December 2012 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

December 2012 Edition

 LUXURY

Chinese shoppers at home and abroad are pushing global sales of luxury items to new heights, helping the sector post its third consecutive year of strong growth since the global recession. A new study forecasts that global luxury goods market for clothing, accessories, jewellery, cosmetics and art will grow ten per cent this year to US$274 billion. This represents an increase from $240 billion in 2011.

VIRUS

Malicious software, or malware, is now being installed on some Windows computers before they even leave the factory. Microsoft said that one out of five computers it tested in China was shipped with malware, the worst being a virus that connects with an illicit network of infected computers. Microsoft blames less reputable manufacturers who preload machines with counterfeit Windows software, which is more vulnerable to attack.

SUGAR

Major U.S. soft drink manufacturers are to start displaying their drinks' calories on vending machines next year and point customers towards less sugary products. This is their latest response to critics who have singled them out for contributing to the U.S. obesity epidemic. The project, which will first launch in Chicago and San Antonio aims to stop the spread of anti soda measures in municipalities after New York City moved to limit portion sizes and other cities contemplate taxes on sugary beverages.

MOTOR HOMES

Winnebago Industries has reported its highest motor home order backlog since the recession, underscoring the recovery of the U.S. recreational vehicle market. The largest motor home maker, known for its luxurious touring vehicles that provide home like comfort on the road, said total order backlog nearly doubled to 1,884 units at the end of the fourth quarter. More staff have been hired to handle the orders and it plans to increase production.

VACATION

A growing number of U.S. companies are helping their workers buy some extra time. Vacation "buy sell" programs which let employees purchase extra time off or sell days they don't expect to use, are increasingly popular. Workers who buy time, pay in instalment via payroll deduction, while those who sell get credits on their pay. Fifty one per cent of firms surveyed now offer paid time off programs compared with 42 per cent in 2009. The median full time worker in the U.S. gets 2.6 weeks vacation a year, but 57 per cent do not use their full entitlement. One Chicago building company has had a buy sell program for 20 years which has become so popular that management has had to cut the maximum purchase to one week.

CEREALS

Kellogg Co. is hoping to turn cereal into a breakfast staple in China. The company currently gets most of its revenue from North America but is seeking to developing markets in China and India where the appetite for convenience foods is growing. China is expected to be the largest food and beverage market within the next five years. This year, the cereal market in China is expected to be worth US$225 million, more than double what it was five years ago.

OIL

Mexico has discovered new deep water oil deposits with estimated reserves of 125 million barrels. The latest find was at about 2,900 meters in the Gulf of Mexico. Earlier in the year, at another well in the same region, reserves of around 300 million barrels were confirmed.

WORTH

According to Forbes, the ten most valuable sports teams in the world are worth a combined US$16 billion, up from $14.4 billion a year ago, an 11 per cent increase. Two soccer teams top the list: Manchester United and Real Madrid. Joint third are the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys. Of the 50 most valuable teams, 41 are American, including all 32 NFL teams.

SUBSIDIES

Government support for agriculture in the mostly rich countries of the OECD amounted to US$252 billion in 2011, or 19 per cent of total farm receipts. The general trend for subsidies is downward: compared with the second half of the 1990s, subsidies fell in all countries. Levels of support vary widely. In Norway, Switzerland and Japan, more than half of gross farm receipts came from subsidies in 2009 11. For farmers in Australia, Chile and New Zealand, it was less than five per cent.

SPAIN

The Saudi Arabia of olive oil is Spain with its baking summers and warm winters and it accounts for half of global production. But the absence of rain this year may reduce total global supply by around 20 per cent compared with a year ago when the world was awash in over three million tonnes of olive oil. Then, high levels of production had pushed prices to a nine year low. Over the past three months, the price of extra virgin olive oil has risen by 50 per cent to about US$3,400 a tonne. Germans are using five times more olive oil and the British ten times the amount of oil compared with 1990.

TREES

The Canadian RCMP has just one member nationwide working full time as a forest crimes investigator. Thieves are targeting specific trees but curly Maple trees at around 120 years old are highly coveted for their unique grain pattern and hard wood and are used for making instruments. Typically, thieves will chop a tree into pieces and sell the raw chunks to export brokers or local businesses. A vehicle load of high quality maple can fetch up to C$6,000 from local mills who process the wood for sale to instrument makers. Cedar trees have also become a favourite target of poachers in British Columbia.

HELIUM

The balloon industry is in a down cycle due to a shortage of helium gas. Hospital radiology departments also use liquid helium to cool magnets in equipment such as an MRI scanner. Helium plant shutdowns in Algeria, Poland and Australia have contributed to the global supply and in Texas, which has one of the largest geological deposits of helium rich natural gas, a pipeline that carries about 30 per cent of global supply of helium has been closed for maintenance in July. The main target for blame is the Federal Helium Reserve which stores around about 13 million cubic feet of helium but is only allowed by law to sell a specific amount of helium annually privately.

TAXES

The Cayman Islands is losing some of its allure as it has introduced what amounts to the territory's first ever income tax. It will fall only on expatriate workers who have helped build the territory into one of the most famous, or notorious, offshore banking centres that offer tax advantages for foreign investments. The tax is a 10 per cent payroll levy on expatriates who earn more than US$36,000 a year. It is a monumental shift for a territory of 56,000 people where zero taxes and a friendly reputation have attracted 91,712 companies, including 235 banks and 758 insurance companies.

BIKES

More Americans are taking to the road on two wheels. Between 1977 and 2009, the total number of annual bike trips more than tripled. Commuting cyclists have also increased in number, with twice as many biking to work in 2009 as in 2000. Cities are increasingly vying to be bike friendly. Among them, Chicago has said it will build over 30 miles of protected cycle lanes next year. At the moment it ranks fifth. Ahead of it are Washington, DC, Boulder, Colorado, Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon.

RAIL

The Swedish government is to invest US$8.2-billion to improve its railway network after a summer of technical problems. The government says the plans will lead to more frequent, faster and more punctual rail services that will not only benefit passengers and rail cargo users, but also create jobs and growth.

WEALTH

Britain's wealth has more than doubled over the past 20 years and was equivalent to US$178,000 per person last year. The rise in the country's wealth by 3.3 per cent to $10.9-trillion came despite a poor year for the economy. Property alone is now worth $6.5-trillion and accounts for more than half of household wealth with houses and apartments more than tripling in value in the past 20 years.

APPS

Several companies in the U.K. are trying to provide a better way of finding a taxi. All are entering the fast growing market for taxi apps on mobile phones. The concept is simple: to hail a cab, just pull up an app on your phone and press a button. The app-makers then find a nearby driver looking for a fare. The customer can then watch on a map as their ride makes its way to pick them up within minutes.

WORMS

The squishy things much sought after by fishermen for bait and birds for nutrition are now being put to work treating thousands of tonnes of toxic sludge left in farms and fields by Indian factories as industrial growth has skyrocketed in recent years. The worms burrow up to five feet deep in the contaminated soil, soak up heavy metals and other toxins and come to the surface without releasing the toxins. They may then be transported to a secure long-term dump site or burned.

ACQUISITIONS

Between April and June of this year Canadian acquisitions in Europe reached C$15.1-billion, nearly 70 per cent of the record $21.8 billion Canadian companies spent taking over foreign companies.

BOOKS

Sales of children's e-books nearly tripled over the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2011. 2.6-million of children's e-books were sold compared to one million last year at the same time. Much of the increase is due to the advances in technology which have caused the sales of digital books for children, including picture books, to take off dramatically. Experts are concerned that such a trend could result in a generation of children reading more from screens than from books.

DOWNLOADING

Canadians may complain about high internet bills and low download limits but it still isn't stopping then downloading songs like crazy. Canadians are fourth in the world for unauthorized music downloads. Only the U.S., Britain and Italy rank higher but on a per capita basis , Canadians download more unauthorized music than any other country. On a per capita basis, Canadians downloaded two and a half times as many songs as Americans.

