December 2011 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

December 2011 Edition

 FISH

Consumer Reports has revealed a scam that leaves millions of U.S. consumers clueless whether the fish they think they are buying is the fish they are actually getting. The world's largest independent product testing organization has revealed that 22 per cent of seafood it tested at supermarkets, restaurants, fish markets, gourmet stores and big box stores in three states was either mislabelled, incompletely labelled or misidentified by employees. Americans spent US$80.2-billion on seafood last year, up $5-billion from 2009. The investigation took place in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut where samples were DNA tested by two outside laboratories.

DEBRIS

A wave of debris from Japan's March tsunami will hit Hawaiian shores by 2013. More accurate forecasts are now being prepared after a Russian ship found tsunami debris including a refrigerator, a TV and a damaged 20-foot fishing vessel in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and the Midway Atoll. It is likely that debris will now hit the western U.S. and Canadian coasts by 2014 before bouncing back towards Hawaii for a second impact. It is estimated by the Japanese government that between 10- and 25-million tons of debris, including houses, tires, trees and appliances were washed out to sea.

LAND

Since 1700, the amount of cultivated land on the planet has increased from 7 to 40 per cent. When you look at a globe, more than a third of what you see that is not water or ice, has gone from neighbourhoods for wildlife to croplands for humans or grazing lands for our livestock.

POLYMER

The look and feel of Canadian money has changed. Starting in November, the Bank of Canada introduced polymer-based bank notes beginning with the C$100 bill. The new $50 will be introduced in March 2012 and the remaining notes by the end of 2013. Polymer notes are printed on a smooth, durable film. Currently there are over 30 countries that print some or all of their denominations on polymer, including Australia, Mexico and Romania. The leading edge security features of the notes are easy to verify and the notes are expected to last 2.5 times longer.

CARS

Typical family cars have become more than a foot wider and almost double the weight over the past 50 years as manufacturers struggle with the world's obesity crisis. BMW has recruited 800 volunteers, ranging from slim to obese, for a study to gauge how obesity affects mobility while driving. Mercedes has unveiled plans to strengthen grab handles above its doors, in part to help heavier passengers support themselves. Porche meanwhile is installing powered steering columns which will rise when the engine is switched off. Honda has widened its seats by up to 2-inches over the past decade.

STEALING

Move over Kobe beef and aged whisky, it now turns out that cheese is the most stolen food in the world. A UK retail research group surveyed 1,187 retailers representing more than 250,000 retail outlets across 43 countries which showed that four per cent of cheese went missing from store shelves. Much of the theft is for resale and a lot of this cheese will be resold into other markets or to restaurants.

MEAT

Canada's meat industry says it stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year unless Ottawa moves more quickly to sign a free-trade agreement with South Korea. Recently, the U.S. signed such a trade deal which will mean its beef and pork producers will face much lower tariffs than their Canadian counterparts. South Korea is one of Canada's largest pork markets and was once Canada's fourth largest beef market.

NEWSPAPERS

Worldwide daily newspaper circulation declined by 1.7 per cent in 2010 to 519 million. In the past five years the industry has suffered from global economic turmoil and the migration of readers online. Newspaper advertising revenue fell by 23 per cent between 2006 and 2010. Publishers in mature markets have cut jobs and costs and raised cover prices to stay in print. Newspapers reach 2.3-billion people every day, 20 per cent more readers than the internet. However, globally, the number of daily newspaper titles increased by 200 last year to 14,853.

MANUFACTURING

In 2010, manufacturing productivity increased in all 19 countries surveyed by America's Bureau of Labour Statistics. The previous year, 12 of the countries experienced falls. Taiwan achieved an impressive increase of 15 per cent and was one of the six countries with gains above 10 per cent. In 2008-09, productivity in Japan, Italy and Britain fell by more than 3 per cent but have since recovered lost ground.

FIRES

A series of tens of millions of fires detected worldwide from space since 2002 show how fire affects our environment according to NASA. Data shows that Africa has more abundant burning than any other continent with about 70 per cent of the world's fires. Fires are comparatively rare in North America, making up just 2 per cent of the world's burned area each year.

SCOTCH

As Africans grow richer, they drink more Scotch. They bought US$147-million of it in the first six months of this year, an increase of 34 per cent over last year. Sales of Johnnie Walker doubled in east Africa in 2010 to 790,000 litres and is predicted to rise even more this year, not only in east Africa but in west and southern Africa too.

SAMSUNG

This company began as a small noodle maker in 1938. Since then it has swelled into a network of 83 companies that account for a staggering 13 per cent of South Korea's exports. The biggest company is Samsung Electronics which started out making transistor radios but is now the world's biggest technology firm, measured by sales. It makes more televisions than any other company and may soon displace Nokia as the biggest maker of mobile-telephone handsets. In the next decade Samsung will invest US$20-billion in the fields of solar panels, energy saving LED lights, medical devices, biotech drugs and batteries for electric cars.

TOURISM

Dubai is significantly expanding its cruise ship port in an effort to attract more seafaring tourists to the city's Persian Gulf shores. A second cruise ship terminal at the downtown Port Rashid will be opened by the end of 2012. Up to five cruise liners will be able to dock at a time, compared with two now. Plans call for seven in the future. 120 cruise ships docked at Dubai in 2010 carrying 390,000 passengers. 625,000 passengers are expected by 2015. In 2010, 3.3-million cruise passengers past through Port Everglades, Fla.

COOLING

Facebook Inc. plans to build a server farm in the Swedish town of Lulea, 100 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, using the northern air to cool its equipment. It will be the first server farm built outside the U.S. by the social networking giant. The average temperature in Lulea is 2 degrees centigrade. As cloud computing becomes the norm, more and more companies, including Google and Apple, are expanding their server farm facilities, many of which are the size of several soccer stadiums and contain thousands of servers. Cooling the servers is a significant cost of operations.

FUEL

The Spanish airline Iberia Lineas has flown the country's first commercial flight using a blend of fuel made from the inedible camelina plant. Last July, airlines won approval from ASTM International, the U.S. technical standards body, to fly planes using fuel made from inedible plants and organic waste mixed with petroleum-derived fuel. Approval allows for blends of up to 50 per cent biofuel. Since July, airlines including Air France-KLM Group and Finnair have flown using such blends.

LIGHT

A new type of "smart" window that switches from summer to winter mode has been made by South Korean scientists. The window darkens when the outside temperature soars, and becomes transparent when it gets cold in order to capture free heat from the sun. This type of light control system may provide a new option for saving on heating, cooling and lighting costs through managing the light transmitted into the interior of a house.

CORK

After a decade of soaring growth for screw caps, bark has begun to beat back the assault. Now, the use of bark is up again as plastic stoppers are disparaged for letting too much air into wine bottles. Over the past 16 months, shipments in cork wine stoppers from Portugal, which supplies the majority of the material to the industry, grew by 19.4 per cent, mainly reclaiming market share from plastic "corks," and also gaining on screw tops.

ARCTIC

Russia has predicted that Arctic shipping routes along Russia's northern coast will soon rival the Suez canal as a quicker trade link from Europe to Asia. Russia plans to revive the Soviet-era shipping lane as polar ice cover recedes to near record levels. This could speed energy deliveries to China and boost business for cargo suppliers. This route is almost a third shorter than the traditional southern one.

RUBIES

While the price of gold continues to climb, growing numbers of investors are also venturing farther afield into gemstones such as rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Dealers say that prices for high-quality rubies are up by 50 per cent this year and the same applies to sapphires. In a recent auction to wholesalers, African emeralds sold for more than 63 per cent per carat than higher-quality stones fetched last December.

TESTING

A technology company is building a US$200-million desert ghost town 20 miles square for testing smart city technologies, such as traffic control, smart power grids, cyber security and self-driving vehicles.

VOLUNTEERING

Having volunteer work in your resume has the potential to make you more attractive to employers, a new survey suggests. The survey of 1,200 professionals in Canada found that 84 per cent have had personal experience doing volunteer work, such as fundraising and organizing charity events. 46 per cent of hiring managers said they consider such volunteer work equally as valuable as paid work experience when evaluating candidates.

WOUNDS

A would dressing that glows to indicate an infection has been developed. Scientists at Sheffield University have produced a gel containing molecules that bind to bacteria and activate a fluorescent dye. The dressing emits a pinkish glow under ultraviolet light when harmful levels of bacteria are present.

GASOLINE

A British insurance firm has compiled a list of gasoline prices around the world. These are the five countries where gas is least expensive. Bahrain, 21 cents a litre; Turkmenistan, 19 cents; Libya, 14 cents; Saudi Arabia, 13 cents and Venezuela, 4.7 cents.

RESTAURANTS

A restaurant owner in Saudi Arabia is cracking down on food wastage by fining diners who don't eat everything they order. The owner says customers often order large quantities of food as a status symbol at his establishment in order to impress the people around them and to boost their social prestige. The owner calculates the fines based on the amount of food left over and says that he has received support from other Saudis for his idea.

