December 2006 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

December 2006 Edition

TRANSPORT

 
According to the industry, railways are used in Canada to get 99 per cent of coal to market, 90 per cent of grain and the auto sector output, 75 per cent of aluminum inputs and 70 per cent of chemical industry output. Also, 65 per cent of potash and chemical fertilizers, 50 per cent of pulp and paper and 40 per cent of Canadian steel.

WATER

A scarcity of water is harming the case for using food crops to make biofuels. Surging crude oil prices have strengthened the argument for green energy created by cultivating food crops such as sugar cane to make ethanol fuel and vegetable oils to make biodiesel. In a world where one billion people lack access to clean drinking water, vast quantities are needed to cultivate crops with two thirds of the world's water used in agriculture. It is estimated that 700 tonnes of water are required to grow one tonne of sugar cane.

MAIL

The European Commission is calling for Europe's postal market to be opened up to rivals by 2009 saying that mail delivery companies should not have a legal monopoly on any part of the service. However, postal operators will still have to guarantee a basic service. Many countries have been slow to open up their postal market to competition, and some, especially France, are reluctant to move forward with a reform agreed on nearly 10 years ago. Where it has occurred, in Britain and Sweden for instance, postal service has improved.

AQUACULTURE

Operating revenues generated for Canada's aquaculture industry in 2005 rebounded to an all-time high in the wake of increased production and exports. Record revenues of C$753-million were recorded, up 11 per cent from 2004. This ended two consecutive years of decline. The value of aquaculture exports surged 22 per cent to $515-million with a 25 per cent increase in the value of fresh salmon exports to the U.S.

IMMIGRANTS

The Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. estimates that 12.6 million Latin American immigrants in the U.S. will send US$45.3-billion home this year. Immigrants in Texas will send $5.2-billion home to their relatives second only to California. Immigrants from Mexico, Central America and South America are estimated to have more than $500-billion in buying power in the U.S. In Texas, immigrants contribute about $52-billion to the local economy, up 64 per cent over 2004. Immigrants in California send home about $13.2-billion. New York ranks third with $3.7- billion bound for Latin America.

SPENDING

Supermarkets in the U.S. continue to boost their Information Technology (IT) spending and will have paid US$9.8-billion to refresh their systems this year. While self-checkout and new hardware systems are big parts of this expenditure, software and external services are driving much of the IT spending growth.

STUDIES

Xiamen University in China is requiring law and business students to take golf lessons to prepare them for a business world where deals are made on the links. Several other institutions offer golf lessons but this is the first one making them a required class. Some students complained the sport is too elitist but supporters defended it as a healthy social activity.

ELECTRICITY

A report by the North American Electric Reliability Council warns that demand for electricity is increasing three times as fast as resources are being added in the U.S., a trend that could shake electric-system reliability in the coming decade. US demand will increase by about 20 per cent from 2005 to 2015. Increasingly, it is left to a deregulated market to determine whether and when new resources are built.

TRENDS

The London black cab, an icon since the Second World War, will be built outside England for the first time to attract new buyers and lower costs. The taxis will be made in Shanghai in 2008 and will sell into the local market. In Britain, 100,000 black cabs have been sold since 1948. About one million taxis and limousines are sold annually in China. The black cab takes its name from a shortened version of cabriolet, a type of carriage available for hire in 19th century London.

LEFT-OVERS

The world's first dedicated doggie bag was invented in 1948. However, the doggie bag concept goes back at least as far as Renaissance England. In those days, hosts used oversized napkins, in part because they ate with their hands, but also to provide large containers for leftovers.

COVERAGE

If it's Sunday and you have a fender-bender in the Church parking lot in the U.S., no problem if you have a FaithGuard insurance policy. The policy is targeted at the nearly 150-million Americans who go to church regularly. There is no deductible as long as you are driving to a place of worship.

AUCTIONS

A model of the Starship Enterprise from the cult science fiction series Star Trek sold recently for US$600,000, 20 times the expected sale price. The 78 inch model made its TV debut in 1987. A replica of Captain James Kirk's command chair fetched $67,000.

THE WEB

The Internet has overtaken newspapers and magazines as Europeans' main source of news and feature-type information. But TV continues to be the dominant medium for most people, with Europeans spending three times as much time watching programmes as going online. On average, Europeans spend four hours per week online

STUDENTS

Over a quarter of New Zealand's university enrolments come from overseas. The U.S. has so many domestic students that it ranks much lower, even though it attracts 21.6 per cent of the world's 2.7-million foreign students. That, however, represents a sharp decline from its share of 25.3 per cent in 2000.

SCREENS

A Cambridge team have developed metal structures that can morph from flat screens into tubes and other shapes. In the future, the structures may form the basis for electronic displays that could be rolled up and placed in a bag or pocket. The scientists believe the material could also be used for re-usable packaging or roll-up keyboards

RENOVATIONS

Canadians continue to be enthusiastic home renovators with a majority saying that they plan to work on their bathrooms, basements or decks in the next two years. A survey of home renovation intentions found that those planning to work on their homes will spend C$8,982 on average, up $148 from last year.

FARMS

The Canada Year Book reports that Canada has roughly as much land devoted to agriculture as in the past, but far fewer farms. The number of farms peaked in 1941 and has been declining ever since.The average farm size in 1941 was 96 hectares, by 2001 it was 273 hectares. Some 32,500 farmers were foreign-born in 2001, comprising 9.4 per cent of total farm operators. The number of Prairie grain elevators declined to 412 in 2002 from 3,117 in 1981.

MANAGERS

A recent staffing company research study shows that the majority of bosses, 92 per cent, consider themselves to be excellent or good bosses. But employees differ with just 67 per cent rating their bosses so favourably. while 23 per cent say their boss is doing a fair job and 10 per cent a poor job.

ORTHOPAEDICS

A number of companies are making trendy crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, casts and slings. Crutches, for instance, now come in titanium and other high-tech metals and a palette of colours including steel blue, teal and magenta; they may be padded with sheepskin, a shapeable gel and given shock absorbing tips of polymer gel.

R&D

An unprecedented surge in research and development spending is helping China catch up with the two long-standing leaders in the field, the U.S. and Japan. R&D spending in China has been growing at a annual rate of about 17 per cent, and is far higher that the 4- to 5 per cent annual growth rates reported for the U.S., Japan and the European Union. China is increasingly making its mark with scientific discoveries and patents held by its scientists. America's share of the global R&D expenditures in 2007 is expected to be 32 per cent.

CHILE

Thousands of street vendors eke out a living in selling hairclips, underwear, pirated Cds and other inexpensive goods on almost every downtown street corner in Chile's capital. A recent study shows the amount of illegal commerce has increased almost 13 per cent in the past year despite government efforts to crack down. That is more than twice Chile's national rate of economic expansion which is about 5 per cent.

CELL PHONES

U.S. mobile-phone subscriptions rose to 213 million in 2005, 28 million more than a year earlier. Average monthly use of U.S. wireless voice services increased 17 per cent to more than 12 hours per user. Average per minute revenue fell to 7 cents from 9 cents.

MARMALADE

Celebrating its 125th anniversary, a U.K. jam maker has produced the world's most expensive marmalade. The Fine Cut Seville Orange Marmalade with Whisky, Champagne and Gold, mixes the finest Seville marmalade with vintage whisky and a dash of champagne garnished with gold leaf. The resulting spread, encased in a custom-made crystal jar, valued at US$2,200, would cost $150 to cover a single slice of toast.

SENSORS

Several major U.S. retailers are going high-tech to learn more about their shoppers'in-store shopping patterns. They are testing infrared sensors to measure customer traffic and generate "audience ratings" for products. The system's infrared beams track shoppers' movements and correlate them with actual sales data producing what could be the first scientific measurement of in-store sales tools.

TRADE

The European Union and India have agreed to negotiate a bilateral deal on trade and investment. The agreement would aim to eliminate 90 per cent of tariffs within seven years of the agreement coming into force. Trade between India and the EU is currently about 40 billion Euros (US$50-billion) each year.

ART

Not just Indian software and outsourcing firms that are benefitting from the rise of the internet. Indian modern art is also on an upward spiral on the web. Prices have risen around 20-fold since 2000. One picture that sold earlier in the year for $1.58-million would have gone for little more than $100,000 four years ago. Worldwide sales of Indian art, worth around US$200-million last year, are expected to have doubled in 2006. It is still a tiny fraction of the $30-billion global art market but is sizeable for an emerging market.

E-BAY

A three-year-old boy whose mother left her computer's E-Bay screen on, managed to buy a US$20,000 car on the auction site from a car dealership using the "buy it now" button.