DO NOT CALL

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has taken action against two Indian companies for breaking Canada's telemarketing rules. The companies have been found guilty of making unsolicited telemarketing calls to Canadians who have registered their numbers with the National Do Not Call List. One company has been fined C$495,000 and the other $12,000.

POLLUTION

Vancouver B.C. is using remote sensing to measure the diesel pollution from thousands of semi-trailer trucks, dump trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles. The program uses infrared and ultraviolet beams from a specialized testing trailer at the side of the road. Trucks and buses do not have to slow down or stop for the emissions testing.

ALL YOU CAN EAT

Two men in Brighton England have been banned from an all-you-can-eat restaurant after the manager branded them as "pigs".

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 2012 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

November 2012 Edition

 RVs

Shipments of RVs in the U.S. have increased 5 per cent over 2010 and are expected to grow another 7 per cent by the end of 2012. Some areas are seeing double digit growth in sales. RVs sell for as little as US$5,000 for a caravan to $1.5-million for a deluxe motor home. More than 90 per cent of them are made in the U.S. and more than 80 per cent in a single county in Indiana. The RV market is considered by some as a an indicator of the health of the American economy and a growth in sales indicates that credit is opening up.

CUBA

Authorities in Cuba report that tourism revenues rose 12.8 per cent in 2011, returning to levels three years earlier as the key sector recovers from losses due to the global financial downturn. Tourism income was US$2.5-billion compared with $2.2-billion the previous year. In all, the island hosted 2.7-million visitors, up 7 per cent from 2010.

OIL

Besides drugs, extortion and people-smuggling, a growing sideline in Mexico is stolen oil. In 2010, criminals made off with 3.35-million barrels of oil belonging to Pemex, the state owned oil monopoly, up from 2.16-million barrels in 2010. The thefts are reckoned to deprive the company of as much as US$1-billion a year. Some goes missing from trucks and some siphoned out of lengthy exposed pipes. Last year, Pemex detected 1,324 taps, over twice as many as the year before.

MOVING

Tape and corrugated cardboard boxes for moving are apparently on their way out. Now, starting in California but spreading across the country, several companies are offering reusable tough plastic boxes which are delivered to the mover and then picked up afterwards. These containers can stack higher than cardboard and have built-in carrying handles for easy carrying. One company charges US$99 for 25 of its containers, suitable for a small apartment and has a variety of other rates up to $269 for 100 containers. Customers have the use of the boxes for two weeks.

COUPONS

Canadians realized only 3.72 per cent of all the savings available through the use of coupons in 2006, according to an industry study. That's just C$134-million saved out of a possible $7-billion that year. Unlike in the U.S, Canadians still don't take extreme couponing seriously.

SPACE

Researchers predict that space tourism and commercial spaceflight could become a US$1.6-billion business in the next decade. It is estimated that there will be enough demand for such space flights to fill 400 to 500 seats per year at an average of $200,000 per seat.

ART

China's explosive economic growth and the global rebound last year propelled the sale of art and antiques to US$60-billion last year, up by more than 50 per cent over previous years. $20.4-billion were sold in the U.S. 34 per cent of the total market: $13.8-billion in China, $13.2-billion in the U.K and $3.6-billion in France.

DEGREES

It is estimated that there are 18,000 parking lot attendants in the U.S. with college degrees. and some 5,000 janitors in the U.S. with PhDs. In all, some 17-million college educated Americans have jobs that do not require their level of education.

WASTE

It is estimated that Americans throw away nearly half their food and, in 2010, recycled only 34 per cent of their waste. In Sweden, by contrast, only four per cent of waste from households ends up in landfills. And burning waste powers 20 per cent of the country's district heating as well as supplying electricity for a quarter million homes. Because it has become so good at recycling, Sweden now imports 800,000 tonnes of trash each year from other European countries, including Norway, to power its waste-to-energy program.

DEBT

By September of this year America's total national debt, which includes government debt owed to business and foreign government, passed US$16-trillion for the first time. It passed $15-trillion only ten months previously.

ARMS

Delivery of arms to developing countries last year were the highest since 2004, totalling US$28-billion. The U.S. and Russia, the world's leading arms suppliers, accounted for two-thirds of deliveries to the developing world. America's exports in particular are helped by a long-standing client base, which orders upgrades, spare parts and support services every year. Arms deals were buoyed last year by unusually high demand from Saudi Arabia which is the Middle East's biggest arms buyer with $2.8-billion in purchases. India, which is Russia's biggest high-value client was close behind at $2.7-billion.

IGUANAS

Dubbed the "green plague" an infestation of iguanas are wreaking havoc on Puerto Rico chewing up plants and crops and burrowing under roads and dikes. The reptiles, which are not native to Puerto Rico, have few natural predators and their numbers are now estimated to be around four million, outnumbering humans in the U.S. territory. Now, the authorities are planning on slaughtering them and exporting the meat to countries in Latin America, Asia and elsewhere with a taste for lizards. In Central America where they are prized, they are eaten roasted and in stews

MILK

The organic milk business in Canada and the U.S. is worth US$2.4-billion a year and is growing. However, this is an industry with headaches, from legal battles to accusations of putting profits before quality, to conflicts over what "organic" really means. Both Canada and the U.S. have regulations as to what qualifies as organic milk, including requirements that cows consume organic feed and graze on fresh grass.

TRADE

After 18 years of growing pains, Russia has become the 156th full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the ninth largest economy on the planet. Canada may be a prime beneficiary of the Russian opportunity. Canada-Russia trade is now only about C$2.5-billion a year, about half Canada's trade with Brazil and a fifth of Canada's investment in the Netherlands. There are not many economies that are growing and modernizing at the rate Russia's is. Canada is already involved with agriculture in Russia and with mining and industrial machinery.

FARMING

Argentine growers are planting corn and soy after ideal conditions, thanks to a record August rainfall that has raised hopes that the country's harvest could bolster global grain stocks depleted by the worst U.S. drought in decades. The dry spell in the U.S. Midwest and poor crops from the Black Sea bread basket have lifted prices of corn, wheat and soybeans. The world is now looking to Southern Hemisphere producers, Argentina, Brazil and Australia to replenish shrinking grain reserves. Argentina is the world's biggest corn exporter after the U.S.

TIRES

The cost of mining-truck tires, those of 3.5 metres in diameter, is soaring. Resurgent global growth and China's appetite for raw materials haven't just propelled gold over US$1,600 an ounce, they have tripled the price of mining-truck tires. Normally about $30,000 to $60,000 apiece, the gargantuan tires are now selling for up to $100,000. When one considers that mining trucks run on six wheels and wear out tires in about 12 months, the cost of keeping a mining vehicle on the road could be $600,000 a year.

COFFEE

Thanks to decades of diligent brand-building, Colombian coffee sold for a premium in the world market. But nowadays most coffee served in the country is from beans grown in Ecuador or Peru. Output in Colombia, once the second producer after Brazil, hit a 35-year low in 2011 of 7.8-million 60kg bags, down from an average of 13-million in the 1990s. Although the collapse in the harvest was partly due to unusually heavy rains over the past three years, the farmers face other problems such as fungal rust and insect infestations as well as the price volatility caused by the strength of the peso.

TAXES

A giant federal tax hike has spurred a historic drop in smoking in the U.S. The tax jumped from US39 cents to $1.01 per pack in 2009 to finance expanded health care for children. Since then the tax has brought in more than $30-billion in new revenue. About three million fewer people smoked last year than in 2009, despite a larger population. Teen smoking immediately fell between 10- and 13 per cent when the tax hike took effect.

PETS

Across the United States, 26 per cent of dogs had implanted microchips in 2010, compared to 17 per cent in 2009. Some 12 per cent of cats also had microchips in 2010. These figures are likely going to increase this year after two highly publicized cases of owners being reunited with their pets because of implanted microchips. Most shelters and humane societies now implant microchips in animals before allowing them to be adopted.

