August 2010 Edition
EARNINGS
US government statistics show that women in 35 per cent of professional dual-income homes are now making more than their husbands. That proportion was only 28 per cent five years ago. It is now estimated that American women professionals will overtake their male peers in average earnings by 2024 if current trends continue. Demographers attribute the trend, affecting professions such as lawyers and doctors, to a combination of employers being more amenable towards women staff, declining birth rates and the US recession's comparatively light impact on female workers.
SIZE
An offshore turbine more than 500 feet tall with a diameter of 475 feet is due to make an appearance in British waters within the next two years. The 10 megawatt machine, dubbed Britannia, may mark the start of a growing trend. The Britannia will have three enormous blades, each weighing more than 30 tonnes which will sweep a circle more than 100 feet wider than the 400 foot diameter of the London Eye. It is expected to generate enough electricity to power 10,000 homes and over its lifetime could replace the use of two million barrels of oil.
MANUFACTURING
The US remained the world's biggest manufacturing nation in 2009 by output but is poised to relinquish this slot in 2011 to China, thus ending a 110-year run as the number one country in factory production. Last year, the US created 19.9 per cent of world manufacturing output, compared with 18.6 for China. The US became the world's biggest manufacturer in the late 1890s, edging Britain into second place. Last year, goods output by the US totalled US$1,717-billion, ahead of China at $1,608-billion. China was the world's leading country for goods production for 1,500 years, until the 1850's when Britain took over for a brief spell.
COUNTERFEIT
The United Nations reports that China with the aid of organized criminal networks, control the US$8.2-billion European market for designer clothes knockoffs, fake electronics and uninspected aircraft parts. Customs officials can no longer keep up with shipments of bogus products from China that have followed a surge in European imports from Asia over the past decade.
BUSHMEAT
A new study estimates that about 270 tonnes of illegal bushmeat may be passing through one of Europe's busiest airports each year. The illicit trade could pose a risk to human or animal health and increase the demand for meat from threatened species. The figure is based on seizures carried out over 17 days at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. During this period a total of 134 passengers arriving on 29 flights from 14 African nations were searched. Nine people were found to be carrying bushmeat for a total of 188kg. In total 11 species were found including two types of primate, two kinds of crocodile and three rodent species listed as protected species.
MARKETING
Nestle's is to begin sailing a supermarket barge down two Amazon river tributaries as it competes with Unilever to reach emerging-market customers cut off from branded goods. The world's largest food company will send a boat with a 100-square metres of supermarket space on a journey to 18 small cities and 800,000 potential customers on the Para and Xingu rivers in Brazil before starting the journey again. The vessel will carry 300 different goods including chocolate, yogurt, ice cream and juices.
TREES
African leaders met recently in Chad to push the idea of planting a tree belt across Africa from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east. The Great Green Wall project is backed by the African Union and is aimed at halting the advancing Sahara Desert. The belt would be 15km wide and 77,775km long. It would go through 11 countries from east to west. The trees would be "drought-adapted species" and it is hoped the trees will slow soil erosion, slow wind speeds and help rain water filter into the ground to stop the desert from growing.
AGRICULTURE
A new report suggests that the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) will enjoy an agricultural boom over the next decade as production stalls in Western Europe. Agricultural output in the BRIC nations will grow three times as fast as the major developed countries and developing countries will provide the main source of growth for world agricultural production, consumption and trade.
RETIREMENT
The right to retire at the age of 60 has been a untouchable tenet of the generous French system of worker benefits since 1983, but the country can no longer afford it. It is now proposed that the legal retirement age should be pushed forward in stages and, by 2018, should stand at 62. Under the new proposal, French workers would have to work until they reach the age of 67, rather than 65, to collect maximum benefits. Presently, the state pension system is running a US$40-billion deficit.
OLIVE OIL
Globally, Spain continues to be the powerhouse in the production of extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), with Italy second. Now, it is being produced in countries as far apart as Croatia and Chile. The boom is being fuelled by two developments: a growing appreciation of extra-virgin olive oil as a healthier fat, and technological advances that have made it more cost-effective to harvest. There are even fledgling olive oil industries in China and India, but Mediterranean imports continue to dominate the U.S. market. A Chilean company has just introduced two products to the U.S. market, an EVOO for everyday cooking and a super-premium product intended for sauces.