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

November 2006 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

November 2006 Edition

AIRLINES

The CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has suggested that with over 1,000 airlines, the skies are filled with far too many airplanes. Restrictive foreign-ownership rules and lack of progress in reaching an open skies agreement between Europe and the U.S. are seriously hindering the ability of the industry to slash overcapacity and reshape itself as a healthy business. A Europe-U.S. open skies deal would set the stage for a global liberalization of air transport and generate an estimated annual profit of US$12-billion.

DRINK

For the first time, wine sales have surpassed spirit sales in Canada according to Statistics Canada. Last year, national wine sales reached C$4.2-billion compared with $4-billion for spirits. There is a growing preference among many Canadians for premium-priced vintages as well as widely hyped research attributing certain health benefits from modest wine consumption. Beer however, remains Canada's alcoholic beverage of choice with sales of $8.4-billion in 2005.

PARTS

Canada is joining the U.S. and the European Union in launching a trade complaint with the World Trade Organization against China arguing that this Asian economic power is slapping on unfair tariffs when importing Canadian car parts. Canada is a significant supplier of auto parts to China, having shipped about C$265-million on average to China between 2003 and 2005. These tariffs are giving Chinese car parts producers an unfair advantage.

NUTRITION

U.S. consumers are purchasing an unprecedented amount of sports nutrition products having spent nearly US$4-billion on this category last year with spending poised to grow to $4.8-billion by 2010. For many consumers, sports nutrition items represent a hoped-for short cut to better health. Sports bars, drinks and gels make up the largest share of the market with sales of over $3-billion in 2005.

SPEED

Computer giant IBM will build the world's most powerful supercomputer at a US government laboratory. The machine, codenamed Roadrunner, could be four times more potent than the current fastest machine, also built by IBM. The new machine will be able to achieve "petaflop speeds," says IBM. One petaflop is the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second. Running at peak speed, it will be able to crunch through 1.6 thousand trillion calculations per second.

TRENDS

Britain's biggest supermarket chain has started stocking imported Polish foods like pickled cabbage and vodka to cash in on the wave of workers from Poland since the country joined the European Union. Between May 2004 and June 2006, 265,000 Poles applied successfully for work in Britain, often employed in low-paying sectors such as agriculture and factory work. Some estimates suggest that the real number of Poles working in Britain could exceed one million.

DEVELOPMENT

U.S. golf courses are being ploughed under in record numbers to make way for residential and commercial development. Course openings fell from a peak of 398 in 2000 to 125 last year. During the same period, course closings soared from 23 to 93 in 2005. When courses temporarily closed for renovation are included, the U.S. had fewer golf courses open at the end of 2005 than a year earlier, the first year-to-year drop since 1945.

LIGHT

A Japanese scientist who invented environmentally friendly sources of light has been awarded the Millennium Technology Prize, worth over US$2-million. The award recognizes his inventions of blue, green and white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the blue laser diode. Blue LEDs are used in flat screen displays and blue lasers will be in the next generation of DVD players. White LEDs could provide a sustainable, low-cost alternative to lightbulbs, especially in developing countries.

FOOD

The Independent reports that food supplies are shrinking around the globe. New figures show that this year's harvest will fail to produce enough to feed everyone on earth for the sixth time in the last seven years. Humanity has so far managed by eating its way through stockpiles built up in better times, but these are now below danger levels. Both the UN's FAO and the U.S Department of Agriculture estimate that this year's grain harvest will fall for the second successive year.

HOBBIES

Across the U.S., an obscure new hobby is emerging, racing golf carts. People buy old carts for peanuts and bring them up to speed with lift kits, oversized tires, more powerful engines and roll bars. It is estimated that as many as four million Americans may own these vehicles, capable of speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. They are particularly popular in Arizona, California, Georgia and Florida.

STRIPPERS

Five people in China have been detained for running striptease sendoffs at funerals. The once-common events are held to boost the number of mourners as large crowds are seen as a mark of honour.

GLARE

Samsung Electronics has developed a new technology to help solve the problem of bright light keeping cellphone users from seeing the display screen. A device senses the brightness of the ambient light and adjusts the image so that viewers can see what is being shown more easily while outdoors. When indoors, the sensor dims the display's backlight to save power.

FISH

Nearly half the fish consumed in the world are now farmed rather than caught in the wild according to the United Nations. Only nine per cent of the fish consumed in 1980 were farmed, while 43 per cent is farmed today. Farmed fish now amounts to 45.5-million tons a year, worth US$63-billion. Currently, freshwater and marine capture fisheries produce 95-million tons annually of which 60-million tons is destined for human consumption.

CHIPS

Since the 10th century, travellers to Cornwall in the UK have been helped by hundreds of distinctive Celtic crosses carved from rough hewn granite which mark the route. But a recent wave of thefts, fuelled by Cornish nationalism, has prompted officials to adopt a 21st century solution to protect the ancient signposts. They are now being fitted with microchips about the size of a grain of rice which are glued to the crosses before being smeared with dirt to disguise them. If found, a scanner can reveal where the cross came from.

WINE

Organic wines in the U.K are fast gaining more space in wine racks across the country as demand increases from environmentally aware consumers. One chain has seen a 49.3 per cent increase in sales of organic wine in the past year. These wines are being imported from countries such as Chile, France and South Africa.

WEIGHT

The number of overweight people in the world has now overtaken the malnourished for the first time.

COKE

Faced with a slumping demand for its flagship soft drinks, Coca-Cola Co. is stepping outside the cooler and into the hot beverage market, launching a new line of brewed lattes, teas and coffees. Canada is serving as a global test market for Coke's foray into the premium coffee category. The company will sell its coffee concept through existing food service and entertainment customers such as restaurants and movie theatres. Two thirds of Canadians consume coffee daily.

DRIVING

A Chinese women's attempt to teach her dog how to drive proved a costly error as her car crashed into an oncoming vehicle. The lady from inner Mongolia had noticed how fond the dog was of crouching at the wheel and thought it should have a turn at steering while she operated the accelerator and brake.

BUSINESS

Singapore has taken first place as the easiest country to do business in the World Bank's Doing Business 2007 report with Turkey and Hong Kong in second and third places. The report measures the number of days it takes to start a business. The Republic of Congo is the hardest place followed by Brazil and Venezuela. Reform has allowed Georgia to leap from 112th place last year to 37th this year. China has become one of the top-ten reformers by improving investor protection, cutting red tape and establishing credit history for loans.

CONCESSIONS

Canada's largest theatre chain reports that moviegoers spent an average of C$3.72 at concession stands in the first six months of 2006. This represents an eight per cent increase over last year and a 22 per cent jump from 2002. The addition of fast-food kiosks such as frozen yogurt, pizza and specialty coffee shops has driven the trend. Rising concession sales are the fast growing part of the business.

CONNECTIONS

By September of this year, the total number of worldwide cellular connections had reached 2.5-billion, just 12 months after passing the 2-billion mark. Growth is currently running at more than 40-million new connections per month. A quarter of the growth is coming from China and India. Other growth areas include Russia, the U.S., Pakistan, Ukraine, Brazil and Indonesia. It is predicted the next 500-million connections will take 16 months.

NORWAY

So many Norwegians call in sick to work that the government has decided that employers will have to pay a greater share of sick leave costs. In the first quarter of this year, 7.4 per cent of the work force was on sick leave on any given day. Under current rules, employers pay for the first 16 days of sick leave per year, the government welfare system pays the rest.

WASTE

The government of China admitted recently that its water is unfit for drinking and has announced plans to spend US$150-billion over five years on sewage and water treatment facilities. By the end of last year, a total of 278 Chinese cities still had no waste water treatment facilities and pollutants in industrial discharges were often above permitted national standards.

FOOTBALL

Five National Football League teams, led by the Washington Redskins have franchise values above US$1-billion according to Forbes magazine The Redskins have led the list for seven years and are worth $1.423-billion. The New England Patriots are second followed by the Dallas Cowboys, the Texans and the Philadelphia Eagles.

SUGAR

Americans stir, slurp and swallow an average of 45 pounds of sugar and 42 pounds of high fructose corn syrup each year. This works out to a total of 26 teaspoons or 390 calories per day, much of it hidden in carbonated soft drinks.

BRANDS

According to a recent study, private label food and grocery items will make up 28.6 per cent of the market across Europe within the next four years and be worth US$549-billion a year, an increase of 45 per cent from the current $380-billion. Currently, the top private label markets in Europe are the U.K., Germany, France Spain and Italy. The future growth will come from Russia and the rest of Eastern and Central Europe.