CROATIA

Tourism to Croatia is on the rise. In July, nore than 3.1-million people visited the Adriatic country. A total of 6.6-million tourist visits have been recorded since January. In 2011 more than 11.4-million tourists visited Croatia spending about US$8.3-billion. The Croatian economy recorded essentially no growth in 2011 for the third consecutive year but in the first quarter of 2012 the economy expanded for the first time.

HOTELS

Best known for its DIY furniture, Scandinavian retailer Ikea is planning to launch a chain of 100 budget hotels in Europe. The first two will open in Germany in 2014.

STEEL

China is ramping up its exports of cheap steel, sometimes at a loss, as bulging stocks give way to a worsening domestic demand. Slowing construction and industrial activity has hit Chinese steel demand and prices hard, prompting market participants to export more agressively than ever, even to markets such as the Middle East and Africa where it doesn't usually sell.

RISK

Emerging economies in Asia, including India and the Philippines face the greatest financial risk from natural disasters. Last year was deemed to0 be the most costly 12 months on record for natural disasters costing US$380-billion. The main reason was the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011 which was estimated to have cost $210-billion.

WINNERS

In the UK, approximately 50 per cent of lottery winners move house within the first three months of a big win and thirty per cent said they now employ a cleaner to look after the new home. 2,800 millionaires have been created by the National Lottery since it started.

ACCIDENTS

Pedestrian fatalities in car crashes in the U.S. are on the rise again after five years of decline. Nearly 4,300 people died when hit by cars in 2010, a 4 per cent increase from 2009. About 75 per cent of pedestrian deaths were in urban areas. A meeting was held recently to finalize a global safety standard that includes proposed changes to the design of hoods and fenders so they absorb more of the impact when cars collide with people. In 2010 there was a total of 32,885 fatalities in car crashes.

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 2012 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

October 2012 Edition

SERVICES

The U.S. was the world's biggest exporter of services last year, with 13.9 per cent of the US$4.1-trillion total. Britain was next followed by Germany. The U.S. also complains the most having brought 20 trade disputes to the World Trade Organization since 2006. However, the WTO recently ruled in favour of some of America's complaints against China. The world's biggest merchandise exporter is China with 10.4 per cent of the world's total.

BOOKS

The U.S. book market declined 2.5 per cent in 2011 as sales of lower-priced e-books more than doubled. Publishers generated US$27.2-billion in book sales, down from $27.9-billion in 2010. Sales of trade books-adult fiction, nonfiction, children's books and others-were little changed at almost $14-billion. E-books in the category more than doubled to $2.07-billion, although print remained dominant, with $11.1-billion. The industry lost revenue because of the proliferation of e-books.

VISITORS

One bright tourism trend is the increase in the number of visitors to Canada from Asia, particularly Mainland China. In the first five months of 2012, residents from China made 115,200 trips to Canada, a 22.9 per cent increase from the same period in 2011. China has now overtaken Australia as the fourth largest overseas market for visitors to Canada, behind the UK, France and Germany. China is now one of the world's most influential markets for international travellers. More than 77-million Chinese are expected to take a trip overseas this year.

FEES

Canada's broadcast regulator says that an obscure fee that cable companies charge to fund local television content is being scrapped and the companies have until this fall to explain how the fee will be removed from customers' bills. The fund was originally created to ensure that television stations had the resources to meet Canadians' needs for local programming. Starting in 2008, cable and satellite firms were ordered to pay into the C$100-million fund to protect Canadian content.

FARMING

Not long ago, American farmers were expecting bumper harvests and the prices of grains and oilseeds were falling. Since then, a severe heatwave has hit the Midwest wilting crops and sending prices soaring. Soyabeans have hit a record of US$16 a bushel. World stocks of the oilseed which is crushed for animal feed are already low following a drought in South America. Yields of maize stocks will be at their lowest since 2003. Higher feed prices will depress American beef and poultry production and will likely affect other food prices as well.

CHARGING

Scientists at the University of South Carolina have found a way to use a cheap T-shirt to store electrical power. It could pave the way for clothes that are able to charge phones and other devices. Fibres in the fabric, when soaked in a solution of fluoride and baked, convert from cellulose to activated carbon. By using small parts of the fabric as an electrode, the researchers showed the material could be made to act as a capacitor and store an electrical charge. Capacitors are components of nearly every electronic device on the market.

TEXTING

New research shows that people in the UK are now more likely to text than to make a phone call. While 58 per cent of people communicated via text on a daily basis in 2011, only 47 per cent made a daily phone call. The shift away from traditional ways of keeping in touch is being led by young people aged 16-24. The average UK consumer now sends 50 text messages a week, while fewer calls are being made on both fixed and cell phones. In 2011, for the first time, there was a drop in cell phone calls by one per cent while landline calls were down by 10 per cent and overall time spent on the phone was down by five per cent.

HEALTH CARE

After nearly a decade of generous increases, health-care spending across the 34 countries of the OECD was largely flat in 2010. Spending increased by an annual average of 4.8 per cent between 2000 and 2009. In 2010, eight countries cut spending while only three increased it by more than three per cent in real terms. Austerity-hit Ireland and Greece cut their health spending by 7.6 per cent and 6.5 respectively. In 2010 OECD governments spent an average of 9.5 per cent of their GDP on health care, up from 6.9 per cent in 1990. The U.S. spends by far the greatest amount at 17.6 per cent of its national income.

CALLS

The U.S. government has announced a crackdown on computer-controlled, pre-recorded phone calls. The Federal Trade Commission is calling on telecom and marketing industry leaders to attend a meeting about the issue this month. The FCC wants to explore innovations that could let it trace where such calls come from and prevent the use of faked caller IDs. The U.S. made it illegal to make unwanted calls in 2009. Experts believe many offenders operate by routing calls via the internet from offshore centres, making it hard for the U.S. to completely eradicate the problem.

NOISE

The Canadian government has launched a study of the health impacts of turbine noise on people living near wind power developments. The study will focus on 2,000 homes at 8 to 12 wind installations. It will measure individuals' blood pressure and test hair samples and interview people about annoyance, sleep quality and stress. The results will be published in 2014. While the wind industry has always claimed there is no evidence of direct health impacts from turbines, anti-wind advocates say there are ample reports proving that people are suffering.

DRUGS

India is moving ahead with ambitious plans to spend nearly US$5-billion to supply free drugs to patients, bringing the nation closer to universal health coverage. This is part of the government's latest five year spending plan (2012-2017) and should start this month. The central government will pay $3.61-billion while India's 29 states will be asked to pay the balance. This initiative will be a giant step in expanding access to medicine in the country of 1.2-billion people.

TRADE

Top metals consumer China and world No.1 copper producer Chile plan to double their bilateral trade to US$60-billion by 2015. Until now, China has made relatively few investments in the Andean country, despite being its main trade partner and sharing a free-trade agreement. The two countries have also signed an agreement to give investors security for their investments in either of the two countries.

RAIL

California law makers have approved financing for a bullet train that would eventually become part of the first dedicated high-speed line in the U.S. Approval was given for a 130 mile (209km) stretch, part of a larger line proposed to run from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The final cost of the LA-San Francisco line is estimated at US$68-billion. The vote allows California to use $3.2-billion in federal funding. The project is essential because of population growth. California's budget is presently $16-billion in the red.

WOMEN

The number of women in the top ranks of Canada's largest companies has climbed by less than one percentage point over the past two years, a glacial pace of change that means many firms are vastly underutilizing talented women. A review of almost 500 companies found that 17.7 per cent of senior officer positions were held by women in 2010, a modest increase from 16.9 per cent in 2008. Crown corporations lead with 27 per cent of top jobs filled by women.