DIRECTORIES
Canada's largest directory publisher will no longer distribute residential phone books in seven of Canada's largest cities. The White Pages will be available only by request in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal and Quebec City. The change will save the company from printing about five million directories each year. The commercial Yellow Page directories will still be available.
PHONES
Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker has launched four low-priced handsets and a charger that can be connected to a bicycle's dynamo which charges when the wheels turn. The bicycle charger kit and handsets are available priced between US$38.00 and $57.00. The dynamo, a small electrical generator, uses the movement of the wheels to charge the handset through a standard charging jack used in most Nokia handsets.
HEALTH
Retail sales within the U.S. consumer packaged goods health-and-wellness industry reached almost US$125-billion in 2009, an overall growth of 5 per cent over the previous year. Fortified foods and beverages continue to account for the largest proportion of sales, followed by vitamins, minerals, herbal and dietary supplements. The largest percentage increase was in the natural/organic general merchandise category which includes pet products, clothing and household cleaning products.
SHIPS
Lower than normal water levels in the Montreal area of the St. Lawrence Seaway are forcing oceangoing container ships to lighten their loads, exacerbating an already tight capacity situation. The low water levels, a result of light winter snowfall and a dry spring in the Quebec region, prompted the U.S. and Canadian management agencies to lower the maximum draft for oceangoing ships on the waterway by 3 inches to 26 feet 3 inches.
SCOTCH
For years, Scotch whisky exports remained flat while vodka production rose by 3.5 per cent a year for 20 years. While even the basic brands of whisky mature for at least three years, vodka can be made, sold and drunk in a week. Now, the whisky distilleries are marketing the "premiumisation" of both blended and malt whiskies, some of which are aged for 12 years. Since 2000, Scotch exports have risen by over 40 per cent. Records were set last year when the volume of exports rose by 4 per cent to 1.1-billion bottles worth US$4.9-billion.
MINERALS
The U.S. has discovered nearly US1-trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to alter the Afghanistan economy. The previously unknown deposits, including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium, are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centres in the world.
SIZE
Humanity's total digital output currently stands at eight million petabytes, each of which represents a million gigabytes, but is expected to pass 1.2-zettabytes this year. One zettabyte is equal to one million petabytes. The current size of the world's digital content is equivalent to all the information that could be stored on 75-billion Apple iPads.
FOOD
The world's biggest maker of nitrogen fertilizer says that Africa will be the key to boosting global food output to meet rising demand. Africa, along with Latin America, is among the few places with land available that can be developed for farming. Africa could become the breadbasket of the world which is why quite a few countries are buying up African land including China and Middle East countries. The world's food production must expand by 70 per cent in the next four decades to meet demand.
TIMBER
The European Union is set to finally ban illegal timber in 2012. After two years of negotiations, legislators reached a compromise on a deal that will require companies to trace where their timber was harvested. Up to 40 per cent of the world's wood production is estimated to come from illegally logged tropical forests. Illegal logging is a major driver of deforestation, with the volume of industrial wood from illegal sources estimated at 350-650-million cubic metres each year.
REVENUE
As the world headed into recession in 2008, newspapers in different countries varied greatly in the extent to which they relied on advertising for their revenues. Japanese papers got only 35 per cent of their revenues from advertisements, the rest came from their readers. But 87 per cent of what American newspapers earned came from advertisers. This made them much more vulnerable to the decline in ad spending that accompanied the global economic crisis. Only papers in Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy got more than half their revenue from their readers.
DRINKS
PepsiCo is to invest US$2.5-billion in China over the next three years. The world's second biggest drinks maker is to open 19 new plants and install new production lines at existing facilities. Pepsi currently lags behind Coke in China, with less than half of its rival's market share. Pepsi will also create new products aimed specifically at Asia.
DISTANCE
The longest distance from a McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. has now been identified. It lies between the two tiny hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley in South Dakota where it is at least two hours drive to the nearest Golden Arches.