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 2011 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

November 2011 Edition

HISPANICS

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the boom in the Hispanic population is spreading beyond traditional areas such as California and Texas to reach every corner of the country, including the Deep South and the Midwest. The report shows the biggest increases in Hispanic population in the past decade were in places such as South Carolina, Alabama, Maryland and South Dakota. Latinos accounted for 16.3 per cent of the population in 2010, up from 12.5 per cent in 2000.

DISENGAGED

Half of all Canadian employees surveyed are disengaged from their work according to a recent poll. Thirty six per cent of the 2,000 workers surveyed said they are seriously considering leaving their organization, up sharply from 26 per cent the last time the survey was done in 2006. Another 22 per cent said they are indifferent about leaving but are increasingly dissatisfied with their employers. On a positive note, employees credit their employers for being better in providing feedback, with 54 per cent saying they had a formal performance appraisal or review in the past 12 months compared with 46 per cent in 2006.

WASTE

During the recent summer heat in Tokyo ordinary consumers were trying to conserve energy offsetting shortages from the nuclear plant outages. Meanwhile, luxury boutiques were snubbing their noses at such practices by propping their doors wide open in the belief that their air-conditioned cool air will increase foot traffic as the frigid air is allowed to stream wastefully onto the sidewalk. Among the companies are many that claim to be "green" and environmentally friendly.

YACHTS

China's seemingly insatiable appetite for luxury is a boon for yacht-builders, and other makers of luxury goods, at a time when traditional markets in Europe and the U.S. are struggling. One UK builder recently sealed a massive deal to supply five yachts worth US$33-million to a mainland Chinese customer. But yacht builders are facing emerging competition from local upstarts keen to get a slice of this potentially lucrative market. However, high taxes, onerous regulation and a lack of suitable marinas and berths may limit the industry's expansion.

REPLICAS

An exact replica of an Austrian town is being built in China's Guangdong province. Chinese architects have already designed a number of fully inhabitable towns in variety of European styles. Near Shanghai, Thames Town looks like a traditional English village, complete with fish and chip shops. Others are modeled on Barcelona and Venice. These towns are, in essence, huge real-estate developments based on an architectural theme.

EMPLOYMENT

In most of the OECD mainly rich member countries, immigrants fare worse than native-born workers in the job market. In Belgium, the unemployment rate for immigrants is two-and-a-half times that for those born in the country. Workers in Spain have a jobless rate of 18 per cent while 30 per cent of immigrants are out of work. In the U.S. where the labour market has been unusually slow, the pain is being shared fairly equally among native-born workers and immigrants.

PHONES

Women in developing countries are 21 per cent less likely to own a cell phone than men. This amounts to about 300-million fewer female subscribers. Closing this gender gap represents a US$13-billion revenue opportunity for cell phone operators, an amount that will increase to $29-billion a year by 2014. It is estimated that 38 per cent of women and 48 per cent of men have cell phones in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

WINE

Whereas counterfeit art has been around for centuries, wine forgery is relatively new. It started in the late 1970s when the prices of the best wines, especially those from Bordeaux, shot up. Today, with demand from China fuelling a remarkable boom, counterfeiting is rife. By some estimates, five per cent of fine wines sold at auction are not what they claim to be on the label. The simplest technique is to slap the label of a prized recent vintage on that of a less-divine year. Another is to bribe the sommelier of a fancy restaurant to pass on empty bottles that once held fine wines to be refilled with inferior wines.

NUCLEAR

France has bucked the anti-nuclear trend following Japan's disaster by pledging US$2-billion of investment in atomic power. The announcement confirming France's commitment to nuclear power came as neighbouring Germany drew up plans to shut all its nuclear stations by 2022. Switzerland has also decided not to replace its five existing nuclear reactors which supply 40 per cent of its energy. All 143 working nuclear power plants in the EU's 27 member countries are facing new safety tests in the wake of the Japanese disaster.

INNOVATION

Canada's Science Council reports that Canada is now a mid-level player in the global innovation race, passed by rising powers China and South Korea in some categories and falling behind long-time rivals such as the U.S., Germany, Norway and Sweden. Canada's performance has slumped on most key measures in the two years since the last report Among other things, the country is spending less per capita on Research and Development, business R&D is down, venture capital relative to GDP is down, government spending on R&D has fallen and the ranking of Canadians in high-school test scores is lower.

FUEL

Dutch airline KLM is using recycled cooking oil as biofuel to power 200 flights between Amsterdam and Paris, in a move aimed at cutting carbon emissions.

WEALTH

The number of millionaires worldwide grew to 10.9-million in 2010 despite a slowdown following the financial crisis. Canada remained in seventh place in the ranking of rich people by country and the U.S. held on to the top spot. Men made up 73 per cent of the wealthy worldwide and 83 per cent were more than 45 years old. For the first time, Asia was home to more millionaires than Europe. This tiny percentage of the world's population controls US$42.7-trillion of global resources, $2-trillion more than before the 2008 crash.

SHIPS

The Vale Brazil, biggest iron-ore carrier ever built, is capable of hauling 400,000 tonne cargoes. This is enough iron ore to make about 261,000 tonnes of steel, three and a half times that used to build the Golden Gate Bridge. The Vale Brazil is the first in a fleet of 19 such vessels planned by the world's largest iron-ore producer to transport freight between Brazil and China. The ship spans the length of five Airbus 380s. It is estimated the new fleet will cut freight costs by 20-25 per cent.

LABOUR

Germany hopes to attract doctors and mechanical and electrical engineers from abroad by scrapping restrictions that made it more difficult for them to find work, as part of a plan to increase the nation's skilled labour force. The government has agreed with industry and union leaders to a long-term concept that includes changing immigration laws to allow companies to more easily hire from abroad.

FONTS

Ford Motor Co. plans to use larger and bolder fonts for the text on many of its interior vehicle controls in order to make the characters easier to read, especially for aging baby boomers. Starting in 2012, Ford will use fonts 40 per cent larger. This results from a study Ford did showing that even small changes can make the words in its interior graphics easier for everyone to read, regardless of their age.

AEROSPACE

Montreal ranks third globally as an aerospace centre, after Seattle and Toulouse, France. Those employed in the 200 Montreal-based companies total 40,000 with annual sales of C$11-billion. Quebec's aerospace industry accounts for 70 per cent of total Canadian R&D spending.

LOGGING

It is estimated that there are an estimated US$1-2-billion worth of dead trees on land flooded during the construction of Ghana's Akosombo hydroelectric dam in 1965. A new sawmill has been built on the shores of Volta Lake and will soon be cutting logs of valuable odum, ebony and mahogany from some 36 tropical hardwood species native to the region. They will use floating, chainsaw-equipped harvesters that combine the technology of forestry and deep-sea oil drilling, to reach up to 100 feet below the surface. Nearly eight years in the making, the massive salvage operation will take 25 years and harvest 350,000 hectares of forest.

LOADS

A UK company has developed an innovative Load Weight Monitor system to maximize the safety and efficiency of loading operations. According to statistics from the Transport Research Laboratory, more than 500 commercial vehicles roll over each year in the UK, resulting in 40 per cent of all fatalities in the trucking industry. The system is currently undergoing trials with a UK supermarket chain.

INDIA

Major big-box retailers have been lobbying the government of India for years to allow them into the country to sell products to India's 1.2-billion people. Now, a panel is recommending allowing foreign companies to own up to 51 per cent in multi-brand stores with a minimum investment of US$100-million. This may pave the way for stores like Wal-Mart, Paris-based Carrefore and Tesco in the UK to open supermarkets. Retail sales in India are expected to almost double to $785-billion in 2115 from $396-billion in 2011.

BEEF

Cattle futures are expected to rise in the next few months because of dwindling U.S. herd sizes, now at their lowest level since the 1950s. There were 4.3-million head of cattle in Canada in January of this year on 83,000 cattle farms and ranches. The industry contributes C$20-billion to the economy.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Many emerging economies are in a favourable position with respect to their demographic transition, where the share of population in their working years is rising, boosting economic growth. The East Asian economies have reaped the most dramatic dividends. The share of the working-age population has soared from 47 per cent in 1975 to 64 per cent in 2010. The working-age population in East Asia will peak this decade and fall to 57 per cent by 2050. In South Asia, in contrast, the working age population will continue to rise until 2040.

TOYS

The European Union has introduced tighter safety measures for children's toys, which could hurt Chinese imports which account for 80 per cent of all EU toy imports. The new rules target toys that contain phthalates, a plastic softening chemical linked to hormone disruption in children. They are also targeting flame retardants in some toys that may hinder child growth. Surveillance at EU borders and within the 27 member states will be tightened but manufacturers, importers and distributors will also be responsible for identifying these hazards.

DOGS

Plagued with pets that do their business, a Florida condo development is making residents supply mouth swabs of DNA samples for their dogs. Any droppings found will be sent to a laboratory and if the poop matches a registered dog, the owner may be fined US$1,000.

