August 2001 Edition
GARAGE SALES
Health Canada is warning that dangerous products are ending up in garage sales where neither the seller nor buyer know the merchandise is defective. The department publishes a list of dangerous products which is periodically updated, but it only has 35 inspectors for the entire country to make sure these goods never make it to market. Some baby cribs, walkers, car seats and hockey gear are on the list. It's estimated that garage sales earn $100 million annually.
WINE
Canadians are drinking more red wine than all other kinds put together. Vintners are building dozens of new wineries across the country, planting new vineyards and converting production to fill the demand for the more sophisticated--and profitable--red wines. Sales of reds passed whites for the first time in fiscal 2000 which ended March 31st and passed all other wines in the next 12 months accounting for 53 per cent of all wine sales in Canada. They are still growing by 13 per cent a year, far outpacing the growth of whites and beer at about one percent each.
CALLS
Indiana has recently introduced the most stringent legislation restricting telemarketers. Under the new measure, consumers can put their name on a "do not call" list. Once a person is on the "no call" list, telemarketers are forbidden to call. The only exceptions are charities, newspapers, insurance agents and real estate agents, providing they don't use telemarketing firms. Companies that ignore the new rule risk penalties of up to $25,000 after January 1st, 2002.
PRODUCTIVITY
Four Canadian assembly plants and one Canadian truck factory ranked among the most productive of North American auto plants last year according to a recent report. The report measures how many hours it takes, on average, to assemble a vehicle in most of the assembly plants in North America.
CAVIAR
Canadian fishermen are trying to fill the world shortage of Russian caviar which sells in Canada for $90 a tiny jar. Canada has the fish, the lakes and the technical knowledge to produce caviar that is just as good as the exotic Russian variety; all that is needed is patience. A successful caviar operation is a long-term project. Some species of sturgeon live for 120 years and weigh 1.2 tonnes.
FTAA
The draft negotiating text for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) has been released. An FTAA would create the world's largest free trade area with 800 million people in 34 countries and a combined gross domestic product of nearly $17 trillion. Despite a commitment to establish a free-trade zone by 2005, the draft shows that after more than seven years of consultation, little consensus has been agreed. Most of the 430-page text is in brackets meaning that at least one of the 34 countries objected to the wording of almost every paragraph.
SEEDS
In a move to cope with soaring vegetable imports, Japanese seed makers have begun curbing exports of seeds that are used overseas to grow vegetables for shipment to Japan. Domestic seed producers sell about 69 million tons of vegetable seeds a year. While 94 per cent of them are sold in Japan, the remaining six per cent are exported overseas for production of vegetables, such as green peppers, eggplants and watermelons for shipment to Japan.
HOLES
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to determine how big the holes in Swiss cheese should be. The USDA has released a 15 page regulation that would require the holes in Swiss cheese to be reduced from an average of eleven-sixteenths to three-eights of an inch in diameter. The USDA claims it is considering the change because of lobbying from the cheese industry which wants the popular cheese to qualify for a federal Grade A rating rather than the present Grade B rating which reduces the price.
LEGO
It was invented in Denmark in 1916. Today the LEGO company has over 9,000 employees. In Latin, the term "Lego" means "I put together" or "I assemble." The product has enjoyed a boom in sales lately. U.S sales are up eight per cent from 1998 and one in ten Lego buyers is now an adult. The passion runs so strong among some in the high-tech sector that one recent recruit to a Seattle web company asked for, and received, a desk built entirely of Lego. The bricks alone cost US$2,975 and the desk took three solid weeks to build and glue.
CULTURE
Canada's trade deficit in cultural goods and services declined for the first time in five years in 2000, as the growth rate in exports far exceeded the growth in imports. The nation sold almost $4.5 billion worth of cultural products to the world last year, up 8.1% from 1999. However, imports rose only 1.7% to $7.5 billion resulting in a trade deficit of just over $3.0 billion. The U.S. is Canada's foremost trading partner, for imports and exports. In 2000, the U.S. received 94% of Canada's culture commodity exports and accounted for 83% of Canada's cultural commodity imports, worth $3.9 billion.
SWITZERLAND
The Swiss Senate has voted unanimously in favour of forging a free trade agreement with Mexico which is Switzerland's fourth most important trade partner in the Americas. The U.S. is first, followed by Canada and Brazil. Current Mexican exports to Switzerland total US$2.25 billion. Switzerland estimates that it will be able to save US$56 million in duty payments alone. Mexico will benefit from the waiving of duty payments on products such as coffee, bananas and honey.