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
US government statistics show that women in 35 per cent of professional dual-income homes are now making more than their husbands. That proportion was only 28 per cent five years ago. It is now estimated that American women professionals will overtake their male peers in average earnings by 2024 if current trends continue. Demographers attribute the trend, affecting professions such as lawyers and doctors, to a combination of employers being more amenable towards women staff, declining birth rates and the US recession's comparatively light impact on female workers.
SIZE
An offshore turbine more than 500 feet tall with a diameter of 475 feet is due to make an appearance in British waters within the next two years. The 10 megawatt machine, dubbed Britannia, may mark the start of a growing trend. The Britannia will have three enormous blades, each weighing more than 30 tonnes which will sweep a circle more than 100 feet wider than the 400 foot diameter of the London Eye. It is expected to generate enough electricity to power 10,000 homes and over its lifetime could replace the use of two million barrels of oil.
MANUFACTURING
The US remained the world's biggest manufacturing nation in 2009 by output but is poised to relinquish this slot in 2011 to China, thus ending a 110-year run as the number one country in factory production. Last year, the US created 19.9 per cent of world manufacturing output, compared with 18.6 for China. The US became the world's biggest manufacturer in the late 1890s, edging Britain into second place. Last year, goods output by the US totalled US$1,717-billion, ahead of China at $1,608-billion. China was the world's leading country for goods production for 1,500 years, until the 1850's when Britain took over for a brief spell.
COUNTERFEIT
The United Nations reports that China with the aid of organized criminal networks, control the US$8.2-billion European market for designer clothes knockoffs, fake electronics and uninspected aircraft parts. Customs officials can no longer keep up with shipments of bogus products from China that have followed a surge in European imports from Asia over the past decade.
BUSHMEAT
A new study estimates that about 270 tonnes of illegal bushmeat may be passing through one of Europe's busiest airports each year. The illicit trade could pose a risk to human or animal health and increase the demand for meat from threatened species. The figure is based on seizures carried out over 17 days at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. During this period a total of 134 passengers arriving on 29 flights from 14 African nations were searched. Nine people were found to be carrying bushmeat for a total of 188kg. In total 11 species were found including two types of primate, two kinds of crocodile and three rodent species listed as protected species.
MARKETING
Nestle's is to begin sailing a supermarket barge down two Amazon river tributaries as it competes with Unilever to reach emerging-market customers cut off from branded goods. The world's largest food company will send a boat with a 100-square metres of supermarket space on a journey to 18 small cities and 800,000 potential customers on the Para and Xingu rivers in Brazil before starting the journey again. The vessel will carry 300 different goods including chocolate, yogurt, ice cream and juices.
TREES
African leaders met recently in Chad to push the idea of planting a tree belt across Africa from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east. The Great Green Wall project is backed by the African Union and is aimed at halting the advancing Sahara Desert. The belt would be 15km wide and 77,775km long. It would go through 11 countries from east to west. The trees would be "drought-adapted species" and it is hoped the trees will slow soil erosion, slow wind speeds and help rain water filter into the ground to stop the desert from growing.
AGRICULTURE
A new report suggests that the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) will enjoy an agricultural boom over the next decade as production stalls in Western Europe. Agricultural output in the BRIC nations will grow three times as fast as the major developed countries and developing countries will provide the main source of growth for world agricultural production, consumption and trade.
RETIREMENT
The right to retire at the age of 60 has been a untouchable tenet of the generous French system of worker benefits since 1983, but the country can no longer afford it. It is now proposed that the legal retirement age should be pushed forward in stages and, by 2018, should stand at 62. Under the new proposal, French workers would have to work until they reach the age of 67, rather than 65, to collect maximum benefits. Presently, the state pension system is running a US$40-billion deficit.
OLIVE OIL
Globally, Spain continues to be the powerhouse in the production of extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), with Italy second. Now, it is being produced in countries as far apart as Croatia and Chile. The boom is being fuelled by two developments: a growing appreciation of extra-virgin olive oil as a healthier fat, and technological advances that have made it more cost-effective to harvest. There are even fledgling olive oil industries in China and India, but Mediterranean imports continue to dominate the U.S. market. A Chilean company has just introduced two products to the U.S. market, an EVOO for everyday cooking and a super-premium product intended for sauces.
