ORGANIC
More than 20-million Canadians buy organic products weekly and there are 900,000 hectares of farmland across Canada. The organic market is worth C$3.5-billion annually and Canadian organic exports are valued at $458-million. Nationwide, there are over 5,000 certified organic farms, processors and handlers.
CHOPSTICKS
In the battle to save Asian forests, disposable chopsticks have long been a target for environmentalists. Last year, China exported over 10,000 tonnes of them and manufactures 80-billion pairs each year. For that, 20-million trees, mainly bamboo, birch and poplar, are chopped down. When the government imposed a 5% tax on throwaways, few people paid attention when the factory price of a pair is about one-third of a US cent. Some campaigners are now turning to the health dangers in using throwaway chopsticks which in small-town workshops are typically bleached in hydrogen peroxide, polished with paraffin and treated with sulphur dioxide.
ADS
Digital is now the favourite media category of Canadian advertisers. A new report says Canadian Internet publishers earned more revenue in 2013, making it the first time digital media outperformed television, daily print newspapers and radio broadcasters. Digital ad revenue grew 14 per cent last year rising to C$3.5-billion from $3.1-billion. Though TV advertising was down 2.3 per cent from $3.47-billion, it still took second-highest share of revenue. Daily print newspapers earned the third highest share of revenue, despite a 17 per cent drop from $2.2-billion to $1.68-billion. Magazines fell 2.7 per cent from $573-million to $558-million.
CHOCOLATE
Vancouver’s Mink Chocolate company learned recently that its Mermaid’s Choice bar had been named best chocolate bar at an international competition and awarded a gold medal. Altogether, the company won six medals at the 2014 San Francisco International Chocolate Salon exhibition--three gold, two silver and a bronze. Mermaid’s Choice, which retails at C$6.25, is a ganache-filled bar, about 70 per cent dark chocolate with a soft truffle-like centre.
FINES
China issued its strongest pushback yet against global auto makers as it levied fines against Audi and Chrysler totalling US$45.8-million. This signals a growing frustration with foreign dominance in the world’s largest car market. More than three-quarters of the sedans driven off Chinese lots are Chevrolets, Volkswagens, Nissans or other foreign brands. More than two-thirds of China’s luxury-car sales go to just three brands: Audi, BMW and Daimler Mercedes Benz. Most local drivers do not consider Chinese brands as safe or stylish as foreign models.
CITIZENSHIP
Abandoning citizenship is often a last resort for Americans living outside the USA to escape a lifetime of onerous tax filings. It is about to become a costlier exit strategy. Citing dramatically increased numbers of Americans abandoning their citizenship, the US State Department is raising its renunciation fees to US$2,350 a person, up from the current $450. Throughout the first half of this year, 1,577 Americans worldwide renounced their citizenship or gave up their green cards. In 2013, a record 3,000 Americans renounced, up from just a few hundred a year in the mid 1990s.
VISAS
The number of foreign students at US universities reached a new high of 819,644 last year. Many came from China on F-1 visas which are reserved for students. Chinese students in the US now number 200,000, up from 16,000 in 2003. Students from India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia also flock to America’s top universities. Foreign students contribute over US$30-billion to the US economy annually.
FARMING
A Dutch farm is being run by robots. They feed 180 cows, monitor their health, clean their stables and milk them whenever the cows choose. In 2008, the owner invested US$730,000 in the machines that enabled him to double the number of cattle, increase the milk yield per cow by 15% and reduce wasted feed. An app warns the farmer if a cow needs human attention. Land and labour are expensive in Northern Europe. To compete, Dutch scientists, businesses and government have worked closely to boost productivity and develop high-value crops. Dutch cows now produce twice as much milk as they did in 1960. The value of the country’s agricultural exports are now second only to the US.
TAXIS
When the first Metro Toronto taxi licence was issued in 1953 it had no value. Today, a permit to operate a cab in the city is valued at more than C$300,000. Between 2003 an 2013 the value of a Toronto cab licence has increased 235%. The figure for Vancouver is 220 %. In the same period the value of West Texas crude has increased 191%, Art, 183%, Fine Wine, 182% and Chinese porcelain, 83%.