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 2011 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

October 2011 Edition

CLIMATE The destructive forces of climate change are already being felt in the world's biggest wine-producing regions, California, Europe and Australia, as the steady rise in global temperatures scorches vineyards and depletes water supplies. As a heat wave gripped Ontario this summer, warmer temperatures radically changed the dynamics of the industry. Hotter summers can cause heat stress for grapes which threaten whites such as Chardonnay and Riesling. In 2009, Ontario's wine industry was worth C$575-million in sales. But as in B.C., the Niagara industry could also be threatened by pests that are normally killed off in the winter. EARNINGS The wealth gap between whites and minorities in the U.S. has reached the widest in a quarter century. The median wealth of white households is 20 times greater than that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanics. Plummeting house values are the principal cause. Many Hispanics live in regions hardest hit by the housing bust, Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada. FOOD There are 230,000 Canadians employed in the food manufacturing sector. In 2009, Canada ranked fourth globally in agriculture and agri-food exports. Food now represents 15 per cent of total manufacturing sales, up from 10 per cent a decade ago. Canada is first globally in exports of canola, peas, lentils, mustard seed and linseed. EXPLORATION China plans an ultradeep dive by a manned submersible beneath the Pacific that will propel it past the U.S. in a race to explore potentially vast mineral resources in the deepest parts of the world's oceans. The first dives, between North America and Hawaii will be to a depth of 5,000 metres. There are only four other countries that can explore the ocean below 3,500 metres--Japan, Russia, the U.S. and France. If the current mission is successful, China will attempt a dive next year to 7,000 metres which would allow China access to 99.8 per cent of all the world's seabed. PANAMA This country's smart banks, open economy and long lineups of boats at its ports have many comparing it to Singapore on which it models itself. Though Panama is not even one-fifth as rich as its Asian model, from 2005 to 2010 its economy expanded by 8 per cent each year, the fastest in the Americas. The IMF expects it to grow by six per cent each year over the next five years. In 2010, the canal revenues were US$2-billion. Its business-friendly regulations have spawned big insurance, finance and legal industries and Panama's import tariffs are among the lowest in Latin America. CYCLING For the first time, cyclists outnumbered motorists on some the United Kingdom's busiest commuter routes during the rush hours. On Cheapside, a street in the City of London, cycles make up more than 50 per cent of commuter traffic and account for 42 per cent on Southwark Bridge across the Thames. In one Bristol suburb, more than one in four people cycle to work. TAXES 324 households in Athens declared ownership of swimming pools for tax purposes. Satellite photos have detected 16,974 pools. PORTS India aims to pour US$60-billion into ports by 2020 under a drive to spur the fastest growth in more than two decades and ease bottlenecks. The target is part of a planned $1-trillion revamp of choked transport and power networks. To date there has been insufficient investment in infrastructure which has left the world's most populous democracy trailing a Chinese economy which is now three times larger. TVs The size of the average British television set has surged to nearly 36" in the past year. The demand for 40" to 47" TVs has increased 93 per cent against the previous year. The average size is now 35.9", up from 32.9" this time last year. The increase is the result of a fall of nearly one third in prices. However, the advent of 3D and internet-ready Smart TVs has got consumers increasingly opting for extra large 42" models and above. TRADE The U.S. trade deficit with China widened 11.8 per cent through June of this year. At the current rate, the trade gap will surpass US$305-billion by the end of the year. The top Chinese exports to the U.S. in this period were: computers; wireless communications equipment; audio and video equipment and games and toys. The top U.S. exports to China in the same period were: waste and scrap; soybeans; automobiles and light-duty motor vehicles; semi-conductors and aircraft engines, equipment and parts. DISEASE A new survey reports that more than half of Americans have at least one chronic disease. Some 55 per cent of people in the U.S. said that they were diagnosed with one or more chronic conditions compared to 41 per cent of people in the UK and 52 per cent of Canadians. The international survey which quizzed people in 12 countries also found that more Americans rated their overall health as "excellent" or "good" than any other country. PATENTS Apple has applied for a patent on a mobile phone safety feature that would deploy an airbag if the device falls. The patent also suggests using a laser or even radar to determine the distance between the phone and the ground. Other suggestions for protecting a falling phone include springs that would be released from the casing to ensure the phone safely bounced on hitting the ground. The application also suggests that a gyroscope or jets of compressed air could be used to alter the angle of the device in the air. LAND Russia is offering agricultural land to Southeast Asian nations to grow crops and help secure reliable food supplies, part of a wider effort to foster trade and investment ties in new markets. In Africa, Mozambique is inviting Brazilian soy, corn and cotton growers to introduce their farming expertise on its savanna. Brazil has been successfully growing crops on its centre-west plains which has similar climatic and soil conditions to Mozambique. CHOPSTICKS A shortage of chopsticks in China has become so acute that a U.S. company has begun exporting millions of pairs to the country. A Georgia company is producing two million sets of the traditional eating utensils each day. It is operating around the clock to keep up with demand and hopes to be exporting 10-million pairs a day by the end of the year. Amid a shortage of wood in China, the abundant poplar and sweet gum trees in Georgia were found to be perfect. VENDING Parisians can now buy fresh baguettes from coin-operated machines which could sound the death knell for the bakeries Francophiles hold so dear. And, if the quality is compromised, it may kill off the baguette too. The vending machine is described as "the bakery of tomorrow" as the machine heats up a part-cooked loaf and delivers it piping hot. TOURISM The Canadian tourism industry is ramping up its efforts to target the blossoming Chinese market. Other countries like the U.S. and New Zealand have been able to capitalize on Chinese outbound tourism for years. It wasn't until June, 2010 that Canada finally received approval destination status from China. There has already been a 26 per cent increase in tourists this year and it is estimated that the Chinese market could generate $300-million a year in revenue by 2015. HAIR The growing desire for glossy, long locks is fuelling a multi-million dollar global trade in human hair, with demand for hair extensions surging by 160 per cent over the previous year in Britain. It is estimated that this industry is worth US$110-million annually. Britain was the third largest buyer of human hair behind the U.S. and China. SHOPPING Giant posters on Shanghai's subway system now allow commuters to do their weekly shop on the way home simply by taking pictures of the items they desire with their mobile phones. The posters at the commercial capital's busiest stations depict several rows of a supermarket shelf stacked with 80 or so daily groceries with everything from raw meat to juice and diapers. Commuters photograph a barcode beneath each item they wish to purchase. Orders are delivered to their door within hours and are charged by weight. AGING The Ueshima coffee shops that dot Tokyo seem like any other chain. But if you look closely you see the aisles are wider, the chairs sturdier and the tables lower. The food is mostly mushy rather than crunchy. Helpful staff carry items to the customers' tables. The menus are written in traditional Japanese, rather that Western lettering and are in a large, easy to read font, and it is no coincidence that the chain is full of elderly people. Ueshima is not advertised as a coffee shop for the elderly but it targets them relentlessly. Fully a fifth of the Japanese population is now over 65. FUEL Major U.S. car makers have agreed new fuel efficiency standards proposed by the U.S. Administration in an effort to end the dominance of gas guzzlers. They have agreed that by 2025, cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. will drive on average 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) of fuel, compared with 27 mpg today. It is estimated that this will lower the country's oil use by 2.2-million barrels a day over the next 15 years and save consumers almost US$2-trillion in fuel costs. WHEAT Canadian revenue from the export of wheat in 2010 was C$5.2-billion of which 48 per cent came from Saskatchewan. 90 loaves of whole what bread can be made from a bushel of wheat or 210 servings of spaghetti. HOLIDAYS Germans work hard but they also enjoy the most generous holiday time in the European Union taking an average of 40 days annually including paid leave and public holidays. Only Danes are afforded as much time off. In Greece and Portugal the average is 33 days each year and in Romania it is 27 days. DAMAGE When a container fell off a forklift recently, 462 cases of the top-rated Australian 2010 Mollydooker Velvet Glove Shiraz were smashed. Just one case survived the impact. Each bottle was valued at C$191. The wine had been headed for the U.S. for its formal launch. SIGHT In the early 1970s, 25 per cent of Americans were near-sighted; three decades later the rate had risen to 42 per cent, and similar increases have occurred around the world. There is significant evidence that the trait is inherited but the genes are not the only factor. The rapid increase appears to be due to a characteristic of modern life: more and more time spent indoors under artificial light. ORGANIC A new poll has found that the majority (58 per cent) of consumers prefer organic food to conventional food. This preference is particularly strong with those with higher education and those of a younger demographic. Sixty-three per cent of respondents under age 35 choose organics when possible. Among those preferring organic foods, the primary reasons were: supporting local farms, 36%, avoiding toxins, 34%, environmental health 17% and taste 13%.

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

Sept 2011 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

Sept  2011 Edition

SOFTWOOD

 May of this year saw British Columbia's lumber sales to China eclipsing those to the United States for the first time. Producers sold US$120-million of softwood lumber to mainland China, triple the level of a year earlier and more than the $119-million in sales to the U.S. The States has always been the biggest customer for the province's sprawling forests of spruce, pine and fir. The higher Chinese sales may not last as America's depressed new housing market eventually recovers. Total sales to China to the end of June have reached $446-million, up 178 per cent over last year, compared with $661-million to the U.S.