SCOTCH

The export value of Scotch whisky, which has proved virtually impervious to the global economic slowdown, rose by 71 per cent between 2006 and 2011 to US$6.72-billion. Over the same period, food exports have risen by a similarly impressive 65 per cent. Much of this is salmon. Scottish producers rushed to fill a gap in the world market when disease affected Chile's salmon exports a few years ago.

GROCERIES

Statistics from the U.S. Commerce Department show that the U.S. grocery market grew to US$645-billion last year from $568-billion in 2007, a 14 per cent growth in four years. Warehouse clubs and supercentres remain the key competitor to supermarkets, despite all the coverage of dollar and drug stores. The supermarket share of the total grocery market has dropped again from 59.2 per cent in 2010 to 58.9 per cent in 2011.

TIRES

By adding rubber "crumbs", reclaimed from shredded tires, to the bitumen and crushed stone used to make asphalt, engineers are designing quieter streets. First used experimentally in the 1960s, this rubberized, softer asphalt cuts traffic noise by around 25 per cent. Even better, it also lasts longer than the normal sort. Enough tires are recycled each year in the U.S. to produce 20,000-lane miles. Rubber roads are popular in China, Brazil, Spain and Germany.

LAND

Canada's prime shopping strips are cheap compared to big cities around the world. The most expensive is a strip of Bloor Street in the Yorkville area of Toronto which features some of the country's fanciest designer stores and is worth US$310 per square foot, making it the 34th most expensive strip in the world. Top spot is New York's Fifth Avenue at $2,633, a gain of 22 per cent in the past year.

ADS

A far-reaching ban on advertising alcohol advertising has gone into effect in Russia, part of a campaign to tackle the country's drinking problems. The ban prohibits alcohol advertising on television, radio, the internet, public transit and billboards. And as of next year, the ban will also apply to print media. Russian alcohol consumption is double the critical level set by the World Health Organization.

LOBSTER

It used to be that lobster was considered a luxury. But thanks to an abundance of the soft-shell crustaceans in recent months, it is no longer a meal for special occasions. An excess supply in Maine has driven prices to under US$4 a pound making the sea creature cheaper per pound than deli meat in some cases.

LOYALTY

Recent consumer research shows that when consumers search for online coupons and savings, 62 per cent search for store related deals and 24 per cent for product specific coupons, while only 14 per cent search specifically for brand name product discounts online. Nearly half of U.S. consumers--88.2-million-- will use online coupons and codes in 2012 and it is estimated that by the end of 2013, 96.8-million U.S. adults will have used such discounts.

LOANS

China has offered to set up a US$10-billion credit line for Latin American countries to support infrastructure projects. China has been keen to increase trade in the area and with many of the Latin American countries still at the development stage, they are anxious to build new infrastructure in a bid to boost economic growth.

CONVENIENCE

Islamic worshippers may now purchase "e-rugs." These are prayer mats with a built in alarm for the five daily prayer times and a compass that points towards Mecca.

Thank you for reading the A & A Economic News Digest. For more information visit our website www.aacb.com or contact A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. at strehler@aacb.com.

Past issues of the A&A Economic News Digest can be found at http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/index.asp

September 2012 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

September 2012 Edition

TEA

Britain's tea addiction is sparking an ecological crisis. The country's 62-million residents consume 165-million cups of the hot beverage each single day, and the soggy leftovers are piling up. The UK's national recycling and garbage reduction body, estimates that tea bags are now the largest single food waste contributor, adding 370,000 tonnes to landfills each year. They have now partnered with the nation's largest tea maker to convince people to compost the sachets rather than toss them in the trash.

WINE

For the first time in a while, things are looking up for Georgian wine. Exports from the former Soviet republic increased last year by 37.7 per cent to 16.9-million litres earning about US$54-million, not much by big-country standards but it points to a recovery of sorts, the highest figure since Russia imposed a crippling trade embargo in 2006. Before the ban, Russians drank a lot more Georgian wine than did tiny Georgia. Blessed with relatively moderate temperatures, Georgia boasts more than 500 grape varieties.

WEALTH

Asia-Pacific now has the largest number of wealthy citizens of any region in the world, a shift that underscores the tilting of global economic clout. The number of high net-worth individuals rose 1.6 per cent in Asia-Pacific to 3.37-million people, led by growth in China and Japan along with Malaysia and Indonesia. That surpasses North America's high net-worth population of 3.35-million. It is the first time in the 16-year period of reporting this data that neither Europe or North America is at the top of the list.

WEIGHT

If the entire human population stepped on a scale, the weight would be 316-million tons, or 632-billion pounds. The overweight people in the world carry an estimated 16-million tons of extra weight, the equivalent of 242-million normal weight people. The average body mass globally was 136 pounds (62kg). In North America, which has the highest body mass of any continent, the number was 178 pounds (80.7kg).

CAMERAS

A camera capable of creating images with "unprecedented detail" has been unveiled by U.S. engineers. The prototype machine, called AWARE2, is capable of taking pictures with resolutions of up to 50 gigapixels, equivalent to 50,000 megapixels. It works by synchronizing 98 tiny cameras in a single device. The machine is likely to be used first for military surveillance. The prototype camera itself is two-and-a-half feet square and 20 inches deep. Most consumer cameras currently on the market are capable of taking photographs ranging from eight to 40 megapixels.

CUSTOMS

Bolivian customs officials are to be forced to carry special pens, with a hidden camera and a voice recorder, in a crackdown on corruption. The voice recorded will remain active during all working hours. Even the Director of Customs will be issued with her own pen. Officials will be selected randomly to have the recordings in their devices checked. The Bolivian Customs Department, with more than 1,000 employees, is seen as one of the most corrupt areas of the government in the South American country.

SPEED

IBM's Sequoia has taken the top spot on the list of the world's fastest supercomputers for the U.S. The newly installed system trumped Japan's K Computer made by Fujitsu which fell to second place. It is the first time the U.S. has been able to claim top spot since it was beaten by China two years ago. Sequoia will be used to carry out simulations to help extend the life of aging nuclear weapons, avoiding the need for real-world underground tests. Sequoia is 1.55 times faster than the Fujitsu model and uses over 1.5-million processors.

HOUSING

Canadians are playing a larger role in the U.S. housing market than in any year since 2007 and they outpace buyers from China and Mexico by far. Foreigners snapped up US$82.5-billion worth of U.S houses in the 12 month period to March 31st of this year, compared to $66.4-billion a year earlier. Chinese buyers made the next largest segment followed by Mexicans at 8 per cent. Canadians accounted for 24 per cent of all international sales, compared with 23 per cent in 2011 and 11 per cent in 2007.

TRANSPORT

A long-awaited new bridge at Canada's busiest border crossing has been announced which will ease traffic gridlock and encourage trade. The link, between Windsor, Ont. and Detroit, will cost C$1-billion. Under the terms of the agreement in principle with Michigan, Canada is financing the construction and will recover the costs through tolls on the U.S. side of the Detroit River. The addition of customs plazas, coupled with the costs of land expropriation, will see the total bill swell to between $3.5- and $4-billion. The new span will be a few kilometres south of the existing Ambassador Bridge.

INDIA

The government of India has pledged to move ahead with major infrastructure projects to give a boost to the country's slowing economy. Included are: building 9,500 kilometres of roads; constructing three new airports and upgrading two others to international standards; two new aviation hubs to make India a major transit point and two new ports. It is estimated that India will need to spend US$1-trillion in the next five years which will require significant private-sector partnerships with the government.

GAS

A monster British Columbia well just south of the 60th parallel is pumping a tremendous volume from a globally significant new field that will dramatically boost Canada's gas resources. It stands to be one of the best gas reservoirs in North America and initial results show it contains enough gas to match Canada's entire current output for nearly a decade. It is estimated that the area may contain 210-trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

AFRICA

The United Nations has said that Africa needs to boost agricultural productivity if it is to sustain its economic boom. Many African countries have registered impressive growth rates, but sub-Saharan Africa cannot sustain its present economic resurgence unless it eliminates the hunger that affects nearly a quarter of its people. The situation affects children in particular, with 40 per cent of African children aged under five malnourished. New approaches are required covering multiple sectors from rural infrastructure to health services.