BREWERIES
Between 2007 and 2012, the number of breweries in the US has doubled from 398 to 869. The brewery industry reported US$28.3-billion in shipments in 2012, an increase of nearly 33.6% since 2007 Employment in the brewery industry also climbed over the five year span, rising to 26,077 employees in 2012, up 3825 or 17.2% from 22,252 in 2007. While overall employment grew, the average number of employees per establishment was nearly halved, from 56 in 2007 to 30 in 2012. Beer shipments in cans increased 32% between 2007 and 2012, and was worth $14.3-billion. The wineries industry employed 37,602 people in 2012, up from 33,390 in 2007.
TRUCKS
In the midst of the strongest market for commercial trucks in eight years, North American sales of natural-gas-powered vehicles are just crawling along. Their higher purchase price compared with diesel trucks, improved diesel fuel economy and continued scarcity of fuelling stations are damping natural-gas-powered truck demand. About 10,480 of the heavy-duty trucks are expected to be sold this year up 20 per cent from the 8,730 sold last year, but forecasters had expected sales to nearly double to 16,000 given the enthusiasm for natural gas a year ago. A natural-gas truck costs about US$50,000 more than $150,000 diesel truck.
MANUFACTURING
Britain is now the lowest cost manufacturing economy of Western Europe. Stable wages and improved productivity over the past decade has made the UK increasingly competitive even compared to many Eastern European countries. The UK is recovering its mantle as a global manufacturing hub and is now one of the cheapest locations to produce goods in Western Europe. . Direct manufacturing costs in the UK have improved by up to ten percentage points compared to other Western European countries.
POWER
Engineers in Canada have built a chin strap that harnesses energy from chewing and turns it into electricity. They say that the device could one day take the place of batteries in hearing aids, earpieces and other small gadgets. Made from a “smart” material that becomes electrically charged when stretched, the prototype needs to be made 20 times more efficient in order to generate useful amounts of power.
AMAZON
The rate of destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has increased for a second year running. Brazilian government figures show deforestation was up by 29% to the 12 months ending in July 2013. Satellite data shows that almost 6,000 sq. km. of forest were cleared during this period. The largest increases were in the states of Para and Mato Grosso where most of Brazil’s agricultural expansion is taking place. Besides agricultural expansion, the rebound in deforestation is due to illegal logging and the invasion of public lands adjacent to big infrastructure projects such as roads and hydroelectric dams.
PALM OIL
For half a century, Indonesia and Malaysia have accounted for the vast majority of the world’s palm oil. Now, investors are flocking to West Africa to secure land for rival plantations. Environmentalists say that the forests of South-East Asia have been massively despoiled and are warning West African governments not to follow suit and a growth versus conservation battle is in the offing. Demand for palm oil, whose annual global production is valued at US$50-billion, is soaring and consumption may triple between 2000 and 2050.
SNACKS
Worldwide, the snack industry is worth US$300-billion in revenue and is expected to exceed $380-billion by 2017. The industry is driven by consumers’ changing tastes and health considerations. Since 2004, the number of consumers categorized as “healthy snackers” has grown from 29-million to 41-million. Supermarket sales account for 50 per cent of all snack sales which is important at a time when the average size of supermarkets is declining.
CITIES
The Economist has again ranked Vancouver as the third most livable city in the world. Three Canadian cities, Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary have been named as some of the best places in the world to live. Toronto was number four and Calgary tied with Adelaide, Australia for fifth. Melbourne, Australia topped the list of 140 cities for the fourth year in a row with Vienna, Austria coming in second.
SHARKS
Google has had to reinforce its fragile undersea internet cables with a material similar to that used in bulletproof vests in order to protect against shark attacks. The company announced it was going back to some of the 100,000 miles of private fibre optic cable it owns around the world and reinforcing it with the protective material to at least in part minimize the damage that results from frequent and unexplainable shark attacks. Fibre optic cables use lasers to send data across the ocean, allowing transfer rates up to 100 times higher than traditional copper cables.
CURRENCY
Despite steadily increasing trade with China, Canadian businesses were the least likely to have settled transactions using the Chinese currency of 11 markets surveyed. Only five per cent of Canadian companies reported that they had done cross-border business using Chinese yuan or renminbi. By comparison, 22 per cent of global companies had done business using the yuan and 17 per cent of US businesses made transactions using the currency. More than half the Chinese businesses surveyed said they would offer discounts of as much as five per cent to firms willing to pay using their local currency.
WEDDINGS
For many, the ideal place for a wedding reception would be a local hall or a nice stately home. Not in Hong Kong however. McDonald’s wedding parties are so popular that the fast food empire has a dedicated wedding service there, available in 15 venues where customers can choose from four different wedding packages. |
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