DIRECTORIES
Canada's largest directory publisher will no longer distribute residential phone books in seven of Canada's largest cities. The White Pages will be available only by request in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal and Quebec City. The change will save the company from printing about five million directories each year. The commercial Yellow Page directories will still be available.
PHONES
Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker has launched four low-priced handsets and a charger that can be connected to a bicycle's dynamo which charges when the wheels turn. The bicycle charger kit and handsets are available priced between US$38.00 and $57.00. The dynamo, a small electrical generator, uses the movement of the wheels to charge the handset through a standard charging jack used in most Nokia handsets.
HEALTH
Retail sales within the U.S. consumer packaged goods health-and-wellness industry reached almost US$125-billion in 2009, an overall growth of 5 per cent over the previous year. Fortified foods and beverages continue to account for the largest proportion of sales, followed by vitamins, minerals, herbal and dietary supplements. The largest percentage increase was in the natural/organic general merchandise category which includes pet products, clothing and household cleaning products.
SHIPS
Lower than normal water levels in the Montreal area of the St. Lawrence Seaway are forcing oceangoing container ships to lighten their loads, exacerbating an already tight capacity situation. The low water levels, a result of light winter snowfall and a dry spring in the Quebec region, prompted the U.S. and Canadian management agencies to lower the maximum draft for oceangoing ships on the waterway by 3 inches to 26 feet 3 inches.
SCOTCH
For years, Scotch whisky exports remained flat while vodka production rose by 3.5 per cent a year for 20 years. While even the basic brands of whisky mature for at least three years, vodka can be made, sold and drunk in a week. Now, the whisky distilleries are marketing the "premiumisation" of both blended and malt whiskies, some of which are aged for 12 years. Since 2000, Scotch exports have risen by over 40 per cent. Records were set last year when the volume of exports rose by 4 per cent to 1.1-billion bottles worth US$4.9-billion.
MINERALS
The U.S. has discovered nearly US1-trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to alter the Afghanistan economy. The previously unknown deposits, including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium, are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centres in the world.
SIZE
Humanity's total digital output currently stands at eight million petabytes, each of which represents a million gigabytes, but is expected to pass 1.2-zettabytes this year. One zettabyte is equal to one million petabytes. The current size of the world's digital content is equivalent to all the information that could be stored on 75-billion Apple iPads.
FOOD
The world's biggest maker of nitrogen fertilizer says that Africa will be the key to boosting global food output to meet rising demand. Africa, along with Latin America, is among the few places with land available that can be developed for farming. Africa could become the breadbasket of the world which is why quite a few countries are buying up African land including China and Middle East countries. The world's food production must expand by 70 per cent in the next four decades to meet demand.
TIMBER
The European Union is set to finally ban illegal timber in 2012. After two years of negotiations, legislators reached a compromise on a deal that will require companies to trace where their timber was harvested. Up to 40 per cent of the world's wood production is estimated to come from illegally logged tropical forests. Illegal logging is a major driver of deforestation, with the volume of industrial wood from illegal sources estimated at 350-650-million cubic metres each year.
REVENUE
As the world headed into recession in 2008, newspapers in different countries varied greatly in the extent to which they relied on advertising for their revenues. Japanese papers got only 35 per cent of their revenues from advertisements, the rest came from their readers. But 87 per cent of what American newspapers earned came from advertisers. This made them much more vulnerable to the decline in ad spending that accompanied the global economic crisis. Only papers in Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy got more than half their revenue from their readers.
DRINKS
PepsiCo is to invest US$2.5-billion in China over the next three years. The world's second biggest drinks maker is to open 19 new plants and install new production lines at existing facilities. Pepsi currently lags behind Coke in China, with less than half of its rival's market share. Pepsi will also create new products aimed specifically at Asia.
DISTANCE
The longest distance from a McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. has now been identified. It lies between the two tiny hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley in South Dakota where it is at least two hours drive to the nearest Golden Arches.
Thank you for reading the A & A Economic News Digest. For more information visit our website www.aacb.com or contact A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. at strehler@aacb.com.
Past issues of the A&A Economic News Digest can be found at http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/index.asp
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