TRANSIT

Driven by high gas prices and an uncertain economy, Americans are turning to trains and buses to get around in greater numbers than ever before. But the aging transit systems they are using face an estimated US$80-billion maintenance backlog that jeopardizes service when it's most in demand. Transit trips over a 12-month period recently set a new record. The current peak is 10.3-billion trips in a year set in 2008. But decades of deferred repairs and modernization projects have many transit agencies scrambling to keep trains and buses in operation.

BEDS

A Spanish furniture maker has introduced the world's first bed that makes itself. The smart bed is equipped with a device that enables it to automatically straighten the bedding. In a mere 50 seconds the bed activates its mechanical arm with two rollers which pulls the duvet to the head of the bed. At the same time, the pillows are straightened by cords attached to the pillow cases after which the panels rotate, elevating the pillow. Once the upper coverlet has been stretched to the head of the bed, the pillows fall back onto it. The bed contains a safety feature preventing the mechanism activating when a person is still in bed.

DIAMONDS

Despite a healthy long-term demand driven by China and India, global economic uncertainty is taking its toll on the diamond industry. While it is projected that diamond prices will stay flat in 2012, prices are already at elevated levels, though cost inflation and currency movements are chipping away at producer margins. Prices are forecast to rise again in 2013 at an average of six per cent per year, reflecting both growing demand and constrained supply.

TRASH

According to the World Bank, many cities now devote more resources to coping with their trash than to any other single task. Solid waste management is almost always the responsibility of local governments and is often their single largest budget item, particularly in developing countries. The Bank estimates that 1 to 5 per cent of the world's urban population is employed in solid waste management. The world now spends $204.5-billion to handle about 1.3-billion tons of trash each year, about 2.6 pounds (1.2kg) per person per day.

FARMING

Thanks to high crop prices and the health of rural America, farmers are under pressure to accept cuts in the generous handouts they receive from the federal government. Payments to farmers, which include sums for taking part in conservation programmes, have been running at about US$123-billion a year since 2007. Yet since then, farmers have enjoyed record prices and incomes which are at the highest in almost 40 years and farm failures are down to a rate of less than one in 200 a year.

TRENDS

In 2011, the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, installed 820 new parking meters, more than three times the average of 240 metres installed annually since 1996. The increase has helped raise the city's revenue from on-street parking to a new high of C$42.5-million, a 32 per cent increase from the $32.2-million collected in 2009. This, in a city with the highest peak on-street parking rates in North America, with rates climbing as high as $6.00 an hour in some downtown locations.

GLUTEN

A recent study indicates that gluten-free foods and beverages have been transformed into a mainstream sensation embraced by consumers as a personal choice towards achieving a healthier way to live. No longer used just by the estimated 3-million Americans with celiac disease, gluten-free products have had a compounded annual growth rate of 30 per cent from 2006 to 2010 and reached US$2.6-billion in 2010 and will continue over the next five years when sales should exceed $5-billion by 2015.

SUCCESS

Started in 2006 in a cramped kitchen behind a shop front in a rural Scottish village, the Highland Chocolatier sold hand made luxury chocolates to hotels and restaurants in Britain. Last year, the company sold about six tonnes of chocolate and expects to sell 13-15 tonnes this year much of the growth being exports. After an enquiry through the Scottish economic development agency, visitors from Japan started turning up in the small village. The products are now sold in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Germany. and the Middle East.

SAVINGS

A British police force has advertised for members of the public to wash and valet its patrol cars. Staffordshire Police is hoping to save 5,500 hours a year by getting volunteers from the community to regularly clean its fleet of vehicles. The idea is the latest cost-cutting idea from cash-strapped forces which are also seeking people to work for free completing tasks such as gardening and translating. However, some police officers and staff are concerned about the potential for volunteers to be a security risk.

Thank you for reading the A & A Economic News Digest. For more information visit our website www.aacb.com or contact A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. at strehler@aacb.com.

Past issues of the A&A Economic News Digest can be found at http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/index.asp

August 2012 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

August 2012 Edition

PHONES

The trend away from land lines in Canada is gaining traction as wireless plans decline in price because of increased competition among mobile service providers. It is estimated that 8.8 per cent of households were wireless-only in 2008 rising to 14.8 per cent at the end of 2011. The figure should reach 18.1 per cent by the end of this year and 21.6 per cent by the end of 2013. Younger Canadians are the most likely to go wireless-only.

FOOTBALL

One of the largest advertisers in the world has made a significant statement as to where they believe they get most value for their advertising dollars. General Motors Co. has announced that it will pull millions of dollars out of the Super Bowl and that Chevrolet has struck a 5-year deal to be the automotive partner with the world's most popular soccer club, Manchester United. 400-million people consider themselves fans of the NFL, but more than eight times as many, 3.5-billion, or half the world's population, are fans of soccer, and 660-million are fans of Manchester United.

TOURISM

British Columbia went big in San Francisco recently when it put a vending machine in a public square as part of Tourism B.C.'s campaign to woo U.S. travellers. People who punched in codes to see more were rewarded. A person inside pushed presents out through a large slot that included guide books, a mountain bike and even a surfboard. All came with discount cards to fly with Air Canada to B.C. All this is part of a plan to fight a downward trend that has seen foreign visits drop since 2001.

DRINKS

The mayor of New York wants to restrict sales of large sized sugary drinks in public venues. The move would outlaw sales of drinks 473 ml (16 oz) and over in restaurants, cinemas, stadiums and arenas. Cups over that size at self-service fountains would also disappear. The ban would apply to any drink that contains more than 25 calories per 235 ml (8 ounces) and less than 51 per cent milk or milk substitute by volume as an ingredient, which means that milk shakes would be given a reprieve.

DRUGS

A third of malaria drugs used around the world to stem the spread of the disease are counterfeit. Researchers who looked at 1,500 samples of seven malaria drugs from seven countries in South East Asia say poor-quality and fake tablets are causing drug resistance and treatment failure. Data from 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa including 2,500 drug samples showed similar results. No large studies have been conducted in India and China. Despite this, malaria mortality rates have dropped by more than 25 per cent globally since 2000 and by 33 per cent in Africa.

COMMERCIALS

A legal row has erupted in the U.S. over a set-top box that lets viewers skip over commercials in recorded TV shows. Three U.S. broadcasters, Fox, NBC and CBS, have sued the maker of the device. The networks worry that if viewers choose not to see the ads, their main source of revenue will dry up. The large U.S. TV networks depend on income from commercials for survival. Worldwide spending on TV ads is estimated to reach US$200-billion by 2017.

SUSHI

California tuna connoisseurs are shying away from sushi over Japan radiation fears. Traces of radiation in tuna from the Fukushima nuclear disaster have been found off the U.S. coast, and consumers are being cautious. However, much if not most of California's bluefin tuna comes from fish farms in Mexico.

SIZE

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has charted the growth of fast-food portion sizes since the 1950s. The average soda was 7 ounces in the 1950s, and is 42 ounces today. The hamburger was 3.9 ounces back then: it is 12 ounces today. A portion of French fries was 2.4 ounces in the 1950s, it is 6.7 ounces today.

TRAVEL

Statistics Canada says that Canadian business travellers made more trips abroad last year, while foreign business travel to Canada was down. In the last quarter of 2011 Canadians made more than 807,000 overnight business trips outside the country. Of these, 600,000 were to the United States, a 4.7 per cent increase. Overseas business travel was up two per cent. Business travel to Canada was down by 2.1 per cent to just over 570,000 trips of which about 70 per cent were made by U.S. business people. Foreign business travellers spent C$588-million in Canada in the last quarter of 2011.