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

October 2006 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

October 2006 Edition

 BILLS

The Bank of Canada has withdrawn a proposal to introduce a $200 banknote after a survey of retailers revealed strong opposition. 59 per cent of those surveyed said they were opposed, with 40 per cent "strongly opposed." The central bank had been looking for a higher-denomination replacement for the $1000 banknote after it ceased to be printed in May, 2000, to help thwart money launderers and drug dealers who prefer large bills.

VACATIONS

Even before the recent security scares, the Conference Board in the U.S. found at the start of the summer that 40 per cent of consumers had no plans to take a vacation over the next six months, the lowest percentage recorded by the group in 28 years. About 25 per cent of American workers in the private sector do not get paid vacation time. Another 33 per cent will take only a seven-day vacation. Some companies are shutting down completely twice a year to ensure people stop working.

WATCHES

Last year, the U.S. watch market saw a 4.9 per cent dip in sales. Rival electronic devices such as personal digital assistants and cellphones are the reason. Even sales of watches under US$50.00, rarely affected by overall market trends, are down.

SECURITY

Rich people can beef up their home security with the automatically activated SmartWater spray system. The technology, mounted on the walls or the ceiling, squirts the intrudes with a solution containing a unique forensic code that remains detectable on the skin and hair for weeks and on clothing indefinitely.

BRAKES

Nineteen auto makers have reached a deal with the U.S. government to have brake interlock systems in all new vehicles by 2010 to prevent children from accidentally disengaging the parking brake. The interlock system, already standard on many vehicles, allows a shift out of park only if the brake pedal is depressed. About three million vehicles sold in the U.S. each year lack a brake-shift interlock.

DIGITAL

Films arrive in projection rooms as 10,000 feet of film printed as a copy of the original. Now, digital projection systems are the latest thing. The release copy of the movie is delivered on a hard drive, sporting 100 gigabytes of the latest Hollywood blockbuster, a digitally scanned copy of the master film print. Once put into place, the movie is simply unloaded to a server and is one button-push away from being digitally projected. The biggest advantage of digital projection is picture quality.

CIRCULARS

New research in the U.S. confirms that grocery circulars announcing the latest grocery specials are an effective means of connecting with consumers. Grocers spend some US$8-billion on feature ads each year, which amounts to two per cent of their sales. The research shows that at least 10 per cent of shoppers chose their store based on the week's ads and that shoppers were most influential when the ads promoted discounts on cereal, snack chips, pizza, cookies and hot dogs.

REMUNERATION

The Economist reports that senior managers in Mumbai and San Paulo are better paid than their counterparts in New York or London, once the cost of living is taken into account.The calculations include the cost of rent which is punishingly high in some financial centres. Sweden's heavy taxes leave top managers in Stockholm worse off, in real terms, than their peers in Shanghai or Budapest.

GENES

Scientists have identified a gene that will allow rice plants to survive being completely submerged in water for up to two weeks. Most rice plants die within a week of being underwater but researchers hope the new gene will offer greater protection to the world's rice harvest. Farmers in south-east Asia lose an estimated US$1--billion each year from rice crops being destroyed by flooding.

PIGMENTS

An unpopular pigment used by 18th century artists could lead to more energy efficient, faster computers. Cobalt green, as it is known, has been tested by a US team who believe that, because of its magnetic properties, could be used in "spintronic" devices. Spintronics involves manipulating the magnetic properties of electron to do useful computational work. Cobalt green is a mixture of zinc oxide and cobalt and artists of the 18th century found it expensive and that it created relatively weak colours.

ANNIVERSARY

This past August saw the 25th anniversary of the personal computer with the introduction of the IBM 5150. Costing $1,565, the 5150 had just 16K of memory, about enough for three or so e-mails nowadays. This machine which was developed by a team of 12 IBM engineers, altered the way business was done forever and sparked a revolution in home computing.

BARBIE

The Christie's auction house is about to sell off a collection of 4,000 Barbie dolls collected over four decades by a fashion designer in Holland. Christie's say the dolls give a fascinating insight into 20th century fashion and expects designers to be among those who attend the auction. Some of the Barbie clothes include designs by Christian Dior, Givenchy and Versace. It is estimated that the value of the dolls could reach $250,000.

GOLF

The world's 25,000 golf courses in 100 countries, a tenth of them in Britain, cover an area the size of Belgium. The 250-year-old Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews which governs golf outside the U.S. and Mexico, is telling golf courses to become more environmentally friendly. It urges the use of drought-tolerant grasses and much less watering, as well as cutting out pesticides and putting recycled glass instead of sand in bunkers. Some 2,000 courses around the world have signed up for the campaign to improve the sport's environmental image.

PROTECTION

Half the European Union's annual budget, almost US$64-billion, is consumed in agricultural subsidies. In the United States, where fewer than one per cent of gross domestic product is produced by agriculture, the federal government has paid farmers US$170-billion in subsidies of one kind or another in the past decade, $25-billion in 2005 alone.

POISONING

Cantaloupe melons have been identified as a common source of food poisoning. Researchers who studied records in Canada and the U.S. identified almost one large outbreak caused by cantaloupes every year over a 30-year period. It is believed that the problem lies in the rough skin of the cantaloupe being hard to clean meaning that bacteria on the outside can contaminate the flesh when it is cut open.

CONSTRUCTION

Shanghai has constructed a massive underground bunker complex capable of sheltering 200,000 people from a nuclear attack. The million-square-foot complex connects to shopping centres, office buildings, apartment buildings and the subway system via miles of tunnels. The complex has water, hydro, lighting, ventilation and protective doors and can support life for as long as two weeks.

CONTAINERS

Industry experts estimate that anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 containers fall off ships each year, less than one per cent of the number of containers sent by sea annually, but representing a huge cost to those who lose cargo to the ocean. The loss of even one shipment which may contain millions of small parts, could shut down a manufacturing line.

MOBILES

About 70 per cent of 12- to 13-year-old Europeans own a mobile phone. Now, the EU is examining the risks children face when using mobile phones such as access to harmful or illegal content, and the risks of strangers meeting children after making telephone contact.

CHECKOUT

A recent study shows that shoppers purchase impulse items such as snacks, candy, beverages and magazines 45.5 per cent less often when they use self-checkout than when they use a staffed checkout lane. The impact is greater for women, 50 per cent, versus a drop of 27.9 per cent for men. In 2005, consumers spent over US$111-billion on self-checkout transactions at retailers, up 35 per cent over the previous year. The average number of items in a self-checkout transaction is 6.7 with a value of $32.85.

INDIA

The U.S. is warning India that bans on soft drinks like Coca Cola and Pepsi could blight its hopes of attracting American investment. Six Indian states have now announced partial or complete bans on soft drink sales in schools, colleges and hospitals after claims that the drinks contain harmful pesticides. Coke and Pepsi account for nearly 80 per cent of India's more than US$2-billion soft drink market

SHOPPING

The Polo Lauren Group is taking impulse shopping one step further with technology that allows passersby to purchase clothing they see in the windows of one of its New York stores by using a touch screen on the glass. Projected on the window of the store is a 67-inch image of items. Customers can purchase them by using a credit card swiper on the window.

DOGS

After a year of field testing, the first CD ever approved for dogs by dogs has just been produced in California. Canine focus groups, selected from more than 200 dogs across the U.S., were "questioned" about their preferences in music. The responses, a bark or a wag, were used by an animal communicator to guide the creation of the 12 songs.

GIVEAWAYS

British newspapers are now giving away as many free DVDs as are being purchased in stores. The cover-mounted DVD giveaways, which include recent movies, are devaluing the format in the eyes of many consumers, one quarter of whom said they would have bought the same titles if they had seen it in a store at a reasonable price. In the first quarter of 2006, about 54-million DVDs were given away to consumers who bought newspapers and magazines. That compares with 130 million DVDs given away in 2005, valued at an estimated C$1.04-billion.

TECHNOLOGY

British university students are being monitored by a unique electronic tagging system designed to ensure that they attend lectures. About 1,000 undergraduates at the University of Glamorgan have been issued with key rings containing microchips that store each individual's name and other enrolment data. Every time he or she attends a lecture, the students press the key ring against a sensor that acts as an electronic receiver which records attendance.

EGGS

Revolutionary "self-timing' eggs designed to overcome the perennial problem of how to avoid runny whites or overcooked yolks will appear on UK supermarkets shelves before too long. The eggs are marked with logos in "thermochromic" invisible ink, which turns dark when it reaches a certain temperature. Inks have been created to appear after three minutes to indicate a soft-boiled egg, after four minutes for medium and seven minutes for a hard-boiled egg.

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

September 2006 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

September 2006 Edition

THEFT

 

If you work for a mid-sized to large Canadian business, there is almost a one-in-three chance that management is telling you to leave your Ipod at home. There is even less chance you'll be allowed to bring in your personal laptop computer or one of those thumb-sized USB storage devices. A rising fear of data theft is prompting Corporate Canada, as well as governments that store sensitive information, to target small computing devices. A recent survey of IT managers found that 30 per cent had banned MP3 players from the workplace.