JUNK FOOD

The Association of National Advertisers, a Washington D.C. based lobby group is urging the White House to curb its enthusiasm for more restrictions on advertising many food and beverage products to children. The so-called Sensible Food Policy Coalition, which is made up of advertisers, media sales organizations, and food and beverage manufacturers, say that the proposed restrictions could result in lower sales of about US$30-billion and the loss of about 74,000 jobs over the first year.

PARKING

According to Colliers International, Calgary is now second only to New York as the most expensive city to park in North America, and 21st in the world. The average monthly rate in Calgary is US$472.50, up 4.2 per cent in the past year. Toronto is $332 down 1.2 per cent and Vancouver $288, up 7.9 per cent. Internationally, the City of London and London's West End are nearly $1100 per month, up over 16 per cent from a year earlier. Zurich is $822 a month and Hong Kong and Tokyo are tied for $744 a month.

VIEWING

The receivership of DVD rental chain Blockbuster is one of the latest signposts along a road that has seen DVD sales and rentals on a steady decline in the U.S. since 2007 and the growth in popularity of online streaming services. DVD revenue in the U.S. in 2010 was US$14-billion, an 11 per cent decline from a year earlier. At the same time, there was a 19 per cent increase in streamed and downloaded sales and rentals.

CHARITY

Canada has about 85,000 charities and they must disclose to Revenue Canada how much their 10 highest-paid workers earn. There are about a million charity workers in Canada and 6,000 of them earned above C$120,000 last year. Another 12,000 workers made between $80,000 and $120,000. A few hundred earned over $350,000. Charities defend the high pay saying they have to pay top dollar for the brightest talent. One major cancer foundation paid its 156 full-time and 30 part-time workers nearly $13-million last year.

SOLAR

The first solar park in Wales will soon be converting sunlight into electricity in Pembrokeshire. Almost 10,000 solar panels have been imported from the U.S. and are placed in 12 lines in a six-acre field which is expected to double eventually. The panels are thin film particularly suited to the local climate of largely cloudy skies.

COUNTERFEIT

U.S. Customs estimates the global value of counterfeit and pirated products to be US$600-million rising to $1.7-trillion by 2015. U.S. agencies made 19,959 seizures in 2010 compared with 3,600 in 2001. 66 per cent of the goods seized in the U.S. originated in China, the single largest source. The largest category was footwear, 24 per cent of the total.

HEMP

Canada's hemp sector is small but growing quickly, with an increase in exports of 500 per cent over the past four years. Hemp can be used for products as varied as pasta, textiles, building products and car parts. Industrial hemp and marijuana are both members of the cannabis plant family. Health Canada issued 296 licences to grow industrial hemp to June of 2011, up from 184 in 2009. A total of 3.98-million kilograms of hemp products worth C$10.38-million were exported in 2010, up from $8.09-million in 2009.

LABOUR

Following in the controversial footsteps of Arizona's lawmakers, Georgia also introduced beefed-up immigrant legislation this spring. As a result, farm workers are bypassing Georgia, causing a massive labour shortage in the state and sending the US$1.1-billion industry into a tailspin. Farmers are experiencing labour shortages of up to 50 per cent and it is estimated that up to a quarter of Georgia's crops will go unharvested, representing $300-million in lost revenue. Despite the economic ramifications, the governments of Alabama and South Carolina are considering similar legislation.

TRASH

Air France is to ask passengers to clear their seats and take trash with them when leaving the plane as they seek to cut costs and stem the advance of airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair in its home market. Cabin crews have refused to assume cleaning duties at a low-cost operation it is introducing in a push to claw back traffic at provincial airports. Ryanair is now the fifth largest passenger carrying airline in the world.

DISPUTES

After a 17-year dispute, the U.S. and Mexico have signed a deal to allow their trucks to use each other's roads. The 1994 NAFTA called for Mexican trucks to have full access to U.S. highways, but were kept to a border buffer zone because the U.S. cited concerns about the ability of Mexican trucks to meet U.S. safety and environmental standards. In 2009, Mexico imposed higher tariffs on dozens of U.S. products in response.

POTATOES

Scientists in Scotland has decoded the full DNA sequence of the potato for the first time. The breakthrough holds out the promise of boosting harvests of one of the world's most important staple crops. It should soon be possible to develop improved varieties of potato much more quickly. The genome of an organism is a map of how all its genes are put together. Each gene controls different aspects of how the organism grows and develops.

INSURANCE

After two years of decline, the global insurance industry returned to growth in 2010. Overall, insurance premiums rose by 2.7 per cent to US$4.3-trillion in 2010. Rich countries dominate, but growth was concentrated in emerging markets. In the U.S., which accounts for more than a quarter of the world market, premiums rose slightly to US$1.116-trillion. Canadian premiums were worth $115-billion and Japanese premiums $557-billion.

MARITIMES

Time was when the economies of the four Atlantic provinces were virtually indistinguishable, depending on the fortunes of fish, farming and forests. But Newfoundland and Labrador's remarkable oil and mining boom is creating a new gap between the haves and have-nots of Atlantic Canada. Its economy is powering ahead while those of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island languish, waiting for a national recovery. In Newfoundland, workers are increasingly scarce because mining, oil and government sectors are all in full expansion, raising concerns that there will be a shortage to bring a series of new projects on stream.

CIRCUITS

Scientists in the U.S. have created a roller ball pen that can be used to draw functioning circuit boards. They have used conductive silver ink to sketch electrical circuits on paper, wood and other flexible surfaces. Similar pens have been available for a number of years, but their ink tends not to be bendable when dry. Most of the work in this area is focused on developing inkjet printers capable of creating circuits.

PUMPS

Canadians already paying steep gas prices have also been paying out money for gas they didn't receive. Government data shows that six per cent of all gas pumps tested over the past 2 1/2 years failed to dispense the right amount of fuel. The loss adds up to an average of a couple of dollars for every 50 tankfuls. An inaccurate pump in their tests equals a discrepancy of more than 100mL, over or under for 20 litres of gas. Saskatchewan rated the highest for overcharging at 83 per cent.

TIRES

China's insatiable demand for commodities has prompted a tripling in the price of mining truck tires, making them more expensive than a Porsche 911 or a condo in Miami. Prices for 3.5 metre tires used by Caterpillar trucks have touched US$100,000. Demand from China, the world's biggest metals buyer, has driven copper, iron ore, gold and coal to record prices this year, forcing companies to compete for the equipment and labour needed to mine them.

FORMULA ONE

Some of the most sophisticated data-acquisition and analysis equipment is found on F1 cars allowing them to shave fractions of a second off lap times. Now the technology pioneered in motor racing is being applied to sailing, another discipline where split seconds provide an edge. Sailing teams for the Olympics have adopted the technology as have several competitors in the America's Cup allowing them more accurately to measure wind speed, yaw, rudder angles and other factors.

GREENHOUSES

Statistics Canada reports that there were 22.9-million square metres of greenhouses in Canada in 2010, up from 22.4-million. There was a 3 per cent increase in the sales of greenhouse products to C$2.5-billion. Sales of fruit and vegetables increased by 10 per cent to surpass $1-billion. Sales of nursery products were $644-million and sod was worth $147-million.

PAPERS

Between 2005 and 2009, the average circulation decline in newspapers in Japan was 50 per cent. In Britain it was 15.9 per cent. In the United States the decline was 13.3 per cent and in Germany 19 per cent. However, in the same period, readership rose by 6 per cent in South Africa, 109 per cent in China, 8 per cent in Brazil and 110 per cent in India. In the same period the number of paid-for daily newspapers in India increased by 44 per cent to 2,700 and the total number of papers increased by 23 per cent to more than 74,000. In 2008, India overtook China to become the leader in paid-for daily circulation with 110 million sold each day.

RETIREMENT

In Greece, the retirement age is 62 except for those who labour in "hazardous professions" such as hairdressing where the retirement age is 50 with full pension.

SIZE

China has opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge which stretches five miles further than the distance from Dover to Calais. The Jiaozhou Bay bridge is 26.4 miles long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to the offshore island Huangdao. The bridge is 110ft wide, cost nearly US$2-billion and took four years to build. It will hold the record for only a few years as the government has announced the construction of a even longer bridge to link southern Guangdong province with Hong Kong and Macau. To be completed in 2016, the bridge will be 30 miles long and cost over $10-billion.

WATER

In many countries around the world, access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities is still limited. Researchers now say that contaminated water can be cleaned much more effectively using a novel, cheap material. Dubbed "super sand", it could become a low-cost way to purify water in the developing world. The technology involves coating grains of sand in an oxide of a widely available material called graphite, commonly used as lead in pencils.