EQUITIES
In the first four months of the year, Canadians bought $17.8 billion of international equities. The investments have gone 70 per cent to U.S. equities and the remainder to overseas shares. The investments have been driven by the Canadian mutual and pension fund sectors.
SHIPPING
Canada has unveiled a new policy framework that will boost the country's shipbuilding and industrial marine sector. The framework is comprised of more than 20 measures and it is expected that the new initiatives will support new business of C$200 and C$300 million annually which will almost double the current production of about C$230 million.
BARCODES
In 1974, a pack of chewing gum with a barcode became the first supermarket item to be scanned at a checkout counter. New two-dimensional designs will let manufacturers incorporate more information and security features into product packaging. A new code, based on a grid of tiny squares, can carry up to 7,000 pieces of information that can be read by a scanner. They can store photos, signatures and fingerprints, offering a multitude of security and anti-fraud applications.
EDUCATION
Children from both ends of the income distribution attend private schools in Canada; 29 per cent of children who attend private schools are from families with incomes below $50,000, while 26 per cent are from families with at least twice as much income. In 1998/99, 1 out of every 18 children, or 5.6 per cent, attended a private school for elementary or secondary education. In total, 298,000 were enroled in private schools; just under 5 million went to public schools.
EUROPE
Canada and the European Union continue trying to improve trade and economic relations though the EU's importance as a trading partner continues to decline. Europe's imports of goods and services from Canada have dropped to six per cent from 10 per cent a decade ago. EU officials have shown little enthusiasm for a bilateral pact even though eliminating tariffs could raise EU sales in Canada by 34 per cent or $7 billion a year. Canada's exports to Europe would jump by 11 per cent, or 16 per cent and if EU duties on agri-business were removed.
REPUTATION
Canadian business leaders are more likely than their international counterparts to fret about information on the Internet damaging their company's reputation. The study, which polled leaders in eight countries in North America and Europe, found that one-third of the 50 Canadian senior executives were "very concerned" about negative information about their company. At the same time, just over 20 per cent said that they periodically monitored what was said about their company on the Internet. In the U.S., 41 per cent said their firms made periodic checks and one quarter were concerned about negative comments.
ACKEE
Ever since the U.S. agreed last year to lift a decades-old ban on the importation of Jamaica's national fruit, sales have soared. Thousands of acres of new ackee trees have been planted and diplomats and farmers have used the fruit as an example of how greater free trade can benefit small countries such as Jamaica
ALBERTA
A recent Fraser Institute survey indicates that Alberta has established a clear lead over Ontario and other provinces as the best place for doing business in Canada. However, recent tax cuts introduced in British Columbia should allow it to move up quickly from its current status as the province with the least friendly business climate. Canadian investment fund managers responsible for $282 billion in pension assets rank Alberta No.1 because of its low tax and business-friendly regulatory environment.
AIRPORTS
In a survey of 90,000 international passengers to rank their satisfaction with 48 airports, Singapore's Changi airport ranked tops with the world's business and leisure travellers. Measured categories included: convenience, services offered such as restaurants, signposting, as well as for courtesy and helpfulness of their ground staff. Sydney and Helsinki were the next. Vancouver, the only Canadian airport on the list, was rated tenth.
LABELLING
Food producers will soon be able to label and advertise their products in Canada as helpful in the fight against specific illnesses, such as heart disease, osteoporosis, tooth decay, high blood pressure and some types of cancer. Such advertising has been legal in the U.S. since the mid-1990's and will be allowed in Canada as part of a revamping of the country's food labelling rules. Nutrition experts and food manufacturers applaud the move but warn that consumers will need to be educated on complicated nutritional information if they are to benefit from the changes.
INVESTMENT
China's largest investment in Canada is taking shape with the completion of the first phase of a textile company. Being built in Drummondville, Quebec, the new textile mill is expected to create 380 jobs in two years. The total investment will be US$30 million. The federal and Quebec governments have pledged a total of US$8.5 million in loans or subsidies to support the project. Canada hopes the project will encourage more Chinese firms to use Canada as a gateway into North America.
SIZE
A chip of silicon a quarter inch square has the capacity of the original 1949 ENIAC computer which occupied a full city block.
COMMUNICATIONS
Recently, 30 top British police officers were given training as magicians. The course, called the Magic of Networking, is aimed at improving communication skills.
