June 2003 Edition
PEARLS
The SARS epidemic has had a profound impact on the pearl industry. Foreign buyers have been frightened away from Hong Kong and China's Guangdong province, which supply around 38 per cent of the world's pearls. Also, Chinese vendors have been barred from several major exhibitions, resulting in a 40 per cent drop in the world's pearl distribution and sales. Hong Kong has become the most important pearl manufacturing base because of its quality products and low labour costs, which are less than one 10th of that in the U.S.
SUV's
42,850 people died in U.S. traffic-related accidents in 2002, the highest number since 1990. Rollovers of SUVs and pickups accounted for more than half of the increase from 2001 to 2002. Rollovers now account for 32 per cent of automobile fatalities, more than 10,000 annually. Rollover deaths are increasing along with sales of light trucks--SUV's, pickups and minivans. Since 1980, light trucks have grown from a fifth of the nation's sales to more than half.
FISH
Several U.S. retailers are to begin adding the words "color added" to the labels of all farm-raised fish from the Salmonid family, including salmon and trout. Many suppliers add supplements to the food given to their farm-raised salmon and trout. These additives enhance the pigmentation of the farm-raised fish but do not affect the taste or nutritional value of the fish.
GROWTH
The Conference Board of Canada predicts that the Alberta cities of Calgary and Edmonton will lead growth among Canadian metropolitan areas in 2003. Ontario cities are also pegged for strong performance over the next four years due largely to strong domestic growth and a recovery in the U.S. Victoria, B.C. is predicted to have the lowest growth. However, Export Development Canada expects B.C.'s export sales to increase seven percent this year.
PROGRESS
Some dishwashers have advanced sensors to determine how dirty the dishes are by analyzing the water that is being circulated. The sensor will then decide how many fill-and-drain cycles the dishwasher will execute.
ICELAND
When the Vikings settled Iceland more than 1,000 years ago, the selection of the country's name was a bit of a misnomer. The island in the middle of the North Atlantic wasn't really an island of ice and snow. It boasted extensive forests composed entirely of stands of birch trees which covered 30 per cent of the area. Glaciers, by contrast, covered less than 10 per cent. Within three centuries of their arrival in 874, the Vikings had obliterated the forests. Scientists estimate that Iceland's deforestation and soil erosion have released six billion tonnes of carbon since settlement.
DRINK
The French drank 101 bottles of wine each in 2001, according to a wine-trade survey. Russians drink some 15 litres of pure alcohol per year, one of the highest rates in the world. By some estimates, one in seven Russians are alcoholics.
BLACK
Britain's National Physical Laboratory has formulated a super-black coating that is up to 25 times blacker than traditional paint. The material absorbs nearly 99.7 per cent of light making it the darkest and least reflective surface ever formulated.
LAKES
One out of every three Canadians and one out of seven Americans rely on the Great Lakes for their fresh water. Scientists report that we have now constructed one of the world's largest zoos in the Great Lakes containing some 145 alien species, largely as a result of inadequate regulations to control the discharge of ballast water from other continents.
SINGAPORE
The U.S. has signed an historic trade agreement with Singapore which will wipe out tariffs on around US$33-billion of trade between the two countries annually. It will also give US banks and companies more access to one of Asia's main financial centres. If approved by Congress, Singapore will be the first Asian country to have such an agreement with the U.S. Singapore is America's 11th largest trading partner.
FRANCE
According to the EU, France is at the head of their rule breakers, facing 220 legal actions for failing to comply with the single market. Italy, with 200 infringement cases pending is second. Between them, the two countries account for more than 25 per cent of the 1,598 actions launched by the commission against the 15 member states. The UK is cited in 121 alleged breaches of the single market rules, which oblige EU governments to comply with around 1,500 pieces of legislation on the free movement of people, goods and services.
SURGERY
6.6 million Americans had a nip, tuck and lift with cosmetic plastic surgery in 2002. Surgical cosmetic procedures remain stable with a one per cent increase in 2002. The top five surgical procedures in 2002 for women were nose reshaping, liposuction, breast augmentation, eyelid surgery and facelift. For men they were nose reshaping, liposuction, eyelid surgery. hair transplantation and ear surgery.
MOTHERS
Canada tied with the Netherlands as the sixth-best country in the world for mothers. A humanitarian aid group compared the social and physical health of mothers and their children in 117 countries. Sweden topped the list, followed by Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Canada and the Netherlands. Rounding out the top ten were Australia, Austria and Britain with the U.S. ranked 11th.