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

Aug 2011 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

Aug 2011 Edition

REFUGEES

The UN defines a refugee as a person who flees their country due to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. There are an estimated 11-12 million refugees in the world today, a dramatic increase since the mid-1970s when there were less than three million. However it is a decrease since 1992 when the refugee population was nearly 28-million due to the Balkan conflicts Approximately 70 per cent of the world's refugee population is in Africa and the Middle East.

RESEARCH

A deal has been announced which will see Google and the British Library make available about 250,000 books. Internet users will be able to consult texts dating from 1700 to 1870 which have been digitalized by Google. The works are all out of copyright. The costs of digitalizing all 40-million pages have been borne by Google, which has entered into similar partnerships with Stanford and Harvard universities in the U.S., as well as in the Netherlands, Italy and Austria.

EMPLOYMENT

The Economist reports that the outlook for employment in the third quarter of this year is positive in 34 of the 39 countries and territories covered by Manpower, an employment-services company. At 47 percentage points, the net balance of employers expecting to increase the size of their workforce is highest in India. Along with Germany, Canada and Argentina, India is among the countries where the prospects are brightest. In Italy and Spain however, more employers say they intend to cut the size of their workforce than say they plan to augment it.

SITES

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced that websites will no longer be limited to endings such as .com or .org. There are now 22 top-level domains such as .net and .travel, and .com is the most popular with almost 26-million addresses. There are also 250 country-specific domains, such as .can and .uk. Non-Latin characters such as Arabic and Chinese will be allowed in domains for the first time.

BEER

The brewing of beer stretches back to the Bronze Age in China and the Middle East. Now, archaeologists have uncovered evidence that the occupants of southeastern France were brewing beer during the Iron Age, some 2,500 years ago. Barley grains have been found on a paved floor near an oven and hearth of a home dated to the 5th Century BC, and in a ceramic vessel and a pit that were near storage containers. Scientists speculate that the finds were part of a home-brew process that needs no specialized equipment.

WATERMELONS

A prized Japanese watermelon fetched nearly US$4,000 at auction recently. The rare Densuke watermelon, a solidly black, smooth-as-a-bowling ball gourd is lauded for its crispy texture and extra sweet fruit. Grown exclusively in Hokkaido, there are only about 65-70 of the stripeless watermelons available each year. The highest-ever price was in 2007 when one sold for $8,100. A average watermelon sells for about $30.

ELEVATORS

The 102-floor Empire State Building in New York is to upgrade its elevators. without disrupting its thousands of office workers and tourists that visit each day. The plan is to replace and modernize the building's 68 elevators to bring them into the computer age and reduce passenger wait times. The cost of the final renovation project which will include upgraded lighting, heating and cooling and other systems is about US$550-million. This is the biggest modernization in the building's 158-year history.

CIGARS

Production of Cuban cigars and tobacco leaf are on the rise after falling on hard times due to smoking bans and the international financial crisis. The dextrous fingers of Cuba's cigar makers rolled out 81.5-million of the sought after smokes last year compared with 75.4-million in 2009. But this is still well below the 100-million cigars which were exported in 2008. The partial recovery is due largely to a growing demand in Asia, particularly China, where the new rich are keen for the largest and most expensive cigars.

CHIPS

Driven by the success of the iPhone and iPad, Apple Inc. has now become the world's largest buyer of chips for computers and phones. Apple bought US$17.5-billion worth of chips last year surpassing computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. as the largest consumer. This was an increase of 80 per cent from the year before, reflecting Apple's continuing sales surge. An iPhone contains about $80 worth of chips. Apple sold 48-million iPhones last year, up 89 per cent from the previous year. The next biggest buyers of chips were Samsung, Dell and Nokia.

ROYAL MAIL

Tens of thousands of Royal Mail workers in Britain face the threat of losing their jobs after the company reported a C$180-million loss in its letters and parcels business following a huge slump in the number of people using the post. Daily postal deliveries have fallen from 80-million pieces five years ago to 62-million, a decline of 20 per cent, with further declines of 5 per cent each year predicted. The number of mail centres is to drop from 64 at the start of this year to 32 over the next few years. Each centre employs from 500 to 1,000 workers.

CLOTHING

New research shows that the average British woman buys 62 pounds of clothing, or about half her body weight, in a single year. The growth of "fast fashion" which means "buy it, wear it and chuck it" has led women to buy four times as many clothes as they did 30 years ago. It also implies that they are also dumping a similar amount of clothing each year. The calculation of 62 pounds comes from studying textile imports.

SERVICE

A Consumer Reports survey indicates that Americans are fed up with poor customer service with 64 per cent walking out of stores due to poor assistance and 67 per cent hanging up on a call before their problems are even addressed. The most annoying complaint is not being able to get someone on the phone, followed by a rude salesperson.

GUTS

Some industrious companies have devised clever ways of taking the inedible parts of animals like cows, pigs and sheep and using them to make popular consumer items. One UK firm, collects cows' intestines by the bucketful from local abattoirs and turns them into the kind of natural gut strings favoured by many of the world's top tennis players. It takes about four cows' guts to string the average tennis racket. The process takes six weeks from start to finish but is worth it. With a synthetic string, once hit by a ball, it remains stretched but a gut always returns to its natural form.

CLOTHES

China still dominates the business, supplying nearly half of the European Union's garments imports and 41 per cent of America's. However, more orders are shifting to lower-wage economies such as Cambodia and Vietnam, where garment factories are mushrooming. Vietnam is already the second largest supplier of clothes to the U.S. They still have to import fabrics from China so their transport costs are high.

DISTRESS

A lifeboat was launched after a distress call was received four miles off the Welsh coast. After a three hour search for the SOS message, the signal was traced to an anti-theft device on a BMW on a cross-channel ferry.

RESERVES

According to the oil company BP, the world's known reserves of oil rose by 6.6-billion barrels during 2010, as increases in reserves in Brazil, India, Russia, Colombia, Uganda and Ghana outstripped declines in Mexico and Norway. This brought the amount of oil that could, in theory, be extracted under existing technological and economic conditions to 1.38-trillion barrels. Over half the world's reserves are in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia having just under a fifth of the global total. If China continues to pump out oil at the rate it did last year, its reserves will be exhausted in under a decade.

ROAMING

In a recent report issued by the OECD, Canada was found to have the highest data roaming fees out of all 34 countries surveyed. For IMb (megabyte) of data sent from a cellular roaming zone, less than the size of one high-resolution photograph, Canadians pay an average of US$24.61. That is more than double the overall average cost of $9.48 to transmit a single megabyte of data. That is more than five times the $4.17 per megabyte charged in Greece which has the lowest average roaming fees.

SEAS

Russia and Norway have agreed a deal to divide up their shares of the oil-rich Barents Sea. The accord will allow companies to explore for oil and gas in the 68,000 square mile area.The region has become more accessible recently as global warming has caused much of the ice to melt making significant exploration feasible for the first time. The US Geological survey estimated in 2008 that the Arctic was likely to hold 30 per cent of the world's recoverable, but yet to be discovered, gas and 13 per cent of its oil.

WINE

Exports are booming for California winemakers. Foreign shipments rebounded to a record US$1.14-billion in 2010, up 25.6 per cent from 2009. The previous Governor was a big grape crusader for the state appearing in TV ads and going on trade missions. The surge is also attributable to the economic recovery and favourable exchange rates that make the wine more affordable in key markets such as Canada, which accounts for about a quarter of foreign sales. Australia, a much smaller producer exports almost twice as much wine in dollar terms as the United States and even smaller New Zealand has been aggressive in foreign markets exporting about $800-million worth of wine, almost as much as California.

SUNSCREEN

By next year, help will be on the way for North American consumers who are confused by the maze of sun protection numbers and other claims on sunscreen. Staring next summer, bottles and tubes will carry the label "broad spectrum" which consumers can feel confident will lower their risk of skin cancer. These sunscreens will have to filter out the most dangerous types of radiation to claim they protect against cancer and premature aging.

WINDOW SHOPPING

Shoppers will soon be able to "try" on the latest fashions from the sidewalk outside some stores. Researchers in the UK are developing new technology that will recognize people from information stored on their cell phones as they walk by a store and will produce a life-size image of them on a screen outside, dressed in clothes from the store. The electronic likeness is created using body measurements that individual consumers have registered and asked for the information to be stored on the retailers central computer.

RENTAL

The Bloor Street shopping district in Toronto is the priciest in Canada at US$291.66 a square foot, making it the only Canadian city to make the global top 50. Saskatoon saw the biggest percentage jump last year with Broadway Avenue space rents up 25 per cent. The world's most expensive strip of storefronts is in New York, along Fifth Avenue, where a square foot of space rents for $2,150, almost $700 a foot more than the previous year. Hong Kong, London and Zurich are the next most expensive cities.

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.

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July 2011 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

July 2011 Edition

TANKERS

A surplus of supertankers competing to haul Middle East crude oil has swelled, hindering owners' chances of making charters to Asia profitable. There are now 18 per cent more very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, than there are likely cargoes. Returns from VLCCs on the industry's benchmark Saudi Arabia to Japan route have fallen around six per cent to US$4098 a day.