LINE-UPS

Fed up with waiting for hours to pay their telephone bills in China, customers emboldened by the country's new spirit of capitalism have started a trade in line-up tickets at its cumbersome financial institutions. In a bizarre black market, "numbers dealers" trade on the bank's forecourts selling scores of tickets for a few cents to would-be queue jumpers. The tickets are bought early and then sold several hours later. Despite automation, most Chinese still prefer to wait for a human teller.

SECURITY

According to Strategy+Business magazine, four times as many of the world's top chief executive officers were forced from their jobs last year as in 1995. The survey included the world's 2,500 largest corporations. Meanwhile, C-level management turnovers, which include chief executive officers, chief financial officers, directors and vice-presidents, continues unabated with 8,194 during April, May and June, more that double the 3,354 in the same period in 2005. A key factor is increased shareholder activism.

PRICE-FIXING

California and 33 other states have filed a price-fixing lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from seven major makers of computer memory chips. The lawsuit alleges that consumers and state governments overpaid for computers, servers and other electronic products from 1998 to 2002 because the chip makers artificially inflated prices.

REFERENCES

More than one-third of executive recruiters (35 per cent) say they have eliminated candidates because of dirt discovered about them on-line. While a strong majority (82 per cent) of those surveyed expect companies and recruiters to conduct background checks by trolling for on-line information, one-in-three have never conducted searches of their own names to check on the accuracy or relevance of their cyber-personas 16 per cent of executives surveyed fear that information found on-line could eliminate them from consideration for a new job. 13 per cent have taken measures to add positive information to the digital record.

MELTING

Hot weather has long been the bane of chocolate fans. Now, scientists in Nigeria claim to have come up with a type of chocolate that does not melt in the heat. Researchers mixed corn starch with cocoa to produce a heat-resistant chocolate which stays firm up to 122F (50C) while normal products melt at temperatures between 77F (25C) and about 91F (33C). The starch acts as a chocolate thickener and prevents the cocoa butter running in the heat.

MOVIES

Cinema attendance in Canada rebounded slightly between the spring of 2004 and 2005. Movie theatres and drive-ins sold 120.3 million tickets, a 0.5 per cent increase over the previous year. The upward trend reverses the 4.6 per cent decline in ticket sales in the comparable 2003-2004 period. However, despite the small gain in attendance, the industry reported a 97.6 per cent increase in operating profit to C$108.2-million. So far this year, box office sales are up five per cent over last year.

ALTITUDE

At the height of 4,400 metres above sea level, a small water bottling factory on a Tibetan mountainside is believed to be the world's highest-altitude bottling plant and faces unique challenges. A new production line was delayed when an engineer fell victim to altitude sickness. Motors in the factory need 20 per cent extra capacity because of oxygen shortage. Special bottles are required with stronger plastic to withstand the altitude. Production must halt in the winter when the water freezes. An entrepreneur from Hong Kong invested about US$63-million to develop the mineral water factory.

STORMS

There are, on average, about 1,800 thunderstorms in progress at any one time around the world, with 100 lightening strikes every second. The chance of being hit by lightening is about one in three million.

COMMUTING

Statistics Canada reports that the average Canadian spends close to 12 full days a year travelling between work and home. The 2005 study found Canadians spent an average of 63 minutes a day commuting compared to 54 minutes in a similar survey in 1992. In the Atlantic provinces workers spend 63 minutes commuting, up sharply from 39 minutes in 1992. The study found that in British Columbia there was only a one minute increase over 1992. Torontonians spend the most time commuting, 79 minutes per round trip followed by Montrealers who spent 76 minutes.

TEA

While tea production in the United States is minuscule, consumption is booming. Sales have more than tripled in the past 15 years, exceeding US$6-billion last year. Some 85 per cent of tea drunk in America is served iced. Lately, sales of "ready to drink" bottled teas have been growing particulary fast. The popularity is explained by its health benefits. Tea contains less caffeine than coffee, and the industry touts studies that suggest it can help with heart problems, blood pressure and even cancer.

INSURANCE

Lloyd's of London, the oldest maritime insurer has launched a new coverage to protect crews which are now in as much danger of getting highjacked as their cargo. The latest figures show that global piracy has risen 8 per cent in the first quarter of 2006 from a year earlier. last year, there were 650 kidnappings at sea.

FUEL

In the U.S., it is cheaper to make fuel ethanol from maize because of the high domestic price for sugar. The Agriculture Department forecasts that America will use 34 per cent more maize in ethanol production next season, some 20 per cent of the harvest.

EMIGRATION

More Germans are emigrating than at any time since the war, driven from home by unemployment or the search for better jobs. Around 145,000 mainly young people left the country last year. The favoured countries were America, followed by Switzerland, Poland, Austria, Britain and France. Doctors and academics constitute the largest group of those leaving.

MERCOSUR

Venezuela has now joined Mercosur, the South American trade bloc. Oil-producing Venezuela's entry is expected to boost the clout of the trading bloc bringing Mercosur's total combined gross domestic product to US$1-trillion a year, more than three-quarters of South America's total economic activity. Under the agreement, Venezuela will be required to adopt a common external tariff system within four years.

WINE

In 1991 the sales of British Columbia wines was C$6.8-million (748,000 litres) and was worth around $9.15 per litre. In 2004\05 sales were $112-million (5.6-million litres worth $20.17 per litre. The increase in sales over the previous year was 22 per cent with a market share of 19 per cent. The increase in market share of Australian wines was 2.6 per cent. Close to 100 wineries are driving the industry's growth in B.C. In 1988 there were just 14.

DOZING

The sleep-deprived Japanese have found a cure for nodding off at inappropriate times. The "nap alarm" is a device fixed to an ear that buzzes the moment the wearer's head nods forward. Japanese politicians are notorious for sleeping in parliament. The inventor of the $20.00 device came up with the idea after he dozed off at the wheel and crashed into a parked car.

AUTOMATION

Vending machines spitting out cheap DVD rentals are appearing in subway stations, pharmacies and other handy locales, posing yet another challenge to the traditional video store. Entrepreneurs are racing to set up DVD vending machines, charging as little as $1.00 for a six-hour rental. Customers make the purchase with a credit or debit card and return the movies to the machine. Industry insiders predict the dispensers will become as common as automated banking machines.

EXPENSES

More companies are adopting sophisticated new technology to help track and crack down on employees' expense accounts. Using new software, corporate travellers can more easily track their expenses on the road and find out in real time whether they are following company policies. Their bosses can also keep tabs on their travel spending as transactions occur.

SAVINGS

A global switch to efficient lighting systems would trim the world's hydro bill by nearly one tenth. This is the conclusion of the first global study of lighting uses and costs. The carbon dioxide emissions saved by such a switch would, it concludes, dwarf cuts so far achieved by adopting wind and solar power. 19 per cent of global electricity generation is used for lighting. The biggest consumer of lighting electricity is the fluorescent tube.

BOOKS

Revenues in Canada's book publishing industry exceeded C$2-billion in 2004, up 12.5 per cent from 2000. Foreign controlled companies accounted for almost half of the industry revenues. Book publishers had a total industry profit of $235-million in 2004, for a profit margin of 10.9 per cent. Publishers produced 16,776 new titles and reprinted 12,387 existing titles. Educational books accounted for about one fifth of new titles.

WORK

In the past decade there has been a sustained increase in the importance of part-time work, notably in the Netherlands, where it now makes up 36 per cent of total employment. Mostly it is done by women, who account on average for 73 per cent of such work across the OECD. Many governments are taking steps to promote part-time jobs as a means of raising overall employment rates.

PEARS

A clever New Zealand company has created a package that both protects fruit and tells you when to eat it. The package features an "intelligent label" with a paper dot that changes colour as the pear moves from "crisp" through "firm" and "juicy. The biosensor technology measures levels of ethylene gases given off by ripening fruit.

GIFTS

It's the perfect gift for the child who prefers to play with the packaging rather than the present. Manufacturers in the UK have unveiled one of this year's unusual Christmas toys, a large piece of molded plastic that comes with no batteries, no rules and no instructions. Resembling a giant potty or an oversized builder's hat, the Bilibo is part of an industry-wide shift away from complicated electronic gadgets to more innocent toys. Some children use the Swiss-designed Bilibo as a seat or a hat while others turn it into a box, tunnel or boat. The possibilities are endless.