REMUNERATION

Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs. The head of a typical public company made US$9.6-million in 2011. That was up 6 per cent from the previous year. Companies trimmed cash bonuses but handed out more in stock awards. The typical CEO got stock awards worth $3.6-million but cash bonuses fell about 7 per cent. The median pay for U.S. workers was about $39,300--up about one percent from the previous year.

CHEESE

The magnitude-6 earthquake that hit northern Italy recently has taken a toll on the country's cheese industry. Parmesan cheese producers near the quake's epicentre have seen 300,000 massive wheels of cheese that were aging on tall shelves crash to the ground. Only about 30 per cent of the wheels survived unscathed. After aging for 12 to 24 months, three million parmesan wheels worth US$2.6-billion are sold each year from the region.. Two-thirds stay in Italy, the rest is exported. The wheels that fell represent 10 per cent of annual production.

SICK

While Americans may seem obsessed with football and Canadians are crazy about ice hockey, it is nothing compared with China's obsession to basketball. An online survey of 9,500 workers in eight countries showed that Chinese workers were the most likely to call in sick to view a sporting match or after a late night watching or attending a game. China also had the most people skipping work to play a sport, and basketball was the most likely to spur absenteeism there. These findings were similar to another survey conducted globally last year.

NUTS

A military revolt in the tiny African nation of Guinea-Bissau is rocking the market for prized cashew nuts. Some of the world's tastiest cashews are rotting in roadside piles with farmers having no way to ship them to Indian factories that steam the cashews out of its poisonous shell. The country is Africa's fifth biggest cashew grower and the yearly cashew harvest accounts for 98 per cent of the country's export revenue and employs nine out of ten people, including children. No president has completed a full term in this chaotic West African country.

PARKING

Vancouver, one of the most expensive housing cities in the world, is filled with empty, unused parking spaces in apartment buildings. As residents buy fewer cars, take transit, if it's nearby, and travel more with bikes and car-shares, thousands of parking spaces are going unused. It is estimated that each stall costs between C$20,000 and $45,000 to build, a cost that is passed on to buyers and renters.

SHOES

Women's shoe therapy is helping to drive Canadian retailers' footwear sales, even as their apparel sales lag. Consumers are getting their fashion fix with the purchase of a new pair of pumps rather than pants or a suit. As a result, retailers are feeling the urgency to add shoe aisles to their stores, raising the stakes for everyone to grab a bigger part of Canada's C$4.9-billion footwear market. Retailers can generate higher gross profit margins from footwear than apparel if they quickly sell the products at full price, rather than having them languish on shelves and cleared out at a discount.

TECHNOLOGY

The Hershey Co. is employing GPS mapping to provide precise measurements of farm acreage as part of a scheme in the African nation of Ghana. The cutting-edge technology will help farmers better plan and manage their farms, thereby boosting yields and farmer incomes. This is part of Hershey's US$10-million commitment in West Africa over the next ten years to accelerate the chocolate makers cocoa programmes in the region. The investment will involve 1,000 farm families and help enhance cocoa farming, community health, and reduce instances of child labour.

ORGANIC

Driven by consumer choice, the U.S. organic industry grew by 9.5 per cent overall last year to reach US$31.5-billion in sales. Of this, the organic food and beverage sector was valued at $29.22-billion while the organic non-food sector reached $2.2-billion. The organic food sector grew by $2.5-billion in 2011 with the fruit and vegetable category contributing close to 50 per cent of those new dollars. The fastest growing sector was the meat fish and poultry category which grew by 13 per cent.

PROFIT

After 16 years of profitability, Canada Post recorded a pretax loss of C$253-million in 2011, the result of dwindling mail volume, a costly pay equity ruling and a strike and lockout. Canada Post's loss compared to a $134-million profit in 2010. Revenue was $7.5-billion, the same for both years. The fundamental challenge for Canada Post is that it must work harder every year to deliver less mail to a generation hooked on Facebook, Twitter and texting.

MINING

Graphite is the new darling of the mining industry with Canadian graphite miners angling to be high-end suppliers to the global lithium market where companies like LG, Samsung, Mitsubishi and Hitachi are fuelling growing demand for new technologies ranging from smartphones and laptops to electric cars. The mineral is a major component of lithium batteries, lighter and more powerful than traditional batteries. After decades of near-dormancy in the graphite industry, an increasing number of companies are racing to produce flake graphite, the purest natural form of the mineral.

SOYBEANS

Prices for soybeans have recently shot up to their highest level in nearly four years after disastrous crops in Argentina and Brazil. Soybeans, which are widely used for vegetable oil, animal feed, soy milk and tofu, have soared 23 per cent this year as a result of a South American drought. Production has declined by 11 per cent this year. Soybeans, by value, rank second among U.S. agricultural exports. 85 per cent of the world's soybean crop is used for vegetable oil and meal.

FEATHERS

In the world of obscure commodities, feathery down feathers are a newcomer. Price increases are forcing apparel and bedding makers to re-engineer their goods, search for alternatives or warn retailers they will have to pass along the higher costs to customers. Prices of the feathery insulation are ascending just as retailers are starting to move beyond last year's spike in the price of cotton which raised apparel makers' costs on everything from T-shirts to denim. A pound of white goose feathers that cost about US$12 in 2009 sell for about $28 today and $9 a pound duck of feathers now cost $19 a pound.

TAXES

Six billion Euros is unpaid taxes were recovered in the first four months of this year by the Italian taxman as authorities crack down on what until now has been regarded as a national sport.

Thank you for reading the A & A Economic News Digest. For more information visit our website www.aacb.com or contact A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. at strehler@aacb.com.

Past issues of the A&A Economic News Digest can be found at http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/index.asp

July 2012 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

July 2012 Edition

FARMERS

Despite the economic downturn, Britain's farmers have been enjoying a boom in business. Government figures show the agriculture and horticulture sector of the economy grew by 25 per cent last year. Farmers are now selling more produce overseas and it now represents the UK's fourth largest export sector. The gross value added contribution that farmers and growers made to the economy grew by US$3.5-billion to $12-billion.

AFRICA

Plans are on track to create a 26-nation free-trade area by integrating three existing African trade blocs. The East African Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the Southern African Development Community aim to create a free market of 525-million people with an output of US$1-trillion. Although African economies are growing fast, the continent has attracted criticism over its slow pace of integration.

GOLF COURSES

In the past few years, the development of hundreds of golf courses in the U.S. was abandoned, victims of the foreclosure crisis. Many of those closed were tied to grand real estate development plans and it is predicted that as many as 1,500 courses will close over the next decade. Now, thousands of acres of golf greens, ponds and clubhouses sit abandoned, slowly decaying, dragging down neighbourhood property values along with them. Those who bought property along the courses are forced to watch the formerly manicured lawns grow out of control bringing a range of nuisances, from exotic animals to illegal activity.

BAGS

U.S. airlines' revenue from bag fees fell last year for the first time, because of fewer people travelling. The 17 largest airlines made US$3.36-billion down from $3.4-billion in 2010. The total number of passengers last year on those airlines fell by about 1.5 per cent. Fees for first and second checked bags began four years ago when fuel prices soared to all-time highs and revenue has climbed ever since. Between 2008 and 2009, money from bags jumped by 42 per cent and from 2009 to 2010 by 24 per cent. Delta Airlines made more than any of its peers last year earning over $863-million in fees.

TURBINES

A giant subsea turbine which uses tidal power to generate electricity has successfully completed initial tests off Orkney. The turbine was lowered into position during winter storms and is performing well to a very high standard. Scotland has the best tidal power resources in Europe. It is expected that all the machines for this project will be installed between 2013 and 2015.

KNIVES

The multifunctional Swiss Army knife has been recognized worldwide for almost 130 years. The knife is also supplied to the German and 10 other armies. The company makes 35,000 knives each day and has diversified into watches and luggage and today 50 per cent of sales are from new product categories. Some products now offer USB memory sticks. After 9/11, sales of the Swiss Army knife dropped by almost 30 per cent but the company leased workers to other companies while continuing to pay their wages and no worker was made redundant for financial reasons.