TURNOVER

According to Booz & Company consultants, 11.6 per cent of the world's 2,500 biggest publicly listed companies got new CEOs in 2010. The CEO turnover rate fell below 12 per cent for the first time since 2003 and was substantially lower than the 14.3 per cent rate in 2009. The highest turnover rate, at nearly 19 per cent, was in Japan but much of this was because of retirements. Companies in Brazil, India and Russia changed bosses nearly as often as the Japanese did. Nearly 30 per cent of CEOs who left office in those three countries were forced out.

EXPECTATIONS

Despite decades of apparent gains towards workplace equality, Canadian women starting careers still expect to earn considerably less than men and wait longer for promotions a sweeping new study has found. A review of 23,000 university students across Canada found that women expected an average initial salary 13.5 per cent lower than young men aiming for equivalent jobs. And women expected to wait an average of 12 per cent longer than men to get their first promotion. There was an average gap in expectations of 17.5 per cent after five years on the job in all types of work. The average initial salary expectation for women was C$40,421 compared to $46,727 for men.

BOOKS

Until now, Amazon Inc. has been a pusher of paper. But the Seattle-based company recently announced that it is now selling more e-books than books printed on paper. This has happened on a temporary basis in the past, for instance at Christmas, when Kindles were being given as gifts. But the company is now consistently selling 105 Kindle books for every 100 physical books, which suggests that the growth of digital books is now being sustained.

TRENDS

Booming lumber sales from British Columbia to China (in March sales tripled from a year ago) is creating its own transportation problems as lumber is piled up at west coast ports ready to be shipped to China. Now, four major BC producers have partnered to charter a ship for a year to give them more control over the movement of their products. Lumber and pulp fill about half of all containers exported from Vancouver which has strained the availability of containers. Seven round-trips are planned for this year which will bring a total of 175-million board feet of lumber to China, more than the total amount of wood BC shipped to China in 2005.

DEMOGRAPHY

According to the UN, the world's population will surpass 7-billion at the end of October, a few months earlier than had been expected. The global total will continue to rise slowly until 2100, when it will flatten out at 10.1-billion During the period of fastest growth, in the late 1980s, the world's population was rising by over 88-million a year. Now, annual growth is down to 75-million and by 2050 will be only 40-million. Today, Nigeria with 158-million people is the world's seventh largest country; by 2100 it will be the third largest with 730-million people.

CHONGQING

An explosion of manufacturing and construction activity draws as many as 500,000 new residents to this Chinese inland mountain city each year. The municipality of Chongqing covers an area the size of Switzerland with a population of 33-million. Since Chongqing's creation as a stand-alone economic zone in 1997, the gross domestic product has increased by 300 per cent; industrial output has risen 1,000 per cent and financial income has jumped by 1,460 per cent. The GDP growth target for the city for 2011 is 13.5 per cent, the highest of any other Chinese municipality.

ROADKILL

Globally, road accidents were the ninth leading cause of death in 2004, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), they could be the fifth by 2030, above HIV/AIDS and lung cancer. The WHO has now launched a "decade of road safety," with a plan to save 5-million lives and prevent 50-million serious injuries by 2020. Poor and middle income countries account for more than 90 per cent of road deaths but just 48 per cent of the world's registered vehicles.

OUTSOURCING

With the pay for factory workers soaring in many countries overseas, some companies are increasingly rethinking their manufacturing operations. Caterpillar, maker of heavy equipment, is moving some of its excavator production to Texas from abroad; Sauder, a U.S. furniture maker is moving production back to the States; NCR has returned production of cash machines to Georgia from low-wage countries and Wham-O has restored half of its Frisbee and Hula Hoop production to America from China and Mexico.

AID

Japan is set to make the traumatic leap from being one of the worlds's most generous aid donors to one of its biggest aid recipients as it begins the mammoth task of cleaning up the wreckage left by the March earthquake. According to the World bank, the total cost of the recovery will be US$235-billion which would make it the world's most expensive disaster. Until a few months ago, Japan was the world's fifth biggest aid donor, lending or giving away, $9.5-billion a year. The disaster has transformed it into a leading destination for charity.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The Democratic Republic of Congo has started a five-year, US$600-million renovation of rail lines in the southeast of the country to boost trade, lower prices and develop its mining industry. The project is being funded by the World Bank and the government, with $200-million coming from a minerals-for-infrastructure accord signed with China in 2009. The rehabilitation of 700 kilometres of track in the mineral-rich region will help boost the agriculture and mining industries, encourage the development of isolated communities and help fight poverty.

DROUGHT

The Yangtse River, the longest waterway in Asia and China's most important shipping route has been closed to navigation by the worst drought in 50 years that has left cargo ships stranded and 400,000 people without drinking water. Water levels have fallen as low as three metres in the main shipping lane of the 6,300 kilometre river and it is 50 metres narrower in key sections than it was last year. About 87,000 square kilometres of farmland have been damaged and some dams do not have enough water for optimal power generation.

BORDERS

The Danish government is reinstating guards along borders with Sweden and Germany and is conducting spot checks designed to fight crime and illegal immigration. Although the move falls short of full reinstatement of border controls, it is the latest in a series of small steps reversing hassle-free travel across European Union frontiers. Worries about illegal immigration have mainly been concentrated in Italy and France which have received the majority of a recent influx of 25,000 North African refugees. The two countries want the EU to change its rules to allow them to restore some border controls.

MUSIC

Since 1999, when the file sharing website Napster appeared, global sales of recorded music have collapsed from US$27.3-billion to $15.9-billion. But in some countries, buying music has persisted. Last year the Japanese and British spent the most on music, as a proportion of GDP. It was much lower in Italy and Spain where piracy is entrenched. The weakest markets were in emerging Asia. China, the world's second-biggest economy, is not even in the top 20 for music sales.

BRANDS

Apple has overtaken Google as the world's most valuable brand, ending a four-year reign by the Internet search leader, according to the latest annual study by global brands' agency Millward Brown. The iPhone and iPad maker's brand is now worth US$153.3-billion, up 84 per cent from 2010. Next is Google at $111.5-billion; IBM at $100.9-billion; McDonald's at $81-billion and Microsoft at $78-billion. The total value of the top 100 brands rose by 17 per cent to $2.4-trillion. Research in Motions's Blackberry was No.25 and the Royal Bank of Canada, number 39.

LEGO

After nearly going under eight years ago, Lego, the plastic brick maker, now has 5.9 per cent of the global toy market, up from 4.8 per cent at the end of 2009. That makes it the world's fourth-largest toy maker. It is doing especially well in the U.S. where sales last year surpassed US$1-billion for the first time. Worldwide sales in 2010 were up by 37 per cent to $2.8-billion.

RICE

Scientists have shed new light on the origins of rice, one of the most important staple foods. A study of the genome suggests that the crop was domesticated only once, around 8,200 years ago rather than at multiple times in different places and that the two sub-species, japonica and indica, split apart from each other about 3,900 years ago. This is consistent with archaeological evidence for rice domestication in China's Yangtze valley about 8,000 to 9,000 years ago and the domestication of rice in India's Ganges region about 4,000 years ago.

BLIMPS

The Goodyear Tire Co. plans a 21st century makeover for its fleet of iconic blimps. The company will team up with Zeppelin, a German company, to build three new blimps beginning in 2013. The first will go into operation in 2014. Each of Goodyear's three North American blimps will be replaced. They will be built by teams at Goodyear's airship hanger near Akron. Goodyear has been making airships since 1919 and Zeppelin since 1900.

CHEESE

For years, inferior cheese masquerading as the finest from Switzerland has snuck onto the shelves of stores around the world. However, cheese detectives are now on the case. Swiss experts are now scouring stores and cheese producers at home, throughout Europe and even North America, tracking down fakes of one of their most beloved varieties, Emmentaler, best know as Swiss cheese. When they find a suspicious block, they will ship it back to Switzerland for DNA testing. It is estimated that 3,000 tonnes, or 10 per cent, of Emmentaler is fake.

DEBT

Statistics Canada reports that about one-third of retired Canadians are in some form of debt and the median amount owed is C$19,000. The study shows that 34 per cent of retired individuals aged 55 or over, whether single or married, held mortgage or consumer debts in 2009. Among retired people with debt, 25 per cent owed less than $5,000, 32 per cent between $5,000 and $24,999, while 26 per cent owed between $25,000 and $99,999 and 17 per cent owed over $100,000. Retirees with debt had a median annual household income of $42,000 and a net worth of $295,000.

LAND MINES

Watermelons have been exploding by the score in eastern China after farmers gave them an overdose of growth chemicals creating what the media have called fields of "land mines." There have also been reports of "yard-long" beans resulting from the usage of these chemicals.

