September 2002 Edition
WIND
The University of Washington has designed a spacecraft with a sail propelled by solar winds and has been given a grant by the NASA to develop the idea. The size of the sail's span, as envisioned is 20 miles. The distance that the sail could help a spacecraft to travel would be 50 miles per second or 180,000 miles an hour.
ANDES
Canada and members of the Andean community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) are holding preliminary talks on a proposed free trade agreement. The Andean countries are important commercial partners for Canada. Bilateral trade in 2001 reached C$3.6 billion with Canadian exports totalling C$1.5 billion. Canadian investment in the Andean countries is estimated to be C$11 billion.
WEEDS
Scientists have confirmed what farmers have suspected for years, that genes introduced into plants can migrate to nearby weeds and possibly make them stronger and more resistant to chemicals. Experiments in three U.S. states have shown that sunflowers modified with an artificial gene designed to help ward off pests can spread that ability to wild sunflowers.
SERVICES
Canada has posted its third consecutive increase in the overall trade deficit in international services in 2001. The trade deficit -the difference between services that Canada exports and its payments to foreign suppliers- increased to C$8.4 billion from C$7.4 billion in 2000. Overall exports in services declined 0.9 per cent to C$56.6 billion, the first downturn since 1982. At the same time, payments rose 0.7 per cent to C$65-billion. Trade in services covers transactions in travel, transportation, a range of business and professional services referred to as commercial services, and government services to Canada's trading partners.
BIRTHS
Canadians are pushing the age boundaries upward when starting their families, according to new data on births. In 1983, women in their 30s and older accounted for only 14 per cent of live births to first time mothers. By 1999, this proportion had more than doubled to 32 per cent. The story was similar for the fathers of babies born to first time mothers. In 1983, men in their 30s and older fathered 32 per cent of the babies of first time mothers. By 1999, that had risen to 51 per cent.
ORDERS
Canadians more than doubled their purchases of goods and services on line from home in 2000, according to the second annual snapshot of household electronic commerce activity from a Statscan survey. From January to December 2000, an estimated 1.5 million households placed 9.1 million orders over the Internet, spending an estimated C$1.1 billion. This compares with spending of about C$417 million for 3.3 million orders placed by an estimated 806,000 households during the previous survey period from December 1998 to November 1999. Despite the substantial increase in household e commerce, the value of orders placed over the Internet constituted a fraction of the C$591 billion in total personal expenditure in Canada in 2000.
COOLING
Summer in Japan is always hot and in Tokyo, almost unbearable. There is little greenery and concrete reflects heat while air conditioning units blast hot air out into the street. Now, a plan is being considered to cool Tokyo by pumping seawater around the city through underground pipes. The proposal, costing an estimated US$500-million, would take cold water from Tokyo bay, pump it under the centre of the city while heated water is pumped back into the sea.
CARP
A Canada-U.S. commission on shared waterways is calling on both countries to help avert a serious threat to boundary waters posed by Asian Carp. The fish were imported into the Southern U.S. in the late 1970s because they eat unwanted algae and snails in ponds. They have escaped into the Mississippi watershed and are moving north. Experts say they have the potential to seriously damage or destroy the Great Lakes ecosystem.
ICE CREAM
Canadian scientists have discovered that adding wheat proteins to ice cream improves it by giving it a smoother, creamier texture and a longer shelf life. This is achieved by adding protein extracted from winter wheat, a crop planted in the fall which has the ability to survive over the winter. This research may have applications for other frozen foods.
WORDS
Japan has a long tradition of adapting words from foreign languages, but many imported words transcribe badly into Japanese because Japanese has a limited range of sounds. The government has now convened a panel of experts to devise native words to replace imported English terms which many Japanese find incomprehensible and unpronounceable.
TRENDS
Consumer groups say the VCR could be obsolete in three years based on current sales of DVD players which have grown faster than any other consumer electronic product in history.Sales of DVD home theatre systems in the US ballooned 230 per cent in 2001 over 2000. And sales are up 987 per cent so far in 2002. By contrast, VCR sales have dropped 40 per cent in the same period. Sales trends are similar in Canada.
DEVELOPMENT
In the 1960s, Asia's income per head was less than that of Africa. Now, Asia's per capita GDP is double that of Africa. Asia, which has 3.3 billion people, half the world's population, is also home to a disproportionate share of its poor. But Asia's poverty rate is falling; from 65 per cent in 1960 to 17 per cent in 2000. In fact mortality is down from 141 per 1,000 live births in 1960 to 48 in 2000 and life expectancy is up from 41 years to 67 over the same period.