SALES

Health Canada has reminded Canadians that garage sales now face the same responsibilities as legitimate retailers when it comes to screening for banned or unsafe products. Everyone holding a garage sale in Canada is legally responsible for ensuring products sold or even given away, whether new or used, are safe and meet current safety standards. According to the Health Canada website, a garage sale is effectively breaking the law if it includes lawn darts, corded blinds, broken toys, toys with powerful magnets, hockey helmets, tiki torches or any product that has been the subject of a recall.

PIRACY

The value of computer software piracy in Canada was estimated to be C$1.1-million last year with 40 per cent of computer users admitting they acquired software illegally. A Business Software Alliance study found that nearly one in three copies of software was unlicensed in Canada in 2011. The study also found that admitted software pirates in Canada were predominantly male between the ages of 25 and 34.

SURGERY

China performs more cosmetic surgery than any country except the U.S. and Brazil. The market, which barely existed 15 years ago, is now worth some US$2.4-billion. China's growing wealth and obsession with celebrity is fuelling the growth. The People's Ninth Hospital in Shanghai is that city's busiest for cosmetic surgery. There were 50,000 operations in 2011, a 50 per cent increase in five years. The three most common procedure are double eyelid surgery, liposuction and nose jobs. As many as 70 per cent of China's cosmetic procedures take place in illegal, unlicensed salons.

COMMODITIES

The price of iron ore, the main component of steel, recently fell below US$140 a tonne. Canada exported C$3.35-billion of iron ore in 2010 which is ranked sixth in value among metals and minerals exported by Canada. It is estimated that 2.8-billion tonnes of iron ore were mined globally in 2011.

3M

This giant 110-year old conglomerate is one of the world's most complex manufacturing enterprises. It is estimated that 3M makes 65,000 products, ranging from Scotch tape to film for solar-energy panels, dental braces and dog chews. They are produced in 214 plants, in 41 countries. 3M's long term plan is to have fewer, larger, more efficient plants and spread them out around the world. 3M now has 10 manufacturing hubs, including six in the U.S. and one each in Singapore, Japan, Germany and Poland. and gets nearly two-thirds of its sales outside the U.S.

FARMS

The 2011 Canadian Agricultural census shows that while the number of farms has decreased 10 per cent in the last five years to 205,730, the average farm size has jumped seven per cent. In some regions, such as Saskatchewan, the number of farms has fallen nearly 17 per cent, while average farm size is up 15 per cent to more than 1,600 acres. Farms with $1-million or more in annual revenue represent the fastest growing sector of Canadian agriculture, jumping 36 per cent since 2006. Just 9,602 farms generate 49 per cent of Canada's $51-billion in total gross farm receipts.

QUINOA

Peruvians used to look down on quinoa, a fixture of Andean diets for centuries as food for the poorest of the poor. However, thanks to the growing global demand for organic foods, this protein-rich chenopod, a member of the spinach family, earned Bolivia US$6.4-million from quinoa exports in 2011, 36 per cent more than in 2010. Peru earned $23-million where production has risen from 7,000 tonnes a year in the 1980s to 42,500 tonnes last year.

MEAT

Fifty years ago, global consumption of meat was 70-million tonnes. By 2007, the latest year for comparable data are available, it had risen to 268-million tonnes. The amount of meat eaten by each person leapt from about 22kg in 1961 to 40kg in 2007.Tastes have changed however. Cow (beef and veal) was top of the menu in the early 1960s, accounting for 40 per cent of meat consumption, but in 2007 its share had fallen to 23 per cent. Pig is now the animal of choice, with around 99-million tonnes consumed and poultry has jumped from 12 per cent to 31 per cent of the global total.

ADS

Canada's broadcast regulator has been asking TV providers to turn down the noise in loud commercials and is now making it an order. Rules have now been published controlling the volume of commercial messages for companies that own TV channels, distribution systems such as cable and satellite services, and video-on-demand offerings must follow. The TV industry must have the loudness under control by September at the start of the new TV season.

COFFEE

A mutant strain of one of the world's most devastating coffee diseases is attacking crops in Guatemala, putting farmers on high alert for a wider outbreak in Central America. Growers are battling a new form of leaf rust fungus, or roya, which kills leaves on coffee trees and makes the weakened plants less productive. Leaf rust usually infects coffee grown at lower altitudes where it is hotter and wetter but a new variety is creeping up to the higher, cooler areas.

GAS

The U.S. is still pumping three billion more cubic feet of natural gas each day than it can consume. The country has become awash in it since "fracking' (hydraulic fracturing of gas bearing shale deposits) began barely five years ago. The price has plummeted from US$8.00 per thousand cubic feet to $2. Not long ago natural gas was a tenth of the price of oil, now it is 50th. If production continues at the present rate, all the storage reservoirs in the U.S. will be full by the Fall.

LUMBER

In 2011, led by British Columbia, Canada emerged as the largest exporter of lumber in the world to China, surpassing Russia as China's leading source for lumber. The trend has continued in 2012. In the first quarter of 2012, Canada supplied 1.45-million cubic metres (about 900-million board feet) corralling 47 per cent of the market share for softwood lumber in China. Russia is second at 35 per cent. China now accounts for 26 per cent of Canadian lumber exports while the U.S. accounts for 63 per cent.

SOLAR

The world's solar power generating capacity will grow between 200 and 400 per cent over the next five years, with Asia and other emerging markets overtaking leadership from Europe. The fastest growth is expected in China and India, followed by Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

MOVIES

China is now the world's second-biggest film market after America. It has a booming home-grown film industry making historical dramas and romantic comedies, but foreign blockbusters are the big money-earners. Last year, China's box-office take rose more than 30 per cent, to over US$2-billion. The number of cinema screens in China has doubled in five years, to nearly 11,000, again, second only to America and revenues may overtake the States by 2020. China will still not grant Hollywood the access it desires. Only 34 foreign films may be shown in China each year.

DIGITAL

Sales of e-books grew by 54 per cent in 2011 and are now worth US$365-million to the publishing industry. In 2007, the market for e-books, downloads and online subscriptions was worth $111-million. Digital content now accounts for 8 per cent of the total value of book sales in 2011. The total value of the book market is estimated to be $4.8-billion. In the UK, the number of book stores halved in the last six years with roughly 2,000 shops closing since 2006.

SIZE

A duplex penthouse at a tower under construction on Manhattan's West 57th Street has sold for more than US$90-million, setting a record for a single residence in the borough. The 11,000 square-floor unit, spanning the 89th and 90th floors sold at a price between $8,000 and 9,000 a square foot.

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 2012 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

June 2012 Edition

CITRUS

California's US$2-billion citrus industry is bracing for the spread of a crop-killing disease after an infected tree was discovered in the yard of a suburban Los Angeles home. The bacterial disease attacks the vascular system of citrus trees and clogs the flow of nutrients which prevent fruit from fully forming and makes it bitter. The disease is spread by an insect. There are 300,000 acres of citrus groves in California.

CALLING

Every day, more than a million North Americans dial corporate customer service numbers to complain, to inquire, to activate accounts, to order products or to seek help. Many of those calls go to the Philippines where there are plenty of well-educated young workers who speak "American-style" English. Last year, the Philippines overtook India as the call centre of the world. It now employs over 640,000 workers and generated US$11-billion in revenue in 2011, a figure that is expected to rise to $15-billion by 2016 when it will employ 1.1-million Filipinos.

FABRIC

British soldiers' uniforms could soon use electrically conducting yarns woven directly into the clothing, replacing cumbersome batteries and cabling. The "e-textiles" could provide uniforms with a single, central power source. This would allow soldiers to recharge one battery instead of many and cut the number of cables in their kit. Currently, separate batteries may be required for each piece of a soldier's equipment, which adds to their carrying load as well as being costly, which is one reason why a centralised battery pack is so desirable. This fabric could also have important civilian applications.