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

August 2006 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

August 2006 Edition

TRANSPORTATION

According to Statistics Canada, Canada's transportation sector posted strong growth for the second consecutive year in 2005 as economic activity in three major modes (trucking, rail and aviation) increased substantially. More than one third (35 per cent) of the GDP generated by the sector came from trucking. Air, water and rail transportation combined contributed another 25 per cent. The remainder was generated by transit and pipeline industries. Air transportation experienced the fastest growth in economic output. Last year, the approximately 3,360 for hire trucking companies had revenues of C$27-billion.

BOOMING

Alberta has run short of steel, concrete and lumber as its unprecedented construction boom gathers momentum. The latest crisis is a dire shortage of portable toilets. Across the province, orders for portable commodes are backing up as residential and commercial construction sites, particularly in Calgary, corner available supplies, leaving latecomers such as outdoor entertainment festivals scrambling.

TAGS

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are still too expensive to use to track individual goods such as toothpaste tubes or soup cans. The small electronic tags store information that can be read when they pass within a few centimetres, or a few metres depending on the type of tag, of a reader. Currently, tags cost around 20 cents each but the ultimate dream of the RFID industry is to tag every item in a store, replacing product bar codes. It is estimated that these costs could be below 5 cents by 2010.

EXPORTS

The first quarter of this year saw Canada's exports to Mexico surge by 58 per cent to C$950-million. Two promising niches are parts for assembly operations and Canadian beef. It is projected that the value of exports of beef to Mexico in 2006 will be C$430-million. The cumulative annual growth rate of Canadian exports to Mexico since NAFTA went into effect in 1993 has been 12-per cent.

TRAFFIC

Every single day, 2.5-million people now fly through the airspace directly over metropolitan Paris. equivalent to about a quarter of its population.

DEBT

The average American college student graduated this year with more than US$19,000 in debt. Some graduates are now leaving college with student loan debt in the six figures. The rise in unmanageable debt has raised concerns that many graduates won't be able to pursue careers in fields that have traditionally paid modest salaries, such as teachers.

TRENDS

A Michigan company has developed gas pump viewing and has been testing the service for several months in Dallas with TV monitors installed above gas pumps that show short clips of news, weather and traffic, and, of course, advertising. This fall, the company plans to expand the program to a total of 100 gas stations in Dallas, Houston and Atlanta. Programs are tailored to the average length of time it takes to fill up with gas, about four minutes.

TOURISM

Last year, spending in Canada by business and leisure travellers totalled C$61.4-billion. More than 31-million non-residents travelled to Canada in 2005, spending almost 18-billion while Canadians spent $43.5-billion on domestic travel. Canada's tourism industry generates tax revenues estimated at almost $16-billion for all levels of government. The industry employs 625,600 people and a million more depend on the sector indirectly for their livelihood. Tourism is the world's largest industry in 2006 and is expected to generate US$6.5-trillion of economic activity.

PORTS

A new container port on Canada's West Coast is expected to open next year. The facility in Prince Rupert, B.C. will have an eventual capacity of 1.2-million TUEs (20-foot equivalent units). The first phase of the project, which could provide capacity of up to 750,000 TEUs, should be completed by October, 2007.

BRAZIL

Between 2002 and 2005, Brazilian exports to Africa rose by 153-per cent and imports from Africa by 149-per cent. With the Middle East the increases were 84-per cent and 75-per cent respectively and with Asia 111-per cent in both cases. The total value of Brazil's exports to these regions rose from US$13.4-billion to $28.8-billion while imports increased from $12.1-billion to $26-billion. Total exports virtually doubled from $60.3-billion to $118.3-billion.

IMAGE

Chinese cities have been ordered to put back their cycle lanes in the hope of restoring the nation's image as the land of the bicycle. However, Beijing's most popular statistics is that the city sells 1,000 cars every day. Its least popular statistic is that the length of time it takes to reach any given destination has doubled in 10 years. The government is also considering following London's lead and introducing congestion charges to cut traffic.

DIAMONDS

The export of diamonds from Canada's Northwest Territories has surged to almost three times what it was in 1999, the first year of production. In 2005, diamond exports from the area were worth C$1.7-billion, twice the value in 2002. The main destination for Canada's diamonds are the United kingdom and Belgium. In 2004, Canada was third in the world in terms of production value and sixth in terms of value. It trailed only Botswana and Russia in terms of value.

HEALTH

During the last 20 years, the total number of people with diabetes worldwide has risen from 30-million to 230-million and is expected to reach 350-million by 2025. China and India now have the most diabetes sufferers in the world. Today, out of the top ten countries with diabetes, seven are developing countries.

BEAUTY

Research in the U.S. indicates that more men are turning to teeth whitening and fake tans to improve their appearance on their wedding day. Of those surveyed, 42-per cent of men planned to diet before the wedding, while 12-per cent aimed to get their teeth whitened and eight per cent wanted a fake tan. Among brides-to-be, 72-per cent planned to diet, 27-per cent wanted their teeth whitened and 60-per cent wanted a fake tan. The average couple planned to spend US$22,000 on their wedding day.

HIGHWAYS

A congestion-beating project has been launched in Britain that could lead to some of the UK's 14,500 kilometres of disused railway being paved with rubber. The flexible highways are made of panels of shredded car tires laid over existing tracks. This project will provide a use for some of the estimated 50-million tires disposed of in the UK each year.

RECREATION

The national average price for a Canadian waterfront recreational property reached C$380,507 this spring. A survey has found that a quarter of Canadians are willing to pay more for recreational property than their homes. The desire for a waterfront paradise is so strong that the average price for a cottage has topped the national average price for a two-storey house by $40,000.

COFFEE

A Panamanian specialty coffee, a rare variety of the geisha plant strain, recently sold for US$50.25 a pound. At over 50 times the price of standard beans, the geisha beat the previous record of $49.75 a pound held by a Brazilian bean. Last year, beans from the same farm sold for $20.00 a pound.

AGING

In 2003\2004 there were 1,941 homes for the aged in Canada. Nearly 103,500 women lived in these homes compared with just under 42,400 men. Homes for the aged alone generated C$9-billion in revenue The cost for each resident to live in a home for the aged amounted to $50,126 a year on average, or $136.76 a day.

ALTITUDE

Rising more than 5,000 metres above sea level, China's newest railway line will be the highest ever built. It is so high that some luxury railcars will be outfitted with oxygen masks for the uppermost elevations. The line will run 1,100 kilometres from Golmud in Qinghai province to Lhasa, capital of Tibet.

LUXURY

Construction has begun on the latest Cunard "queen" liner, the Queen Victoria. Two months before, the cruise-line company began selling tickets for the ship's maiden voyage, set for early 2008. The opulent vessel will feature a 6,000 book library, a three-storey theatre and a two-deck ballroom. She will sail with a crew of 900 to look after 2,000 passengers.

VALUE

According to the American Nursery and Landscape Association research that it sponsored indicates that lush, well-planned landscaping can increase a home's value by 7 to 15 per cent.

COOLERS

Sales of coolers to traditional female consumers are stalling and the liquor industry has been forced to turn its attention to heavier-drinking young men to keep the cooler category growing. Women still account for nearly 60 per cent of the C$587-million worth of coolers sold in Canada last year but have been turning to martinis and other mixed drinks.

FEES

According to the European Commission, credit and debit card fees are pushing up retail prices by as much as 2.5 per cent in some EU markets. Depending on where customers live in the EU, they could pay double in annual fees for Visa and Mastercard. The findings are part of an ongoing EU investigation into competition in the financial services sector. If card providers have breached the EU law they can be fined. bank fees also vary widely across the EU.

VINEYARDS

England is now home to more than 350 vineyards covering 2,300 acres and the amount of land used for wine-growing is expected to rise by almost half as much again by 2010. Warmer weather and the success of sparkling wines have contributed to the boom which has attracted the attention of vintners from France to California who are looking for investment opportunities.

LOGS

In British Columbia the export of raw logs is equated with the loss of jobs. Those exports have increased more than 10-fold over the past ten years. Log exports, primarily to the U.S., hit a record 4.77-million cubic metres in 2005, up from 3.55-million metres in 2004. A cubic metre is approximately the volume of wood in one telephone pole.

MONEY

For the millions of Americans without bank accounts, prepaid cards, also called stored-value cards could be the next-best thing. Prepaid cards can be loaded with money and used as a debit card, but without a bank account. While credit-card growth has stagnated in recent years, the prepaid market is booming. It is estimated that the dollar volume of prepaid cards, US$126-billion last year, will top $470-billion by 2010.

MEDITATION

During soccer's recent World Cup, Buddhist monks In Cambodia who are normally not allowed to watch television, movies or artistic displays, were allowed to watch the games on television providing they did not bet on the games nor cheer or scream.