VANILLA
Tropical storms in 2000 and 2001 badly damaged Madagascar's valuable vanilla production. With the current political turmoil in the country, the industry's problems are worsening.The best-quality vanilla pods can fetch thousands of dollars a kilo, but more typically sells for around US$200 a kilo, five times the level before storms ravaged crops and stocks. As prices have risen, manufacturers have turned to cheaper vanilla flavours that are produced artificially.
TECHNOLOGY
An intelligent wine glass that calls over the waiter when it needs refilling could soon be revolutionising restaurants and bars. Each glass is tagged by a microchip linked to a thin radio-frequency coil inside its base. The glass acts like a capacitor, with the drink serving as an insulator and the sides and base as conducting plates. When the level in the glass drops, a message containing the glass's unique identification code is sent to the waiter or to a display behind the bar.
QUOTAS
The total value of the milk quota in Canada is now about C$20-billion. This means the cost to buy the quota controlled by the average farm is worth just over C$1-million. There are about 1.14 million cows in the country meaning the value of quota per cow is about C$17,500, about seven times more than the cow would cost at auction.
ONIONS
Britain has introduced a new variety of onion that does not make the eyes water or leave a lingering odour on the breath. The Supasweet onion is sweeter and milder, has a crunchy texture and can even be eaten like an apple. The launch comes after Britain bred and tested hundred of types of onions before coming up with the Supasweet. The onion has been bred to thrive in that country's climate. Britain currently imports 20 per cent of the 100,000 tonnes of onions eaten each year.
INDIA
This country hopes to double trade with Latin America to around US$4-billion within the next three years from a mere US$1.7-billion at present. Recently a meeting was held with foreign ministers from Chile, Columbia and Costa Rica wherein the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in the information technology sector.
DISPOSABLE
A company is to begin selling no-frills disposable and recyclable cells phones across the United States. The two-way phones are plastic and the size of a deck of playing cards. Users talk and listen to callers via a microphone and ear piece connected by a thin wire. It is planned to sell the phones for US$40 for sixty minutes of talk time. The company plans eventually to expand into other countries.
CHOCOLATE
According to a recent report, an estimated 50,000 children are used as slave labourers on cocoa farms in West Africa. The Confectionary Manufacturers Association of Canada is doing all it can to stop cocoa farmers using child labour. Save the Children operates a transit centre on the border between Mali and the Ivory Coast where some of the children who escape cocoa farms end up. Children are purchased for 40 or 50 dollars by farmers who use them for 12 to 14 hours a day of back-breaking work.
INVESTMENT
Total capital spending in Canada on plant, equipment and housing should surpass C$200-billion in 2002, up sharply from earlier estimates of C$194-billion. This represents a 3 per cent increase from 2001. Housing investment alone is expected to rise 12 per cent to C$48-billion. Capital expenditure by municipalities should reach C$10.7-billion up 26 per cent from 2001.
WEATHER
Warmer winters in Britain will mean 20,000 fewer deaths and cut hospital admissions by two million days as global climate change warms the country. However, summers will become more deadly as a rise in average temperatures will bring more cases of skin cancer, heat stroke and food poisoning.
LABELS
A Washington food industry group is mounting a major campaign to block Oregon from requiring labels on genetically engineered foods. The state will include a measure on its November ballot that would require labelling of all modified food and food additives sold in stores and restaurants.
VACATIONS
Despite growing pressure from government advisory groups and mental health experts, Japanese workers nowadays take just 49.5 per cent of their 18-day annual holiday allowance. This is down from the 61 per cent of vacation days taken in 1980. In contrast, workers in France and Germany take every minute of the six weeks they are allocated. Americans take three-quarters, on average, of their 17 days off.
ROOM WITH A VIEW
A former public toilet with a beautiful view of the beach is the latest example of England's overheated real estate market. The 140-square-foot former men's and woman's washroom overlooks the coast in Dorset. The single story building, now in private hands, has planning permission to be converted into a small chalet with a 10-foot strip of land for a patio. Bids on the property so far have reached US$46,000.
TRIVIA
Hopscotch began in ancient Britain during the early Roman Empire. The original hopscotch courts were over 100-feet long. Roman soldiers ran the course in full armour and field packs and it was thought that Hopscotch would improve their footwork.