EELS

Tiny translucent elvers--alien-looking baby eels the size of toothpicks, with big black eyes and spines--are mysterious creatures floating thousands of kilometres from their birthplace in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean before ending up each spring in Maine's rivers and streams. Thousands of fishermen flock to catch the creatures during the two-month fishing season. There is a worldwide shortage of the prized dinner fare imported in infancy from Maine to Asia to be raised in farm ponds. This year the price of the baby eels has skyrocketed to US$2,000 a pound.

MAGAZINES

Single-copy sales of magazines in Canada declined by seven per cent last year, with retail sales of C$518-million. But a recent poll shows that 71 per cent of readers overwhelmingly prefer printed magazines against nine per cent who prefer digital copies although those who do buy digital editions are nearly twice as likely as the average reader to buy additional printed magazines in any given month. Six per cent of Canadians buy a magazine once a week, 51 per cent buying for current affairs and 27 for celebrity news.

CASH

Companies worldwide are sitting on cash, generating cash, and have the capacity to borrow yet more, but where will it all go? Hopefully into the economy but more likely into mergers and acquisitions and buybacks. Apple's US$98-billion pile is emblematic of a growing corporate cash mountain. As of last December, 1,100 non-financial U.S. corporations rated by Moody's, were sitting on record cash balances of $1.24-trillion and their 360-strong universe of large European non-financial corporations were sitting on $872-billion.

BAGGAGE

Last year, British travellers were charged a total of US$296-million for excess baggage. On average, limits were exceeded by 3.5 kilos (about 7.7lb). Around 27 per cent of those surveyed who are due to fly this summer expect to exceed baggage limits and these charges are likely to total about $1.58-million a day. Of those who faced charges in 2011, 37 per cent were travelling on low-cost airlines and 20 per cent on charter flights.

CUBA

In a bid to boost tourism, the government is planning to build 13 golf courses by 2020 to offer more to the 2.7-million people who visit each year. The country also intends to build several theme parks and add 25,000 hotel rooms as it looks to broaden its image. Tourism has become the island's main source of foreign currency since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s cut off economic subsidies.

COINS

This fall, the Royal Canadian Mint will cease distributing pennies, although one-cent coins will remain legal tender indefinitely. First struck in 1908, pennies were made of copper until 1996, when rising costs of the metal sparked a switch to a mainly-steel composition. The penny is the only circulated coin that costs more to make than its face value and it now costs the government C$11-million to provide the pennies. The largest annual penny mintage was in 2006 when 1.26-billion were struck.

OIL

Exxon Mobil is no longer the world's biggest publicly traded producer of oil. For the first time, that distinction belongs to a 13-year-old Chinese company called PetroChina which was created by the government to secure more oil for the nation's booming economy. Last year, PetroChina pumped 2.4-million barrels a day, surpassing Exxon by 100,000 barrels. The company has grown rapidly over the past decade by squeezing more from China's aging oil fields and outspending Western companies to acquire more petroleum reserves in places like Canada, Iraq and Qatar.

TOILETS

A robotic toilet called the Numi, which retails for US$6,400 and is a huge hit in China is helping to make Kohler Co. a net exporter of its American-made plumbing products. The Numi uses motion detectors and a remote control to open and close its seat and to flush. It also features leg-warming porcelain, a built-in stereo system and three bidet settings. All of its porcelain is made in Kohler's century-old Wisconsin factory, but most of the toilets are sold to Chinese buyers, with demand so strong that the Numi is on back order.

SHIPPING

Shipyards have been turning out new vessels at a pace designed to service global demand that has failed to materialize, meaning the industry is now sinking under massive over capacity. As owners have seen the rates charged to carry freight plunge, demand for their ships has collapsed to the point that selling them for scrap makes financial sense much earlier in a vessel's life. Cargo ships as a general rule are built to sail for 25 years, yet in the VLCC, "very-large-crude-carrier" sector, comprising the world's biggest tankers, scrap and resale prices recently reached parity for the average 15 year old ship.

TRADE

Canada and Japan have announced free-trade negotiations which are expected to be long and difficult if Canada aims to reduce the complex web of non-tariff barriers that pose serious hurdles for foreign companies trying to compete in Japan. Two-way trade between the countries stood at C$22.6-billion in 2010 but a new treaty could boost Canada's exports there by 60 per cent. Canada now ships mainly agricultural products and resources to the world's third largest economy and 76 per cent of imports came in autos and auto parts, machinery and equipment, electronics and electrical equipment.

CANOLA

Canada's canola crushers are processing the oilseed at a record pace as demand for canola oil heats up among U.S. makers of biodiesel and food products such as potato chips. Canadian canola processors crushed nearly 4.6-million tonnes of seed in 2011-2012, well ahead of the previous year's pace which ended with a record 6.3-million tonnes crushed. Much of the oil has headed south as Canada exported nearly 770,000 tonnes of oil to the U.S. from last August through January, up by almost one-third over the previous year's record high.

COAL

U.S. coal exports reached their highest level in two decades last year as strong demand from Asia and Europe offered an outlet for a fuel that is falling from favour at home. Coal exports topped 107-million tonnes of fuel worth almost US$16-billion in 2011, the highest level since 1991 and more than double the export volume from 2006. Coal exports to South Korea leapt 81 per cent to more than 10-million tonnes and exports to India saw an increase of 65 per cent, or 4.5-million tonnes.

BIRDS

A recent study concluded by a British ornithological charity has concluded that many bird species are unaffected by wind farms. In fact scientists found that building the turbines was more disruptive than operating them. Ten species of birds and 18 wind farms in upland areas of the UK were studied and most were monitored before construction began, during construction and again afterwards.

ENERGY

The U.S. has regained top spot from China as the biggest investor in clean energy in 2011. The U.S. invested US$48-billion up from $34-billion in 2010. China slipped to second place with investment increasing by only $0.5-billion to $45.5-billion. Third was Germany followed by Italy and the rest of the EU-27. India was next with the UK in seventh place.

TRENDS

Some wealthy U.S. households are choosing to forgo health insurance in favour of paying a monthly fee, totalling up to US$30,000 a year, for concierge medicine, or the ability to have access to their physicians anywhere any time. Some families even have emergency rooms in their own homes which can cost $1-million.

IRAN

The destination of Iran's oil sales is being concealed by the disabling of tracking systems, making it difficult to assess how much crude oil Teheran is exporting as it seeks to counter Western sanctions. Most of Iran's 39-strong fleet of tankers is now "off-radar" after the government ordered the ships to turn off the black-box transponders, used in the industry to monitor ship vessel movements.

FLYING

More passengers are downloading books, sending Tweets and updating their Facebook pages in the middle of a flight, even as they complain about the price of doing so. About 1,700 planes in the U.S. now have Intenet access. Airlines say the WIFi usage is picking up, driven partly by the popularity of tablet computers and partly because more planes have the service. Currently about eight per cent of passengers use the service, up from four per cent at the end of 2010.

TOURISM

A record 62-million foreigners visited the United States in 2011 spending US$153-billion on travel and tourism-related services. The Commerce Department reports that spending by domestic as well as international tourists grew 8.1 per cent from a year earlier to $1.2-trillion. This supported an additional 103,000 jobs for a total of 7.6-million. 21-million Canadian residents crossed the border into the U.S. last year.

JUICE

Starbucks has opened its first store in its new Evolution Fresh juice bar chain, its biggest move outside coffee and one it hopes will boost the company's position in the US$50-billion health food sector. Starbucks has yet to detail how many juice bars it plans to open. It will sell fresh and bottled fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies and food, such as wraps, salads and soups. The menu will include vegan and vegetarian options.

SPENDING

The region of Durham, Ont, threw a C$75,000 party to celebrate a new garbage incinerator, complete with air-conditioned tents and sushi.

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