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

July 2006 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

July 2006 Edition

SERVICE

 
Customer service at U.S. airlines during the first quarter of this year was the worst it has been in five years according to a University of Michigan index that ranks customer satisfaction. Only cable television, satellite services and newspapers ranked lower than the airlines. The survey also examined industries such as utilities, health care, telecommunications and food service. The largest U.S. airlines have been shedding staff as they try to stem US$40-billion in losses since 2000.

DEVICES

The still, standard equipment for any moonshiner, has a shot at becoming the must-have accessory of penny pinching motorists. An upstart Tennessee business is marketing stills that can be set up as private distilleries to make ethanol out of fermented starchy crops such as corn, apples or sugar cane. The company claims the still's output can reduce fuel costs by nearly a third from the pump price of gasoline.

GO FIGURE

A major Japanese software-services company intends to hire 2,500 people in India in the next two years as demand for its services increases. Meanwhile, the leading Indian software exporter announced it will hire as many as 10,000 people in China in the next three years to make up for shortages in talent in India.

GAMES

Video games are transforming technology, education and the U.S. economy. A new study has concluded that the multi-billion dollar industry is growing fast and stimulating innovation in areas ranging from medicine to anti-terrorism technology. It is predicted that U.S. video games software sales will reach US$15-billion and the industry will support more than 250,000 high-skilled jobs by 2010.

WEEDS

Researchers at the University of Guelph have found that the roots of a weed known as garlic mustard are poisoning plants and even trees in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces. Most plants generate fungi from their roots that act as nutrients. Garlic mustard, on the other hand, produces chemicals that act as fungicides that linger in the soil long after the weed has been removed killing off the fungi that provide critical food to neighbouring plants and trees.

WATCHES

Tourists checking onto hotels in Naples this year are to receive an unusual gift as part of an innovative scheme to protect visitors from watch-snatchers. Each guest will find a cheap plastic watch by their beds emblazoned with a motif of either a pizza or Mount Vesuvius with a request to leave expensive watches in hotel safes.

COPPER

As international markets register all-time high prices for copper, the scrap value of coins could now be worth 50 per cent more than their face value. In Britain, a ton of two pence coins (145,000) has a face value of around US$5,800. The metal at current prices on the open market could turn a handsome profit of at least $3,000, though it is an offence to deface a coin. The U.S. mint estimates it now costs 1.23 (US) cents to make a 1-cent coin and 5.73 cents to produce a nickel. Canada uses a cheaper manufacturing process and a penny is still economical at eight-tenths of a Canadian cent to make and nickels cost a mere one cent.

TECHNOLOGY

A dragonfly was recently fitted with a tiny transmitter and chased by a planeload of scientists as it flew up to 100 miles a day along the east coast of the U.S. managing an overall migration of around 500 miles seeking warmer temperatures. The study showed that the insects use remarkably similar navigation methods to those of birds, specifically kestrels, which may have learned migration patters by following, and eating, dragonflies. The transmitters used weighed only one third of a gram.

FLOWERS

Imports of cut flowers to Britain produce emissions of at least 110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide according to new research. This is raising a new issue called "flower miles", the term for carbon dioxide emissions released by planes bringing in thousands of tonnes of cut flowers to the country. Between 2001 and 2005, the volume of cut flowers imported from Kenya, which supplies more than a third of Britain's cut flowers, increased to 18,700 tonnes from 10,000 tonnes.

BARRIERS

In a pact that has been in the works since 2003, Alberta and British Columbia have signed a deal aimed at slashing trade barriers and bureaucratic red tape and increasing labour mobility between the two Western provinces. It will be phased in starting next April and will harmonize regulations and licensing procedures and reduce costly paperwork between the two jurisdictions to create the country's second largest economic trade zone behind Ontario.

DRUGS

Canadians spent almost C$25-billion on prescription and non-prescription drugs in 2005, an 11-per-cent jump from the previous year. In 1986, prescription drug spending was C$3-billion in Canada; today, it is C$20.6-billion and by 2010 it is expected to reach C$30-billion.

CHEESE

British stores are set to launch a cheddar cheese that claims to actually reduce artery clogging fat. The cheese is enhanced with an ingredient called Ruducol, made by a Vancouver, B.C. laboratory which contains plant extracts that have been shown to help people lower their cholesterol in clinical trials. The cheese has a low fat content of 12 per cent. A typical cheddar is usually between 30 per cent and 40 per cent fat.

COFFEE

So many of China's middle classes have begun drinking cappuccino and caffe latte that the country's labour ministry has declared an official skills shortage. About 10,000 trained coffee makers and servers are needed in Beijing and Shanghai alone according to a government survey. There is no lack of barmen and waiters looking for good jobs but most of them have never made a cup of coffee in their lives as China has traditionally been a tea-drinking country.

SAVINGS

The Canadian Forces have started applying for federal excise-tax rebates for all the domestic fuel its warships burn when they are beyond the country's offshore territorial limit of 12 nautical miles. The new tax break, which requires detailed computer tracking, is expected to save the military about C$1.2-million in fuel costs each year. The Canadian Forces are keen to shave any amount they can from a massive annual bill of between C$400- and $500-million for fuels and lubricants.

DISPUTES

Iceland has the most fractious industrial relations in the OECD. Its strike rate, the number of days lost to labour disputes per 1,000 employees, averaged 581 days a year from 1995-2004. In 1995, its worst year, Iceland lost almost two days to strikes for every worker in the economy. The OECD strike rate of 39 in 2004 was higher than the year before but lower than its average over the preceding decade.

INCOME

While China is a big economy, it is still a poor one. It ranked only 108th in income per head in 2004 according to the World Bank.

CHOPSTICKS

China has slapped a 5-per-cent tax on chopsticks over concerns of deforestation. The move is hitting hard at the Japanese who go through a tremendous 25 billion sets of wooden chopsticks a year, about 200 pairs per person. Some 97 per cent of them come from China. Chinese chopstick exporters have responded to the tax increase and a rise in other costs by slapping a 30-per-cent hike on chopstick prices, with a planned additional 20-per-cent increase pending. The price hike has sent Japanese restaurants scrambling to find alternative sources.

WORK

In Britain, more than one in 10 workers, 13 per cent, say they don't arrive on time at the office at least once a week and 24 per cent admitted to failing punctuality at least once a month. The biggest reason for tardiness for 27 per cent of the 2,500 respondents, was traffic. 11 per cent blame falling back asleep and 10 per cent cited getting their children ready for school.

ACCESS

Kenyan officials have complained that African Internet users pay on average 50 times what U.S. surfers pay which makes it hard for the poorest continent to become competitive in a global economy. U.S. users pay about US$20 for a gigabyte of data a month, but Africans pay about $1,800 for the same amount.

OIL

Canada's crude oil production is expected to nearly double over the next 15 years with the vast majority of new oil coming from Alberta's oil sands. Total oil production will grow from 2.5 million barrels a day in 2005 to 4.6 million by 2015 and as high as 4.9 million by 2020. However, lack of skilled workers, machinery and refinery capacity could prevent these figures from being reached.

HEALTH

The Economist reports that America's medical system has long seemed a poor bargain. Americans spend far more on health care than the inhabitants of other rich countries, but their life expectancy is below the wealthy world's average. Annual medical costs in the U.S. are US$5,635 per person compared with $2,231 in Britain. Yet an American's life expectancy at birth is 77.2 years compared with 78.5 in Britain.

BUSINESS

The personal services industry that provides services ranging from haircuts and facials to laundry and funerals in Canada is growing. In 2004, firms providing personal services earned an estimated C$8.6-billion,up from C$7.6-billion in 2002. Personal care providers, which include hair and esthetic salons, spas and the like accounted for 46 per cent of the industry's total income with earnings of C$3.9-billion in 2004 while laundry and dry cleaning services earned nearly C$1.9-billion.

BAMBOO

Once only considered useful as a panda fuel, bamboo is now a trendy raw material used in everything from textiles to flooring. Consumers can now buy bamboo T-shirts, linens, jewellery and furniture, plus the usual cutting boards and salad bowls. Manufacturers call bamboo the new silicone and the new plywood. Textiles made from it are more absorbent than cotton and naturally anti-microbial. Bamboo is softer and lighter than cotton and breathes well making it an excellent material for bed linens.

AGING

The number of children in Japan has been falling for 25 straight years. Children and babies now make up 13.7 per cent of the population. This is even lower than other aging societies, including Italy (14.2 per cent) and Germany and Spain (both 14.5 per cent). Countries with relatively high 14-and-under- ratios include the Philippines with 34.7 per cent and Colombia with 31.7 per cent.