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 University of Washington has designed a spacecraft with a sail propelled by solar winds and has been given a grant by the NASA to develop the idea. The size of the sail's span, as envisioned is 20 miles. The distance that the sail could help a spacecraft to travel would be 50 miles per second or 180,000 miles an hour.
ANDES
Canada and members of the Andean community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) are holding preliminary talks on a proposed free trade agreement. The Andean countries are important commercial partners for Canada. Bilateral trade in 2001 reached C$3.6 billion with Canadian exports totalling C$1.5 billion. Canadian investment in the Andean countries is estimated to be C$11 billion.
WEEDS
Scientists have confirmed what farmers have suspected for years, that genes introduced into plants can migrate to nearby weeds and possibly make them stronger and more resistant to chemicals. Experiments in three U.S. states have shown that sunflowers modified with an artificial gene designed to help ward off pests can spread that ability to wild sunflowers.
SERVICES
Canada has posted its third consecutive increase in the overall trade deficit in international services in 2001. The trade deficit -the difference between services that Canada exports and its payments to foreign suppliers- increased to C$8.4 billion from C$7.4 billion in 2000. Overall exports in services declined 0.9 per cent to C$56.6 billion, the first downturn since 1982. At the same time, payments rose 0.7 per cent to C$65-billion. Trade in services covers transactions in travel, transportation, a range of business and professional services referred to as commercial services, and government services to Canada's trading partners.
BIRTHS
Canadians are pushing the age boundaries upward when starting their families, according to new data on births. In 1983, women in their 30s and older accounted for only 14 per cent of live births to first time mothers. By 1999, this proportion had more than doubled to 32 per cent. The story was similar for the fathers of babies born to first time mothers. In 1983, men in their 30s and older fathered 32 per cent of the babies of first time mothers. By 1999, that had risen to 51 per cent.
ORDERS
Canadians more than doubled their purchases of goods and services on line from home in 2000, according to the second annual snapshot of household electronic commerce activity from a Statscan survey. From January to December 2000, an estimated 1.5 million households placed 9.1 million orders over the Internet, spending an estimated C$1.1 billion. This compares with spending of about C$417 million for 3.3 million orders placed by an estimated 806,000 households during the previous survey period from December 1998 to November 1999. Despite the substantial increase in household e commerce, the value of orders placed over the Internet constituted a fraction of the C$591 billion in total personal expenditure in Canada in 2000.
COOLING
Summer in Japan is always hot and in Tokyo, almost unbearable. There is little greenery and concrete reflects heat while air conditioning units blast hot air out into the street. Now, a plan is being considered to cool Tokyo by pumping seawater around the city through underground pipes. The proposal, costing an estimated US$500-million, would take cold water from Tokyo bay, pump it under the centre of the city while heated water is pumped back into the sea.
CARP
A Canada-U.S. commission on shared waterways is calling on both countries to help avert a serious threat to boundary waters posed by Asian Carp. The fish were imported into the Southern U.S. in the late 1970s because they eat unwanted algae and snails in ponds. They have escaped into the Mississippi watershed and are moving north. Experts say they have the potential to seriously damage or destroy the Great Lakes ecosystem.
ICE CREAM
Canadian scientists have discovered that adding wheat proteins to ice cream improves it by giving it a smoother, creamier texture and a longer shelf life. This is achieved by adding protein extracted from winter wheat, a crop planted in the fall which has the ability to survive over the winter. This research may have applications for other frozen foods.
WORDS
Japan has a long tradition of adapting words from foreign languages, but many imported words transcribe badly into Japanese because Japanese has a limited range of sounds. The government has now convened a panel of experts to devise native words to replace imported English terms which many Japanese find incomprehensible and unpronounceable.
TRENDS
Consumer groups say the VCR could be obsolete in three years based on current sales of DVD players which have grown faster than any other consumer electronic product in history.Sales of DVD home theatre systems in the US ballooned 230 per cent in 2001 over 2000. And sales are up 987 per cent so far in 2002. By contrast, VCR sales have dropped 40 per cent in the same period. Sales trends are similar in Canada.
DEVELOPMENT
In the 1960s, Asia's income per head was less than that of Africa. Now, Asia's per capita GDP is double that of Africa. Asia, which has 3.3 billion people, half the world's population, is also home to a disproportionate share of its poor. But Asia's poverty rate is falling; from 65 per cent in 1960 to 17 per cent in 2000. In fact mortality is down from 141 per 1,000 live births in 1960 to 48 in 2000 and life expectancy is up from 41 years to 67 over the same period.