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 2011 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

June 2011 Edition

 REVENUE

U.S. Internet advertising revenue jumped 15 per cent to US$26-billion in 2010, setting a record high and proving that more companies are trying to reach people online. The most popular form of advertising was search, which represented 46 per cent of revenue and increased 12 per cent from 2009. Digital video ads accounted for 5 per cent of total advertising dollars spent.

WORK

A study of 29 industrialized countries released by the OECD shows that workers in Mexico work the longest days while Belgians work the shortest. Mexicans toil for 10 hours each day on average, in paid and unpaid work, such as household chores. Belgians work just seven hours, an hour less than the average of most other OECD countries. Canadians clocked in at 8.6 hours worked each day while Americans work 8.2 hours each day.

CARS

Men prefer their cars beefy, while women go for lower price tags and better fuel economy according to a new survey which studied data from 8-million purchases in the U.S. BMW AG's Mini had the highest percentage of female buyers at 48 per cent while 93 per cent of buyers for Fiat SpA's Ferrari were men. There were 12 brands with more than 40 per cent female buyers. The top selling model for women with a minimum of 1,000 retail sales was the Volkswagen New Beetle at 61 per cent while for men it was the Porsche 911 at 88 per cent.

COPPER

Last February the price of copper reached a record high of US$10,000 per tonne. This is leading to a surge in stealing which is disrupting rail traffic in Europe. There have now been 10,000 hours of train delays in Europe due to copper-wire thefts. 30,000 kilometres of copper cable lie along tracks in France and 50 police helicopters are now monitoring tracks for thieves. In 2010, there was 30-million euros of damage to French railways because of copper theft.

PHONES

According to a new Oxford University study, British consumers are spending US$7-billion too much on cell phone contracts because they wrongly estimate how many minutes and text messages they use each month. It was found that three-quarters of all cell phone users were on the wrong contract and that the average consumer could save at least $275.00 each year. The average cell phone bill in the UK is $615.00 annually.

AID

The Development Assistance Committee of the OECD reports that rich countries provided a record amount of US$128.7-billion in foreign aid in 2010. America, Britain, France, Germany and Japan were the biggest donors in absolute terms. Relative to the size of their economies, however, Norway and Sweden were the most generous. Most rich countries now give a larger fraction of their GDP in aid than they did in 2005, but few countries have reached the UN's goal of at least 0.7 per cent of GDP.

OIL SANDS

The majority of Americans surveyed, while admitting they are not familiar with Alberta's bitumen deposits, believe their government should enact legislation that supports the Canadian oil sands and that the U.S. should increase the amount of crude it imports from its northern neighbour. Only 26 per cent said they were familiar with Canada's vast oil sands. Despite this, 86 per cent want policies that support the use of oil sands. Americans, while wildly underestimating the amount of Canadian crude exported to the U.S., believe Canada should send four million barrels south each day, which would double Canada's exports.

GENETICS

Wales is set to be the first country to produce a DNA barcode for every one of its native flowering plants. The project will aim to catalogue all 1,143 species of native flowering plant based on each plant's unique gene sequence. This would mean that the tiniest fragment of grain or pollen grain could be used to identify any plant in Wales. As well as leading to a better understanding of plants' genetics, it will help biologists to track the status of pollinating insects, such as bees. The data could also be used to test the authenticity of Welsh products including honey.

HAZARDS

Massive floating islands of houses, cars, and even bodies, almost 70 miles in length from the Japanese tsunami are causing chaos in the shipping lanes of the Pacific Ocean as they head west to the coast of North America. Cars, tractors, boats and the occasional entire house have been spotted floating on the surface of the Pacific. The largest island of debris stretches 60 nautical miles in length and covers an expanse of more than 2.2-million square feet. Experts estimate it could take two years for the debris to reach Hawaii and three to get to the West Coast.

SYRUP

Villages in Quebec have created a Strategic Reserve of over 10-million kilograms of maple syrup. Producers are preparing for what they expect to be a banner year for exports to Asia due to surging demand from countries like Japan, China and South Korea. Those markets are increasingly important to the people who make maple syrup, mostly in Quebec, but also in Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The biggest market continues to be the U.S. but the country spent 15 per cent less on maple syrup and maple sugar in 2010 than it did the year before, dropping to US$143-million from $169-million.

AUSTRALIA

The twin natural disasters that hit Australia early this year will cost its economy around US$9.4-billion. This is a substantial increase on the earlier estimate of around $5.5-billion.The Australian states of Queensland and Victoria were hit by floods and a cyclone in January and February. The biggest effect will be on the coal industry with output down about a fifth. Lost coal production could cost the country about $6.0-billion while damage to crops is about $2-billion and the loss in tourist activity about $400-million.

BREAD

White bread, the mainstay of Britain's diet for decades, has fallen from favour for the first time as more consumers switch to brown bread. Industry sales figures indicate that sales of white bread fell one per cent last year while brown bread rose by six per cent and seeded bread products by nine per cent. For much of the last two centuries, brown bread has been considered an inferior product, eaten only by those who could not afford white bread. The white bread market in the UK is worth US$1.4-billion a year in sales while the brown bread market is worth $423-million.

CITATIONS

Science is becoming bigger and more global. Britain's Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific academy, states that emerging scientific nations are gaining influence, as measured by how often their researchers get cited in peer-reviewed journals. China and Spain with 4 per cent and three per cent of global citations respectively in 2004-2008, pushed Australia and Switzerland out of the top ten for the previous five years. The U.S. and Britain retain the most clout with 38 per cent of global citations, but this down from 45 per cent in the previous five years.

LOSSES

The recent U.S. census shows that Detroit is dying, having lost a quarter of its population, 273,500 people, from 2000 to 2010. After New Orleans, which lost 29 per cent of its population after Hurricane Katrina, Detroit's loss is the largest percentage drop in the history of an American city with more than 100,000 people. Just 10 years ago, Detroit was the tenth-largest city in the country. Up until 1950, during the auto boom, Detroit was the fourth biggest city in the U.S.

DRINKING

Whisky drinking has increased worldwide despite the global recession, or perhaps because of it. The Scotch Whisky Association reports 2010 was a record year with total shipments valued at US$5.37-billion, making it one of the U.K's top exporting industries. The U.S. is by far the largest market for whisky but exports to many regions, notably emerging markets, grew last year. Exports to Russia increased by 61 per cent last year; by 46 per cent to India and by 24 per cent to China. There has been a 60 per cent increase in global exports of Scotch whisky since 2000.

DAIRIES

Nearly half of China's 1,176 dairies are being shut down after failing to obtain new licences resulting from a government safety audit. The announcement comes as China tries to shore up its milk industry after the baby milk health scandal in 2008 when at least six babies died and another 300,000 were made ill by drinking infant formula tainted with melamine. Only 114 of 145 companies making milk powder have had their licences renewed.

CADMIUM

Effective January 1, 2012, it will be illegal to sell children's jewellery in the state of California that contains more than 0.003 per cent (300 parts per million) of cadmium. The new law applies to those that manufacture, ship, sell or offer jewellery for sale for children ages six years old or younger. Cadmium is alleged to cause delayed brain development, cancer, kidney problems and bone damage. Ironically, cadmium has been used as a replacement for lead to avoid these very issues.

SEAFOOD

The U.S imports 83 per cent of its seafood. These imports were worth US$14.2-billion in 2008 of which Canada earned a 22 per cent share. The lobster market was worth $1.1-billion with Canada supplying 67 per cent of the total. Restaurants in the U.S. are responsible for 70 per cent of seafood sales in the U.S. While Canada has the largest share of U.S. seafood imports, a trend towards cheaper seafood products has eroded that share in favour of China in recent years.

TRENDS

Thousands of shops in the UK are getting ready for the roll-out of a new technology which could allow shoppers to use cell phones to buy things. It's called Near Field Communications (NFC) technology and some of the biggest retailers think it is the wave of the future. One estimate suggests 40,000 businesses could be using it by the end of the year. The technology isn't new but it has never been tried on such a large scale. Cell phone operators and manufacturers, banks and retailers are all investing millions to make the technology a success.

PANAMA

Construction of the Panama Canal expansion, which will enable vessels twice the size to navigate the passage, will likely finish in 2014. The new canal will allow the world's largest ships, called post-Panamax vessels, which are up to 366 metres long and 49 metres wide, to use the passage. An expanded canal will have ripple effects for global trade , boosting activity for east coast U.S. ports and reducing it in the west, where unloaded cargo has to continue by rail to the east.

GROWTH

While many analysts are focused on opportunities in Brazil, Russia, India and China, the best of the US$300-trillion rise in the world GDP between now and 2050 will occur in a new set of emerging markets. For instance: Nigeria is forecast to have a 8.5 per cent growth in its GDP; Iraq, 7.7 per cent; Bangladesh, 7.5 per cent. Vietnam, 7.5 per cent and the Philippines, 7.3 per cent. The lowest growth will occur in Japan, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

CHLORINE

A budget-conscious council in Austria is asking swimmers to stop swallowing water to save money. They estimate bathers are drinking 5,000 litres of chlorinated water daily.