ACCOMMODATION

A California retiree has been persuaded by her architect to buy a junked jumbo jet and turn it into a mountainside house. The wings of the 747 will be made into a roof, the nose into a meditation temple and the remaining scrap will be turned into six more buildings including a guesthouse, yoga studio and caretaker's cottage.

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

June 2006 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

June 2006 Edition

CHARITY

About US$11.1-billion a year is funnelled to poor countries through private charities, according to the OECD, which tracks aid from 22 donor countries. Private giving is stimulated partly by public policies. Some governments provide tax breaks for charitable giving. In others, low taxes assist private giving by leaving more money in the pockets of citizens.

WEIGHT

With the weight-loss products market slowing after the low-carb craze, marketers are refocussing their energies on low fat, low sugar, and low glycemic index products to regain market momentum. The industry was once expected to reach US$9-billion by 2008. It won't regain the drive it enjoyed in the low- carb craze which helped the market surge by 22 per cent between 2002 and 2003. It is now estimated the market will reach 7.5-billion by 2010, bolstered by strong growth in the weight-loss desserts and diet candy sectors.

DAMAGES

More than 73,000 people died in last year's earthquake in Pakistan and India. Swiss Re, a reinsurance company, estimates the total cost of the damage was US$5-billion, but most of it was uninsured. Hurricane Katrina caused the greatest damage last year, at $135-billion. Claims on insurers amounted to $45-billion, the biggest in post-war history.

TOURISM

A record 808-million people visited a foreign country last year, up 5.5 per cent from the previous year. According to the UN World Tourism Organization the number of international tourists is expected to hit one billion by 2010 and the 2020 forecast is 1.6-billion. Europe still attracted the lion's share of travellers with 444-million arrivals. Africa saw a 10 per cent increase while Asia-Pacific and the Middle East saw arrivals forge by seven per cent. The Americas were visited by 133-million travellers.

MEXICO

Two years ago, China pushed Mexico from second to third place as a supplier of imported goods to the U.S. and some experts predict the Asian country will replace Canada as the No. 1 country within two years. China also became Mexico's second-largest trading partner after the U.S. though the trading relationship is very uneven with China sending Mexico US$14-billion worth of goods while only importing $400-million worth.

OIL SANDS

India has jumped into the intense competition for Canadian oil sands assets with plans to invest US$1-billion this year. India has mounted a high-profile hunt for foreign reserves to help power its growing economy. India is reportedly now worried its plans will put it head-to-head with long-time rival China in bidding for Canada's oil assets.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The average age of the four main components of Canada's public engineering infrastructure has stabilized in recent years after 20 years of steady increases, thanks to higher investment. A new study examines the aging, from 1963 to 2003, of the main components: roads and highways, sewer systems, wastewater treatment facilities and bridges. Wastewater facilities, the oldest infrastructure, had 63 per cent of useful life behind them. Bridges, the youngest infrastructure, had reached 49 per cent of their useful life.

UKRAINE

The U.S. and Ukraine have signed trade agreement on market access issues bringing Ukraine a step closer to membership in the World Trade Organization. U.S. service providers and exporters of industrial and agricultural products will get more opportunities to sell their wares in Ukraine.

SHOPPING

Non-traditional retailers will continue to pose a serious threat to supermarkets as market share in the food retailing industry shifts even more from food-focused to general merchandise-focused retailers. In 2005, 51 per cent of market share in the U.S. for food and consumables went to food-focused retailers, while a significant 33 per cent went to general-merchandise-focused retailers. Industry experts predict that in 2009 49 per cent will go to food-focused retailers and 39 per cent to general merchandise-focused retailers

VIEWING

In Britain, surfing the Internet is now more popular than TV. On average, adults in Britain spend more time online, 41.5 days a year, than in front of the TV. Government figures show they now spend just 37.5 days a year watching television. Londoners spend the most time on line, 183 minutes a day, but it is the high-tech Scotland that is second with an average of 181 minutes each day.

HONESTY

Japan is revising a century-old law because of its people's honesty which has overwhelmed the police by swamping them with lost property. Over 10 million items were handed in to police in 2004. The figure, more than double that of 1964, reflects the law-abiding, yet forgetful nature of the Japanese. Unclaimed items become the property of the finder.

UNDERWEAR

Turkey is the third-largest exporter of underwear in the world. Revenue from the industry, which employs close to one million Turks, reached US$4-billion in 2004 giving Turkey eight per cent of the world market for bras, panties and bathing suits, behind China and Hong Kong. Turkey's textile industry owes its success to good quality, low production costs, technology and proximity to Europe.

FISHING

Recently, fishermen off the coast of Japan have often been pulling in giant jellyfish which can be over a metre across and weigh 150 kilos. Their arrival has been a disaster for many fishing communities, breaking nets and gear, crushing the fish catch or spoiling it with poisonous tentacles. The jellyfish spawn along the coast of the East China Sea and drift towards Japan.

WEALTH

In the latest Forbes ranking of the world's super rich, 22 Canadians have made the billionaire list including one, the son of a Saskatchewan pig farmer, who made his fortune in Internet gambling. The rise of emerging markets and a host of new billionaires from third-world countries helped boost the 10-figure club to a record 793. The average net worth of the list's members is US$3.3-billion. Their combined wealth grew 18 per cent last year to $2.6-trillion.

ADS

A church in England has been told it needs planning permission and has to pay $150 to put up a wooden cross because it constitutes an advertisement.

ENERGY

Alarmed by a surge in energy costs and the threat of an acute gas shortage, the European Commission is trying to get control of energy policy from national governments. The EU claims that Europe can no longer afford 25 different and uncoordinated energy policies. Brussels proposes the creation of a single European electricity grid, new gas and oil pipelines into the heart of Europe from North Africa and the Middle East and the setting up of emergency gas stocks.

BENEFITS

More than half Canadian employers, burdened by spiralling health care costs and bracing for the flood of baby boomer retirements, plan to cut the level of benefits they provide to retired employees, a new survey indicates. The cuts will primarily affect future retirees who will face tighter eligibility requirements and who, increasingly, will be forced to dip into their pension income to help pay for their drug, dental and vision benefits.

AUSTRALIA

More than 150 years after the discovery of gold sparked a digging frenzy in the Australian state of Victoria, prospectors are once again striking it rich as a new gold rush gets under way. Better equipment and sophisticated geological mapping are enabling modern mining companies to find gold deposits that were beyond the reach of the 19-century forebears. Victoria once produced 40 per cent of the world's gold.

BEER

Soon, Budweiser beer is to be sold in Russia, one of the few brands it doesn't already have. Russia's beer market has doubled since 1999 and is expected to expand a further 33 per cent by 2010. Bud will be sold at high end bars and restaurants in major cities. Russia was the fourth-fastest growing beer market in terms of volume in 2004 among the top 12 markets and the fastest-growing among emerging markets after China and Brazil.

FARMS

More than 1,000 years after the last Viking invaders settled on the East Coast of England, the Danes are back, and buying British farmland because it is a more attractive prospect than their own. In the past two years, some 7,500 acres of prime farmland in the East of England have been sold to Danish buyers. Not since Dutch bulb and vegetable growers started buying up land in the same area in the 1970s has there been such a large invasion.

WOOD

Manufacturers of B.C. wood products are aiming to make an aggressive return to South Korea in a bid to capture a share of the rising market there for wood-frame homes and building materials. Interest in Korea among B.C. manufacturers dipped in the late 1990s during the Asian economic crisis. Within the next five to 10 years, an estimated 40,000 single-family wood-frame homes will be built in Korea each year.

ROADS

The Indian government has begun a 15-year project to widen and pave some 40,000 miles of narrow, decrepid national highways, with the first leg budgeted at US$6.25-billion to be completed within a year. It amounts to the most ambitious infrastructure project since independence in 1947 and the British building of the subcontinents railway network the century before.

DISEASE

At least one new disease is jumping the species barrier from animals to humans each year, exposing people to emerging germs at an unprecedented rate. The first work to catalogue the range of germs capable of infecting people has disclosed that 38 new human pathogens have emerged in the last 25 years of which three-quarters originated as animal diseases.

CHEESE

The European Court of Justice has ended a thirteen year dispute ruling that the name "feta" must be used only for white cheese soaked in brine and made in Greece. This was done under the same legislation that ensures champagne comes from Champagne, France and Parma ham must come from Parma, Italy. The ruling has caused chaos in the European feta industry. There are large-scale feta manufacturers in Denmark, Germany and France.

POWER

Britain's dominant supermarkets could be stopped from opening more stores after a Government watchdog suggested that they had become too powerful. The Office of Fair Trading claims that the four big chains may be restricting choice and driving independent convenience stores out of business. These stores have nearly a 75 per cent share of Britain's US$250-billion grocery market.

