selections include classics and new works written for the venture.
NUTRITION
A study published recently in a British medical journal suggested that an extra soft drink a day increases the likelihood of children ending up obese. Now, Coca-Cola Co., under fire for aggressively marketing sugar-sweetened soft drinks to kids has said it will begin selling juices, water and other nutritional drinks to students as part of a makeover of its controversial school marketing strategy. The U.S. Agriculture Department has asked Congress for authority to regulate what foods and beverages can be sold to schoolchildren.
BUYING
A new survey suggests that two million more Canadians will buy on-line this year, increasing the total of Internet shoppers to seven million, just under half of the total on-line adult population. A growing proportion of Web shoppers will buy from Canadian e-tailers. Sixty-three per cent of respondents said their most recent on-line purchase was made at a Canadian Web site, up from 30 per cent two years ago.
SAFFRON
The world's most expensive food is saffron, which sells for a whopping US$2,000 per ounce! The price is due to the tedious process of harvesting it. Saffron comes from the inside of purple crocuses. To make a pound of saffron 70,000 to 250,000 crocus stigmas must be hand collected.
ART
A US$1.5 million sculpted mirror in England will have to be shielded from the sun when it is put outside a Nottingham theatre. If not, it will barbecue birds in mid flight. Experts have found that the highly polished steel mirror measuring 19 feet across will act like a giant magnifying glass during high summer, reflecting a beam of light packing the equivalent of 40 kilowatts, enough to blind people or start fires. Any pigeons which flew close to it could be barbecued in mid-air.
STAMPS
The Royal mail is taking a lighthearted look at Britain's often gloomy weather by creating heat-sensitive postage stamps that change grey skies to blue with a rub of the finger.
SHOES
China-made shoes currently account for approximately 43 per cent of the world's total and they make up 60 per cent of U.S. shoe imports. Amid sluggish domestic demand, shoe production in Mexico reached 270 million pairs for 2000, only 20,000 pairs more than in 1999. However, approximately 54 million pairs of China-made shoes also made their way into the Mexican market. Mexico has been battling imports of shoes from China for several years.
ICEWINES
The European Union has at last said it will open its borders to Canadian icewines, something that Canada has been negotiating for years. Canada has become a major producer of icewines, so named because they are made from grapes left on the vine to freeze before being harvested to make a sweet dessert wine. The Canadian wine industry played an important role in developing standards to meet EU quality requirements
RUSSIA
A food revolution is sweeping through Russia's supermarket shelves. Long dominated by Western brands that flooded into the country to exploit the post-Soviet collapse, grocery shops are now switching to dozens of aggressively marketed Russian products. It is a crucial sign of diversification in an economy still heavily dependent on oil and other commodities. Breweries and confectionaries are among the fastest growing domestic industries.
GENOMICS
Canada is making efforts to become a major player in genomics setting the goal of second to the U.S. within five years. Having missed out on the crucial mapping stage, the government has announced extra funds for research additional to the $160 million announced last year. Genome Canada is setting up five regional research centres and will shortly announce its first research grants.
MOVIES
For the third consecutive year, British Columbia has beaten Ontario as the Canadian province enjoying the biggest dollar value of film and TV activity in the country. In 2000, a total of $1.18 billion was spent on 192 productions in B.C., up 10 per cent from the total in 1999.
SACRIFICE
An Egyptian sheep destined for sacrificial slaughter forestalled its owner's plans by pushing him to his death off a three story building. Many Egyptian city-dwellers keep livestock on rooftops and balconies.
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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