MEXICO
Last month we reported on the growth of call centres in Mexico. This growth is due to reality television shows which have recently become popular in Mexico. The call centres are required to handle the huge volume of calls from viewers who call in to place electronic votes on who should be thrown off shows.
HEAT
Forget those bulky cardboard shades propped in the windshield to keep a parked car from heating up like an oven. 3M has come up with the Solar Reflecting Film, an invisible ultra thin sheet of clear plastic built into the windshield. It deflects the sun's heat and ultimately increases fuel efficiency. It doesn't just keep the car cooler in the sun, but also works while the car is moving. reducing the burden on air-conditioners.
EUROPE
The EU has announced a proposal for an enhanced trade agreement with Canada that will focus on removing regulatory barriers to boost commerce between the two countries. As a bloc, the 15-member EU states rank as Canada's second-biggest trading partner after the U.S. In 2002, Canadian exports to the EU were C$21.2-billion and imports from the EU into Canada were C$36.1-billion. In a recent government poll, 76 per cent of Canadians polled believe there should be free trade between the EU and Canada.
SHOES
Thousands of pairs of Nike basketball shoes are washing up on beaches from Washington State to Alaska after spilling from a container ship in Northern California. The ship lost cargo during a storm, including three 40-foot containers each carrying an estimated 5,500 pairs of shoes. All 33,000 are wearable. Unfortunately, Nike didn't tie the laces together so the chances of finding a matching pair are remote.
OUTLETS
U.S. factory outlet malls sold US$3.5- billion worth of apparel in 2002, down 2.2 per cent from the previous year. Apparel sales overall fell 6.8 per cent to US$163-billion in 2002. When all products are counted, outlet sales hit about US$16.5 billion last year. The number of centres nationwide is down 20 per cent to about 260 since the heydays of the mid-1990s.
CCC
China has created regulations for new compulsory product certification mark called the China Compulsory Certification (CCC). The new regulations are to be fully implemented in August 2003 and cover a total of 132 products. The new mark replaces the old CCEE mark (quality assurance symbol for China-made products) and the CCIB mark (quality assurance symbol for imported products). The CCC scheme will standardize technical regulations, certification marks and fee schedules for both domestic and imported products. These changes result from China's commitment to conform to the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.
SCHOOL
The number of students from the United States attending school in Canada, whether high school or university, doubled to slightly more than 12,000 in 2001 from 6,500 in 1990. The low Canadian dollar and cheaper tuition fees were the main reason. Canada has experienced unprecedented growth in the number of foreign students in recent year. At the end of 2001, there were more than 130,000 foreign students in Canada, more than double the nearly 57,000 in 1990.
WIPES
Each specialty formulated disposable wipe is part of a US$-2-billion industry projected to reach US$-4.5-billion by 2010. About 57 per cent of U.S.households have bought a product designed to help tidy up. Research shows women today spend 22 per cent less time cleaning than their mothers did in 1965. The industry introduced 110 different kinds of wipes in 2001 and 130 last year.
GRAIN
Thanks to Chinese beer drinkers, malt barley is expected to be the biggest growth story over the next decade in the world grain trade. China is overtaking the U.S. as the world's largest beer producer. The latest forecast suggests that beer production in China is expected to reach 300-million hectolitres by 2011, up from the current 235-million hectolitres, which is about what the U.S. produces annually. A hectolitre is 100 litres.
OIL
Nicaragua has said it plans to award bids to foreign companies for oil exploration near the San Andres archipelago in the southwestern Caribbean. Colombia has said that it is prepared to intervene militarily if Nicaragua explores for oil in the island chain which is claimed by both nations.
FILMS
The Governor of Illinois has launched a tax incentive scheme to lure film shoots to his state and away from Canada. Since 2001, 18 movies that were set in Chicago were actually filmed in Canada. He hopes to restore what was a US$124-million industry in the late 1990's, but sank to US$17.6-million in 2002.
TECHNOLOGY
Two Irish schools are testing a new scheme using mobile-phone technology to take the temptation out of playing truant. Under the scheme, a database records the names of absent students each day and automatically sends out a text message to parents notifying then if their child missed roll-call. If the absenteeism is legitimate, parents can ignore the message. If not, they can contact the school.
INSURANCE
Families will not be able to watch locomotives steam around the 1.5 acres of a Miniature Railway Village in England. The opening has been delayed because insurers would not provide coverage "because of a heightened threat from terrorism".
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