COMMUTING

Japanese auto maker Mazda says it will pay employees who walk to the office, rather than commute by car, as part of an effort to improve their health and protect the environment. All the company's 20,000 workers at domestic plants are eligible.

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

May 2006 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

May 2006 Edition

LOW TECH

An Italian research institute is using a low-cost but effective tool to bolster communications in developing countries. Made from a can (those used for seed oil are best), a screw-on connecter and a short brass wire, the "cantenna" is being promoted as a cheap efficient tool to amplify access to information and communications technology. They are directional antennas and can be used for short- to medium-distance point-to-point links. They can also be used as feeders for parabolic dishes. They cost around C$5.00 instead of hundreds of dollars

CHINA

After an eight year ban, Avon Products has received approval to become the first country to resume direct sales in China. Direct sales were banned in 1998 when the government said it was hard for consumers to tell the difference between legitimate sales networks and fraudulent pyramid schemes which were common then.

CHOICE

It could soon be a common occurrence in Houston schools for students to be turned away when trying to check out some foods in the cafeteria. The district is to become one of the largest in the country with an automation system that lets parents dictate and track what their children get.

GAMES

Worldwide sales of video games and related services are forecast to double to US$65.9-billion in 2011 from $32.6-billion in 2005, lifted by online and mobile games. The market for games played via the Internet on consoles, personal PCs and hand-held terminals will increase 95 per cent a year in the period.

CABLE

An FCC study in the U.S. concludes that subscribers would save money if they were allowed to pay only for the channels they wanted. This conclusion reverses an earlier FCC finding. This provides new support for the consumer groups pushing for a pick-and-choose system to replace the bundled service. A similar report has been released in Canada.

DOGS

An on-line site for dog owners reports that 66 per cent of employees would work longer hours and 55 per cent would be willing to commute longer distance if it meant they could bring their dog to work. The survey also found that 49 per cent would switch jobs to a more dog-friendly employer

HOLLAND

A survey of 17,766 people in 17 countries found that residents of the Netherlands, armed with tax breaks for computer purchases and some of Europe's lowest broadband fees, lead the world in the use of personal computers and the Internet. 82 per cent of Dutch residents use computers at home or work. In Canada the number was 79 per cent and in the United States 76 per cent.

ZONES

North Korea has set aside 1,100 hectares for South Korean companies to set up shop. So far, 15 companies are producing and shipping manufactured goods such as footwear and cases for makeup and cosmetics. Construction on the complex began in 2005 and eventually it is hoped that 2,000 business will fill the zone by 2012. Trade between the two Koreas has surged 51 per cent since 2005 topping US$1-billion for the first time.

PORK

In 2005 exports of Canadian pork soared to 1.028 million tonnes, valued at C$2.84-billion. This represents an increase of about 10 per cent in terms of quantity and five per cent in value. over 2004. The U.S. remains the top customer though volume dropped by 10 per cent last year. Japan jumped by over 30 per cent to 265 thousand tonnes. Australia is the third largest market followed by Korea where exports doubled in one year.

FRUIT

The humble blueberry has replaced the apple as Canada's No. 1 fruit with sales of C$131-million in 2004, compared with sales of $72-million in 1996. British Columbia is the country's prime producer with nearly half (48 per cent and C$64.2-million) of total sales across the country.

FRIES

In England, where fries are one of that nation's favourite foods, there are 8,200 chip-fat pan fires each year that result in 34 deaths and 3,000 injuries.

LANGUAGE

Statistics Canada reports that there are more than 600 private sector firms that comprise Canada's language industry, including translation and training. They reached revenues of over C$404-million in 2004. Translation services revenues reached $154-million, or 38 per cent of total revenues. Classroom and online language training reported the highest revenues at $193-million, or 48 per cent of total revenue. About 7,405 permanent workers were employed in the industry.

SMELTING

U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa Inc is launching a feasibility study to build one of the world's first geothermal-powered smelters in Iceland as it seeks sources of power cheaper than in the U.S. and Europe. Power accounts for about a third of the cost of making aluminum and is about 30 per cent cheaper in Iceland than in other locations. Power for a second plant will be provided by Iceland's state-owned power company which is building a hydroelectric dam generating electricity from ice floes off Iceland's biggest glacier.

CHALLENGES

A new international survey reveals that executives are much more likely to leave a job for a greater challenge than for a bigger salary. Lack of challenge or career growth was the reason that 33 per cent of respondents changed jobs according to the study which polled 2,000 people in 80 countries. Ineffective leadership drove another 20 per cent from their jobs.

LUXURY

The Japanese company behind luxury heated toilet seats is opening a factory in Mexico in a bid to keep up with surging demand in the U.S. They claim the move will help lift sales of the seat which transforms into a warm water-spraying bidet at the touch of a button. The system was originally created by a U.S. company for the elderly and people with disabilities before the patent was bought by a Japanese company in the late 1960s. The new factory will be able to make 400,000 seats a year by 2008.

AIRPORTS

China expects to spend US$17.4-billion over the next five years on its airports as its expanding economy fuels demand for air travel. The country predicts its fleet of airliners will reach 1,580 by 2010, up from 863 flying currently. This is expected to accelerate to 4,000 commercial jets by 2020. By 2010, the mainland will have about 186 airports, up from 142 currently.

PRESCRIPTIONS

The UN drug watchdog says the abuse of prescription drugs in some parts of the world now rivals the use of all other illegal drugs. It claims this is a major problem in the U.S., Canada and Mexico where the abuse of prescription drugs, especially painkillers and inhalants, has been identified a major issue by the Vienna-based agency.

ROBOTS

Scientists have devised a way to help robot surgeons work in time to a beating heart. Usually, bypass surgery involves stopping the heart beating and, during the operation, sending blood round the body using an artificial pump. This involves opening up the heart and sending blood through a machine. However, the scientists have developed software that synchronises the movement of robotic surgical tools with the heart's beat. This allows surgeons to operate with the chest closed.

ANALOGUE

The U.S. Congress has approved plans to force broadcasters to switch off their analogue signals by 2009. Congress has also allocated US$1.5-billion to ensure Americans can convert their TV sets to receive digital signals.

MARKETS

Driven by advances in education and employment, the African-American market now commands a buying power of US$762-billion annually which is expected to reach $981-billion by 2010. Having roughly the same purchasing power as Hispanics, African-Americans have been left behind when it comes to marketing and advertising because Hispanics have been expected to have more rapid population growth.

ADVERTISING

The Super Bowl, European Championship Soccer and Formula One's Canadian Grand Prix each drew more than 50 million viewers in 2005, proving that top sports programmes are among the few remaining in a fragmented TV landscape to deliver large global audiences for advertisers.

LEAFLETS

A government department in the U.K. has been urged to cut the number of leaflets it produces after officials found they often made little sense. The Department for Work and Pensions spent US$62-million last year on publishing 250 different leaflets. The National Audit Office found they were frequently out of date and difficult for the public to understand.

DVDs

According to Screen Digest, consumer spending on DVDs in Europe fell last year, despite more being sold than ever. The price of the average European DVD fell by more than 11 per cent to just under US$20.00. Price reductions meant spending fell by 1.7 per cent, even though 732 million discs were sold, more than ever before. The publication predicts that VHS cassettes will die out completely by 2008.

BEACHCOMBING

An Australian couple who picked up an odd-looking fatty lump from a quiet beach are in line for a cash windfall. They took home a 14.75kg lump of ambergris, found in the inside of sperm whales and used in perfumes after it has been vomited up. Worth about US$20 a gram, the piece found on the Australian beach is worth about US$295.000.

GOLD

Fast-rising demand from China and India has helped lift the price of gold to 25-year records. Largely because of the growth in those two countries, global jewellery sales reached a record US$38-billion last year. In the third quarter of last year, Chinese shoppers bought 57.7 tonnes of gold jewellery, up nine per cent from a year earlier.

BABIES

The German government is urging companies to develop more family-friendly policies in a bid to make working life more attractive for staff with young families and help reverse the country's declining birth rate. Improved child-care facilities, easing mothers' reentry into the workplace and more flexible hours for young parents are among the goals of the new policy.

OIL

World-beating oil reserves in Alberta are finally being brought into production after years of talking about it. The oil is bound up in black bituminous sand close to the surface. Even though the reserves are huge and so obvious, the oil sands have to be steam heated to release the oil. Until recently, it's been a prohibitively expensive process but with the current high cost of oil, it is now worth extracting. Recent calculations show that the Alberta reserves are second to Saudi Arabia.

SUCCESS

An Italian "lawyer" who lost just one case out of 200 in a successful 13-year career, is facing an appearance in court after confessing that she has no legal qualifications.

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