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 2011 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

May 2011 Edition

SIZE

The Subway sandwich chain has now surpassed McDonald's as the world's largest restaurant chain by units. McDonald's is still largest in sales. High unemployment and economic uncertainty have battered the restaurant industry in the U.S. and chains are increasingly looking overseas for growth, particularly in Asia. Subway has 33,749 restaurants worldwide compared to McDonald's which has 32,737. Subway has 24,000 outlets in the U.S. and 1,000 in Asia. Subway's revenue was US$15.2-billion last year compared with $24-billion for McDonald's.

AFRICA

Consumer spending in Africa was US$860-billion in 2008, a figure which is estimated to grow to $1.4-trillion by 2020. Africa has a total population of one billion and has 100 companies with annual revenues over $1-billion. 37 per cent of Africans currently live in cities, a figure expected to grow to 50 per cent by 2030. In 2008 the net foreign investment in African was $29-billion, up from $6-billion in 2000. Sub-Saharan Africa in particular is emerging as a top destination for foreign investment.

MAGAZINES

Canadians have drastically reduced their spending on magazines over the past few years. Consumer purchases of magazines decreased by 22 per cent between 2001 and 2008, dropping from C$801-million to $623-million. In 2008, 46 per cent of Canadian households spent money on magazines. In 2001 that figure was 54 per cent. The lowest average expenditure per household was in Newfoundland and Labrador with $86, while Saskatchewan was the highest at $112 per household.

CARDS

The Amex corporation has introduced the Amex Centurion which is a charge card, so monthly balances must be paid in full. The card is made from a sheet of titanium and names have to be etched into it. The annual fee for this card is US$2,500 with an initiation fee of $5,000. Clients get access to a personal concierge, who can arrange anything from flights and hotels to golf times around the world, Insurance, retail protection and emergency assistance and an extensive rewards program that can take customers to Wimbledon or backstage at the Oscars.

AIRPORTS

Beijing became the world's second-busiest airport last year eclipsing London Heathrow and narrowing the gap to Atlanta. The same Chinese growth also pushed Hong Kong to the top spot for air-freight volumes. Bejing's passenger total jumped 13 per cent to 73.9-million and Heathrow dropped to 65.9-million, as a sluggish UK economy and cancellations after a volcanic eruption hurt demand, putting it fourth. As recently as five years ago, Beijing's airport was 14th in the world with 41-million passengers.

ACCIDENTS

Grain bin accidents, a little-known peril of the workplace in farming country have risen in the U.S. Last year, 51 men and boys were engulfed by grains stored in towering metal structures that dot rural landscapes, and 26 died. In less than 10 seconds, a man who steps into flowing corn can sink up to his chest, becoming immobilized. In another 10 seconds he'll be completely submerged and unable to breathe and essentially drown in the corn.

PRICES

The U.K.'s official statistics agency has updated the contents of the "typical" shopping basket of about 650 items it uses to calculate the consumer price index. In are: iPhone apps, sparkling wines, on-line dating agency fees, oven-ready pork joints and TV's bigger than 32 inches. Out are: ring tones, rosebushes, mobile phones, wallpapers, pork shoulders and vending machine cigarettes.

TOURISM

Kenya's overseas tourist arrivals hit a record 1.1-million in 2010, short of a 1.2-million target, but up from 950,000 in 2009. Last year, Kenya changed its strategy to open new markets such as China, Russia and India which has paid off. Earnings from tourism, Kenya's top source of foreign currency, soared 18 per cent in 2010.

MALLS

Two of Canada's top shopping centre developers are squaring off over plans to bring U.S.-style premium outlet malls to Canada. The first two will be just outside Toronto and will feature high-end U.S. retailers, many of them not yet in Canada. The race to build factory outlet centres underscored the growing appetite among U.S. retailers and developers to operate in the Canadian market. At stake for Canadian developers is getting a piece of a potentially lucrative business as growth in traditional malls and big-box centres reaches a saturation point.

MANUFACTURING

Last year China topped the U.S. as the world's largest manufacturer for the first time, accounting for 19.8 per cent of global manufacturing. However, by measure of productivity, China remained far behind the U.S. with U.S. manufacturing workers generating more than eight times the value per person than China's. Put another way, the U.S. manufactures the same output with 11.5-million workers than China does with 100-million workers.

GPS

Scientists are warning that the U.K has become dangerously reliant on satellite-navigation systems. Use of space-borne positioning and timing data is now widespread in everything from freight movement to synchronization of computer networks and it is felt that too many applications have little or no back-up were these signals to go down. The European Union has estimated that about 6-7 per cent of Europe's GDP, about 800-billion euros is dependent on GPS signals.

TECHNOLOGY

People stuck for a stamp in Denmark can now send a text message to pay the postage on a letter. The Danish post office has introduced The Mobile Postage service that does away with stamps for standard sized letters. Instead, people send a text to the post office and get back a code they write on the envelope. Codes must be used within seven days of purchase. Sweden is considering a similar system for letters as well as small parcels.

FUNDS

The total assets held by pension funds in the 13 biggest markets were worth more than US$26-trillion at the end of 2010, 12 per cent more than a year earlier. Taken together, these countries accounted for 85 per cent of the holdings of the global pension industry. Funds in America, the world's largest pension market, had assets of $15-trillion. Canada's were worth $1.1-trillion. South Africa was the fastest growing big market last year with assets up 28 per cent from the previous year.

LIVING

For the fifth straight year, Vancouver has topped the Economist's list of the world's most livable cities. Australian and Canadian cities dominated the top ten places in the annual survey. Vancouver scored 98 per cent on a combination of stability, health care, culture,and environment, education and infrastructure. Second was Melbourne followed by Vienna, Toronto and Calgary. Pittsburgh was the top U.S. city at 29th. The top Asian city was Osaka, tying Geneva at 12th.

SHIPPING

A Danish shipping company has ordered ten colossal vessels from a South Korean shipyard at a cost of US$1.9-billion with an option to order 20 more. Each will carry 18,000 containers, 2,500 more than the biggest container ships now in service. The new vessels will use 50 per cent less fuel per container than the present average. The new ships will ply the routes between Asia and Europe.

POWER

Iceland is considering building the world's longest sub-sea electric cable to allow it to sell its geothermal and volcanic energy to Europe. The project is currently in the research stage and a final decision will likely come in about four years. After taking a hit last year when a volcano paralysed European skies, Iceland is seeking instead to draw benefits from its geology with the cable which would allow it to sell energy extracted from volcanoes and geysers.

TOBACCO

China is starting to wake to the health-care costs of its citizens' enthusiastic tobacco habit. Profits from producing cigarettes, the country makes and consumes more than any other nation, will not be enough to pay the eventual cost of smoking related diseases. There are 300-million smokers in China which produces 800 brands of cigarettes. 2.3-trillion cigarettes were produced in 2009 and one million Chinese die from tobacco-related diseases each year. The government collected US$75-billion in tobacco taxes in 2010.

INSURANCE

The European Union's highest court has declared illegal the widespread practice of charging men and women different rates for insurance. The judgement, which can't be appealed, has vast implications and will set in motion an overhaul of how life, auto and health policies are written across Europe.

SNOWBIRDS

Between 2000 and 2008, the number of Canadian snowbirds travelling to the United States have increased 102 per cent. They contribute US$3-billion annually to the economy of Florida and $520-million to that of Arizona. 75 per cent of snowbirds go to Florida, 15 per cent to Arizona and 5 per cent each to Texas and California. It is estimated that Canadians bought $5.6-billion worth of homes in the U.S. in 2008 at a median price of $205,800.

GM

The area of the world's farmland used for growing genetically modified crops grew by about 10 per cent last year. GM use grew fastest in Brazil but fell in Europe. Virtually all GM strains used were engineered for just two traits, disease resistance and herbicide tolerance. It's estimated that more than a billion hectares have been cultivated with GM crops since their introduction in 1996 and that more than 15-million farmers are involved in GM agriculture.

ARMS

India has overtaken China to become the world's largest importer of arms. India accounted for nine per cent of all weapons imports between 2006 and 2010. With a defence budget of US$32.5-billion, India imports more than 70 per cent of its arms. China has dropped to second place with six per cent of global weapons as it develops its domestic arms industry.

NEWSROOMS

Nearly three-quarters of top management jobs in news media across the world are held by men, as are two-thirds of reporting jobs. In a study of 170,000 people in 522 news companies, women were best represented in Europe and worst in Asia. Across the entire newspaper, radio and television work force studied, the survey found 65 per cent of jobs were held by men compared to 35 per cent by women.

JOBS

Almost three-quarters of 4,500 Canadians responding to a survey said they would be willing to make a move for the right job, with many even prepared to leave Canada. The most mobile workers were the youngest, aged 18 to 29. 48 per cent would move within the country and 22 per cent to another country.

TOOTHPASTE

There has been an explosion of specialized pastes and gels that brag about their powers to whiten teeth, reduce plaque, curb sensitivity and fight gingivitis. Last year, 69 new toothpastes hit the store shelves.

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