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
Health Canada is warning that dangerous products are ending up in garage sales where neither the seller nor buyer know the merchandise is defective. The department publishes a list of dangerous products which is periodically updated, but it only has 35 inspectors for the entire country to make sure these goods never make it to market. Some baby cribs, walkers, car seats and hockey gear are on the list. It's estimated that garage sales earn $100 million annually.
WINE
Canadians are drinking more red wine than all other kinds put together. Vintners are building dozens of new wineries across the country, planting new vineyards and converting production to fill the demand for the more sophisticated--and profitable--red wines. Sales of reds passed whites for the first time in fiscal 2000 which ended March 31st and passed all other wines in the next 12 months accounting for 53 per cent of all wine sales in Canada. They are still growing by 13 per cent a year, far outpacing the growth of whites and beer at about one percent each.
CALLS
Indiana has recently introduced the most stringent legislation restricting telemarketers. Under the new measure, consumers can put their name on a "do not call" list. Once a person is on the "no call" list, telemarketers are forbidden to call. The only exceptions are charities, newspapers, insurance agents and real estate agents, providing they don't use telemarketing firms. Companies that ignore the new rule risk penalties of up to $25,000 after January 1st, 2002.
PRODUCTIVITY
Four Canadian assembly plants and one Canadian truck factory ranked among the most productive of North American auto plants last year according to a recent report. The report measures how many hours it takes, on average, to assemble a vehicle in most of the assembly plants in North America.
CAVIAR
Canadian fishermen are trying to fill the world shortage of Russian caviar which sells in Canada for $90 a tiny jar. Canada has the fish, the lakes and the technical knowledge to produce caviar that is just as good as the exotic Russian variety; all that is needed is patience. A successful caviar operation is a long-term project. Some species of sturgeon live for 120 years and weigh 1.2 tonnes.
FTAA
The draft negotiating text for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) has been released. An FTAA would create the world's largest free trade area with 800 million people in 34 countries and a combined gross domestic product of nearly $17 trillion. Despite a commitment to establish a free-trade zone by 2005, the draft shows that after more than seven years of consultation, little consensus has been agreed. Most of the 430-page text is in brackets meaning that at least one of the 34 countries objected to the wording of almost every paragraph.
SEEDS
In a move to cope with soaring vegetable imports, Japanese seed makers have begun curbing exports of seeds that are used overseas to grow vegetables for shipment to Japan. Domestic seed producers sell about 69 million tons of vegetable seeds a year. While 94 per cent of them are sold in Japan, the remaining six per cent are exported overseas for production of vegetables, such as green peppers, eggplants and watermelons for shipment to Japan.
HOLES
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to determine how big the holes in Swiss cheese should be. The USDA has released a 15 page regulation that would require the holes in Swiss cheese to be reduced from an average of eleven-sixteenths to three-eights of an inch in diameter. The USDA claims it is considering the change because of lobbying from the cheese industry which wants the popular cheese to qualify for a federal Grade A rating rather than the present Grade B rating which reduces the price.
LEGO
It was invented in Denmark in 1916. Today the LEGO company has over 9,000 employees. In Latin, the term "Lego" means "I put together" or "I assemble." The product has enjoyed a boom in sales lately. U.S sales are up eight per cent from 1998 and one in ten Lego buyers is now an adult. The passion runs so strong among some in the high-tech sector that one recent recruit to a Seattle web company asked for, and received, a desk built entirely of Lego. The bricks alone cost US$2,975 and the desk took three solid weeks to build and glue.
CULTURE
Canada's trade deficit in cultural goods and services declined for the first time in five years in 2000, as the growth rate in exports far exceeded the growth in imports. The nation sold almost $4.5 billion worth of cultural products to the world last year, up 8.1% from 1999. However, imports rose only 1.7% to $7.5 billion resulting in a trade deficit of just over $3.0 billion. The U.S. is Canada's foremost trading partner, for imports and exports. In 2000, the U.S. received 94% of Canada's culture commodity exports and accounted for 83% of Canada's cultural commodity imports, worth $3.9 billion.
SWITZERLAND
The Swiss Senate has voted unanimously in favour of forging a free trade agreement with Mexico which is Switzerland's fourth most important trade partner in the Americas. The U.S. is first, followed by Canada and Brazil. Current Mexican exports to Switzerland total US$2.25 billion. Switzerland estimates that it will be able to save US$56 million in duty payments alone. Mexico will benefit from the waiving of duty payments on products such as coffee, bananas and honey.
