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
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