November 2004 Edition
CARS
The number of cars on China's roads is set to rise sevenfold to 140 million by 2020 the government has forecast. The total number of cars will eventually peak at 250 million, or 150 cars for every 1,000 people. That compares with 500 cars per 1,000 people in Western Europe and close to 900 in the U.S. The projected surge in car sales reflects rapidly rising income levels fuelled by China's economic boom. Foreign car firms have pledged to spend a total of US$13-billion in China by the end of the decade.
PHONES
Cellphones have bitten into hotel earnings according to one hotel consulting group. Profits from in-room phones have dropped 76 per cent in four years, sliding from US$644 an available room in 2000 to US$152 last year. The downturn accounted for 10 percentage of the hotel industry's 36 per cent decline in profits during the same period. Last year it was reported that phone jamming equipment was being sold to hotels in Britain as a tool for increasing revenue from in-room phones.
BEANS
Canada is in a 10th place tie with Mexico for baked-bean eating. The world ranking of estimated per capita consumption: Ireland, 5.6 kilograms annually; Britain, 4.8 kilograms and New Zealand 2.3 kilograms. The United States is 4th at 2.0 kilograms. Canada and Mexico consume 1.2 kilograms per capita annually.
PIGEONS
In Britain, owners of racing pigeons will try a new tactic to deal with losses of their birds to a resurgent population of peregrines and sparrow hawks. They will spray their slower birds with a foul-tasting chemical or give the birds a dietary supplement that has the same effect. It is hoped that after a few bad meals the raptors will develop an aversion to pigeons. Some pigeon fanciers have paid more than $230,000 for stud birds and commonly pay $2,300 for the birds they will race.
FUNGI
It has been estimated that there are 1.5 million species of fungi existing on earth. Of these, only about 10 to 15 of these have been discovered and named. By contrast, an estimated 90 per cent of the world's 300,000 species of flowering plants have already been described. From 1980 to 1999, an average of 1,100 new species of fungi were found and described each year. The fungus kingdom has made many significant contributions to 20th-century medicine, including penicillin.
TEXTILES
The U.S. textile industry plans to petition the U.S. Administration to block the flood of Chinese imports expected next year after global quotas on textiles and apparel are lifted. Leaders of the textile industry warn that the U.S. could lose up to 600,000 jobs if action is not taken. The request is unusual because petitions normally seek to limit imports after they have damaged a domestic industry. American textile groups have joined dozens of other industry groups from 590 countries in asking the WTO to vote on slowing the elimination of quotas.
CAVIAR
The United Nations agency that controls trade in endangered species has halted exports of caviar until the countries where it is produced comply with an agreement to protect sturgeon. The main exporting countries which border the Caspian Sea have failed to provide an accurate measurement of how much sturgeon is illegally harvested. International trade in the world's 20 or so varieties of surgeon has been regulated by the UN since 1998 after a drastic rise in poaching.
TECHNOLOGY
As with many businesses, wine stores are turning to computers for help. An increasing number are installing interactive touch screens to dispense information about wines, wine and food parings, grape varieties, distilled spirits and more. Some allow customers to find wines by country, grape variety, price and other criteria. Each unit has a bar code reader and built-in printer. Buyers curious about wines can scan in the code, read the text on the screen and print it.
IRELAND
A new survey show that Ireland's population now totals more than four million--its highest level in 130 years--with this rise reflecting immigration stemming from the country's economic boom. In most countries a relatively small population growth might go unnoticed but Irish history with its long periods of population decline and mass emigration, means the latest survey is significant. This is the first time the population has exceeded four million since 1871. Thirty years before that, in the 1840s, the population stood at double that figure.
SPACE
The European Space Agency's chief scientist has said there should be a Noah's Ark on the Moon, in case the Earth is destroyed by an asteroid or nuclear holocaust. The ark would be a repository for the DNA of every single plant or animal. The scientists are concerned that if there is ever a catastrophe and the Earth was destroyed, there would be nothing left of the rich diversity of life on the planet.
STOWAWAYS
The number of people found hiding in compartments, cargo holds and containers fell to 481 last year, a 16 per cent reduction from the previous year. The key stowaway route in 2003 was the journey from West Africa to Europe.
NAFTA
Since 1993 when the North American Free Trade Agreement was passed, total trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico more than doubled from US$306-billion to US$621-billion. U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico grew from US$142-billion to US$263-billion. Mexican exports to the U.S. grew 242 per cent. U.S. manufacturing wages rose 14.4 per cent in the 10 years after NAFTA passed, more than double the 6.5 per cent increase in the 10 years preceding NAFTA.