EQUITIES
In the first four months of the year, Canadians bought $17.8 billion of international equities. The investments have gone 70 per cent to U.S. equities and the remainder to overseas shares. The investments have been driven by the Canadian mutual and pension fund sectors.
SHIPPING
Canada has unveiled a new policy framework that will boost the country's shipbuilding and industrial marine sector. The framework is comprised of more than 20 measures and it is expected that the new initiatives will support new business of C$200 and C$300 million annually which will almost double the current production of about C$230 million.
BARCODES
In 1974, a pack of chewing gum with a barcode became the first supermarket item to be scanned at a checkout counter. New two-dimensional designs will let manufacturers incorporate more information and security features into product packaging. A new code, based on a grid of tiny squares, can carry up to 7,000 pieces of information that can be read by a scanner. They can store photos, signatures and fingerprints, offering a multitude of security and anti-fraud applications.
EDUCATION
Children from both ends of the income distribution attend private schools in Canada; 29 per cent of children who attend private schools are from families with incomes below $50,000, while 26 per cent are from families with at least twice as much income. In 1998/99, 1 out of every 18 children, or 5.6 per cent, attended a private school for elementary or secondary education. In total, 298,000 were enroled in private schools; just under 5 million went to public schools.
EUROPE
Canada and the European Union continue trying to improve trade and economic relations though the EU's importance as a trading partner continues to decline. Europe's imports of goods and services from Canada have dropped to six per cent from 10 per cent a decade ago. EU officials have shown little enthusiasm for a bilateral pact even though eliminating tariffs could raise EU sales in Canada by 34 per cent or $7 billion a year. Canada's exports to Europe would jump by 11 per cent, or 16 per cent and if EU duties on agri-business were removed.
REPUTATION
Canadian business leaders are more likely than their international counterparts to fret about information on the Internet damaging their company's reputation. The study, which polled leaders in eight countries in North America and Europe, found that one-third of the 50 Canadian senior executives were "very concerned" about negative information about their company. At the same time, just over 20 per cent said that they periodically monitored what was said about their company on the Internet. In the U.S., 41 per cent said their firms made periodic checks and one quarter were concerned about negative comments.
ACKEE
Ever since the U.S. agreed last year to lift a decades-old ban on the importation of Jamaica's national fruit, sales have soared. Thousands of acres of new ackee trees have been planted and diplomats and farmers have used the fruit as an example of how greater free trade can benefit small countries such as Jamaica
ALBERTA
A recent Fraser Institute survey indicates that Alberta has established a clear lead over Ontario and other provinces as the best place for doing business in Canada. However, recent tax cuts introduced in British Columbia should allow it to move up quickly from its current status as the province with the least friendly business climate. Canadian investment fund managers responsible for $282 billion in pension assets rank Alberta No.1 because of its low tax and business-friendly regulatory environment.
AIRPORTS
In a survey of 90,000 international passengers to rank their satisfaction with 48 airports, Singapore's Changi airport ranked tops with the world's business and leisure travellers. Measured categories included: convenience, services offered such as restaurants, signposting, as well as for courtesy and helpfulness of their ground staff. Sydney and Helsinki were the next. Vancouver, the only Canadian airport on the list, was rated tenth.
LABELLING
Food producers will soon be able to label and advertise their products in Canada as helpful in the fight against specific illnesses, such as heart disease, osteoporosis, tooth decay, high blood pressure and some types of cancer. Such advertising has been legal in the U.S. since the mid-1990's and will be allowed in Canada as part of a revamping of the country's food labelling rules. Nutrition experts and food manufacturers applaud the move but warn that consumers will need to be educated on complicated nutritional information if they are to benefit from the changes.
INVESTMENT
China's largest investment in Canada is taking shape with the completion of the first phase of a textile company. Being built in Drummondville, Quebec, the new textile mill is expected to create 380 jobs in two years. The total investment will be US$30 million. The federal and Quebec governments have pledged a total of US$8.5 million in loans or subsidies to support the project. Canada hopes the project will encourage more Chinese firms to use Canada as a gateway into North America.
SIZE
A chip of silicon a quarter inch square has the capacity of the original 1949 ENIAC computer which occupied a full city block.
COMMUNICATIONS
Recently, 30 top British police officers were given training as magicians. The course, called the Magic of Networking, is aimed at improving communication skills.
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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