VANILLA
Tropical storms in 2000 and 2001 badly damaged Madagascar's valuable vanilla production. With the current political turmoil in the country, the industry's problems are worsening.The best-quality vanilla pods can fetch thousands of dollars a kilo, but more typically sells for around US$200 a kilo, five times the level before storms ravaged crops and stocks. As prices have risen, manufacturers have turned to cheaper vanilla flavours that are produced artificially.
TECHNOLOGY
An intelligent wine glass that calls over the waiter when it needs refilling could soon be revolutionising restaurants and bars. Each glass is tagged by a microchip linked to a thin radio-frequency coil inside its base. The glass acts like a capacitor, with the drink serving as an insulator and the sides and base as conducting plates. When the level in the glass drops, a message containing the glass's unique identification code is sent to the waiter or to a display behind the bar.
QUOTAS
The total value of the milk quota in Canada is now about C$20-billion. This means the cost to buy the quota controlled by the average farm is worth just over C$1-million. There are about 1.14 million cows in the country meaning the value of quota per cow is about C$17,500, about seven times more than the cow would cost at auction.
ONIONS
Britain has introduced a new variety of onion that does not make the eyes water or leave a lingering odour on the breath. The Supasweet onion is sweeter and milder, has a crunchy texture and can even be eaten like an apple. The launch comes after Britain bred and tested hundred of types of onions before coming up with the Supasweet. The onion has been bred to thrive in that country's climate. Britain currently imports 20 per cent of the 100,000 tonnes of onions eaten each year.
INDIA
This country hopes to double trade with Latin America to around US$4-billion within the next three years from a mere US$1.7-billion at present. Recently a meeting was held with foreign ministers from Chile, Columbia and Costa Rica wherein the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in the information technology sector.
DISPOSABLE
A company is to begin selling no-frills disposable and recyclable cells phones across the United States. The two-way phones are plastic and the size of a deck of playing cards. Users talk and listen to callers via a microphone and ear piece connected by a thin wire. It is planned to sell the phones for US$40 for sixty minutes of talk time. The company plans eventually to expand into other countries.
CHOCOLATE
According to a recent report, an estimated 50,000 children are used as slave labourers on cocoa farms in West Africa. The Confectionary Manufacturers Association of Canada is doing all it can to stop cocoa farmers using child labour. Save the Children operates a transit centre on the border between Mali and the Ivory Coast where some of the children who escape cocoa farms end up. Children are purchased for 40 or 50 dollars by farmers who use them for 12 to 14 hours a day of back-breaking work.
INVESTMENT
Total capital spending in Canada on plant, equipment and housing should surpass C$200-billion in 2002, up sharply from earlier estimates of C$194-billion. This represents a 3 per cent increase from 2001. Housing investment alone is expected to rise 12 per cent to C$48-billion. Capital expenditure by municipalities should reach C$10.7-billion up 26 per cent from 2001.
WEATHER
Warmer winters in Britain will mean 20,000 fewer deaths and cut hospital admissions by two million days as global climate change warms the country. However, summers will become more deadly as a rise in average temperatures will bring more cases of skin cancer, heat stroke and food poisoning.
LABELS
A Washington food industry group is mounting a major campaign to block Oregon from requiring labels on genetically engineered foods. The state will include a measure on its November ballot that would require labelling of all modified food and food additives sold in stores and restaurants.
VACATIONS
Despite growing pressure from government advisory groups and mental health experts, Japanese workers nowadays take just 49.5 per cent of their 18-day annual holiday allowance. This is down from the 61 per cent of vacation days taken in 1980. In contrast, workers in France and Germany take every minute of the six weeks they are allocated. Americans take three-quarters, on average, of their 17 days off.
ROOM WITH A VIEW
A former public toilet with a beautiful view of the beach is the latest example of England's overheated real estate market. The 140-square-foot former men's and woman's washroom overlooks the coast in Dorset. The single story building, now in private hands, has planning permission to be converted into a small chalet with a 10-foot strip of land for a patio. Bids on the property so far have reached US$46,000.
TRIVIA
Hopscotch began in ancient Britain during the early Roman Empire. The original hopscotch courts were over 100-feet long. Roman soldiers ran the course in full armour and field packs and it was thought that Hopscotch would improve their footwork.
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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