COUPONS
The Promotion Marketing Association (PMA) Coupon Council reports that manufacturers in the U.S. offered more than US$250-billion in coupons in 2003 resulting in $3-billion in consumer savings. The council also found that retailers are increasingly turning to coupon promotions to help attract, retain and reward loyal shoppers--in fact, in 2003, 46 per cent of retailers reported offering some form of bonus coupon program. The average face value of manufacturers' coupons increased 4.9 per cent to 85 cents in 2003.
STORES
Fast-growing Family Dollar Stores opened 109 discount stores in the U.S during August 2004, bringing its total to 5,466. During its last fiscal year, the chain opened 500 stores, closed 61 for a net addition of 439 stores. The chain runs stores in 44 states and plans to open another 500 stores in its next fiscal year.
POST
Britains Royal Mail has missed all of its performance targets in the first quarter of its financial year. The beleaguered state-owned deliveries service had a raft of bad publicity earlier in the year when it was revealed it paid more than US$100-million in compensation for late deliveries made last year. New figures show that just 88.3 per cent of first class letters were delivered on time against a target of 92.5 per cent.
PEARLS
There are about ten pearl farms in the Deching region of China, one of the country's most traditional industries which began in the thirteenth century. China is now the largest fresh water pearl producer in the world. Almost a thousand tonnes of pearls are produced each year by about 300,000 workers around China. In some factories, only about 10 per cent of all pearls produced are used in jewellery, the rest are crushed and made into medicine and make up. Crushed pearls are used in skin creams as pale women in Japan are considered beautiful.
WATER
A group of Texas irrigators and farmers is seeking $500-million from Mexico for crop-loss and other damages caused by that country's failure to comply with a water-sharing treaty. The 1944 treaty requires Mexico to send the U.S. an average of 350,000 acre-feet of water annually from six Rio Grande tributaries. The U.S. in return must send Mexico 1.5-million acre-feet from the Colorado River. An acre-foot is 1,234 litres enough to flood one acre a foot deep.
CLIMATE
Scientists believe a 50-million-year record of the Earth's climate lies in an underwater mountain chain in the ice-clogged waters near the North Pole. An international team is drilling three 500 metre holes deep into the Arctic Ocean ridge for the first time in a complex effort to extract sediment that will provide a climatic history, and may help to explain how humans are changing the planet. Glaciers, the sun and Earth's rotation and orbit are considered the other main factors affecting climate.
ART
Over the past century, an estimated US$5-billion worth of art has been stolen, the Wall Street Journal estimates. Most often, high-profile works of art are never recovered. According to the Art Loss Register, which tracks stolen art worldwide, among the missing are 467 works by Pablo Picasso and 289 by Marc Chagall. The Register says it adds about 10,000 items a year. Of art thefts, 54 per cent are from private homes compared with 12 per cent from museums.
FISHING
Recreational anglers may be responsible for landing nearly 25 per cent of over-fished salt water species caught off U.S. coasts a new study suggests. Researchers say that the impact of 10 million U.S. recreational anglers is far more significant than previously thought. Across the country, recreational and commercial fishers have been pointing fingers for decades over which group is responsible for dwindling stocks of sports fish.
SOURCING
More than half of U.S. consumers (54 per cent) choose supermarkets as their preferred point of purchase for fresh fruit and vegetables during peak growing seasons in their region. Thirty-seven per cent prefer to buy from local farm stands and vegetable stores and believe produce from these stores are fresher. The majority of those buying at supermarkets do so for reasons of convenience. Taste and consistent quality play a key role in determining where consumers shop.
DISCS
A group of record labels has announced plans to introduce a new disc format later this year that combines CD and DVD technology. The DualDisc product will have a full album on the CD side of the disc and the DVD side will include a range of features such as music videos, interviews, photo galleries, concert footage and lyrics. The announcement comes as traditional music sales are under pressure from on-line file swapping and legal downloads from the Internet.
CAPACITY
According to projections of Russia's Ministry of Industry and Energy, airfreight volumes in the country will rise by 10 to 12 per cent in the next few years. There are fears for lack of capacity by 2006 to 2008 due to the condition of the aircraft fleet. Two-thirds of the commercial aircraft stem from the Soviet era.
TASTE
The Far Eastern Economic Review reports that Raw Horseflesh Ice Cream is on sale in Japan. Other new flavours available from Ice Cream City in Tokyo include: goat, whale, shark's fin noodle, abalone, seaweed, chicken, garlic and lettuce-potato.
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