APRIL 1995 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

APRIL 1995  Edition 

 

INTERNET

            The Pacific Northwest Economic Development Council, a 36 year old non-profit organization representing economic development professionals in the states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho along with the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, has produced an excellent Internet-based regional development tool. The system, named "Pacific Northwest Passages" and found by any WWW browser at http://awinc.com/pnedc/ features city profiles full of key information for international business marketers, local business opportunity listings and a professional economic development resource directory. Anyone interested in doing business with the Pacific Northwest and its annual GDP of $326 billion will find this system invaluable for leads and contacts. This Economic Digest also appears on "Passages" and questions or requests for more information on any item may be posted at the same Internet address.

TICKETS

            Later this year, Air Canada plans to go ahead with a new ticketless travel system that will enable passengers to book their tickets by home computer and pay with a credit card when they arrive on board. It is estimated that this will save the airline up to $1.5 million in paper, printing and handling. Over the long term, it could result in significant savings by avoiding travel-agent commissions which cost the airline $310 million in 1994. Ticketless travel could theoretically save $40 million a year.

FRAUD

            Fake grocery coupons are making the rounds, involving books of coupons purported to be worth up to $6,000 each in prizes from big-name manufacturers such as Nabisco, Nestle and Kraft. Since last fall, almost 4,500 Canadians have lost roughly $4.5 million in the scam. Consumers have called the companies complaining that grocery stores will not honour the bogus coupons. Most of the coupons claim to have a $10 value and carry a picture of a grocery cart in the middle. Telemarketers have used high pressure sales tactics to sell the coupons, which are being sold for roughly $200 to $1,200 a book.

NAFTA

            Despite the current problems with Mexico, formal negotiations to bring Chile into NAFTA start in May and could be concluded within a year. Next will be Argentina and Brazil.

Unlike Mexico, Chile is small with 14 million people. Democracy is well established and Chile had a ten-year start over other Latin American countries in market reforms and began bringing down its own trade barriers without waiting for others to reciprocate.

            The economy has grown uninterruptedly for 11 years, and at an average annual rate of 7 per cent for the last eight years. Chile's investment rate is 25 per cent, nearly up to Asian levels. Inflation is down to single digits, unemployment a mere 5 per cent, foreign trade in surplus and external debt under control. Santiago has plenty of mobile telephones, a modern skyline and American-educated officials who talk enthusiastically about privatization. Only a few adjustments are expected to be necessary in areas such as patents and repatriation of foreign investment. However, agriculture may prove to be a sensitive subject.

RESOURCES

            Last year, 10,000 Canadians were working in coal mining and production jumped 5.6 per cent to over 72 million tonnes of coal valued at $1.8 billion. Alberta and B.C are the biggest producers with a combined production of 58 million tonnes. Canada consumes 50 million tonnes and exports the balance to more than 20 countries. The biggest customers are in Japan, South Korea and Brazil.

            The Canadian oil and gas industry drilled 11,872 wells in 1994, up from 9,396 the previous year. 77.7 per cent of wells drilled in 1994 struck either oil or natural gas compared with 81 per cent in 1993. Oil wells accounted for 45.2 per cent of successful drilling and gas wells for 32.4 per cent.

TRAVEL

            In 1993, U.S. residents made 12 million trips to Canada and spent C$4.1 billion. The typical traveller stayed 3.9 nights and spent $87 per night. Americans tended to visit in the summer and come from four states: New York, Michigan, Washington and California. In more than half the cases, pleasure was the primary reason for visiting Canada (Ontario was the main destination); visits to friends or relatives accounted for a fifth of the total; business trips represented 15 per cent of all overnight trips.

HUNTING

            The Government of Alberta recently approved for auction, in Phoenix, the chance to hunt a bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mountains. The winner, a Colorado businessman, paid $225,000 (U.S.) and will be given a month to hunt down one mature male. Last month at an auction in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a Washington hunter bid $23,000 for an elk-hunting permit. Similar sales are not allowed in Alberta where residents pay $10 each to enter draws for the chance to hunt elk or sheep.

WOMEN

            The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says a country-wide survey has found "outrageous" discrimination against female entrepreneurs. They are likely to find discrimination on two levels: they are refused loans 20 per cent more often than men, and when they do get financing, they often pay a higher rate of interest than do men. The CFIB has recommended that banks should decentralize their credit decision making to the branch level where a relationship of confidence exists between the account manager and borrower; that account managers should be better trained in understanding the importance of female entrepreneurs in the Canadian economy; and that financial institutions must better understand the particular needs of small and medium sized businesses, especially those owned by women.

COMPUTERS

            Computers are big business in Canada, and the industry is growing quickly. According to Industry Canada, the top 100 Canadian computer companies are growing faster--30 per cent between 1992 and 1993--than the top 100 U.S. computer companies, which grew at only 19 per cent over the same period. Depending on how you define the industry, the Information Technology sector is worth anywhere between $19 billion and $49 billion a year and employed 342,000 Canadians in 1994. The IT industry grew by 6.7 per cent last year, easily outpacing most other sectors of the economy.

INDIA

            Canada was once India's third largest trading partner, now it is 24th behind Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands and trails badly all the other Group of Seven nations. Canada's exports to India remained flat in the first six months of this fiscal year, at about $151 million (U.S.), while India's total merchandise imports soared 22 per cent to $17.6 billion. In the Indian market, exports are doubling every five years and domestic demand will soon outstrip that of many industrialized countries. In its most recent budget, the Indian government announced further tariff cuts on industrial goods and a five-year tax holiday on investments in infrastructure projects.

EDUCATION

            Last year, the economy added 277,000 jobs, its best showing since 1988. But a large group of Canadians are getting nothing out of the recovery. If you have completed some form of postsecondary education--a university degree, a community college diploma, a training certificate--you will get a job. Without it you won't. For those with high-school education, or less, 145,000 jobs disappeared. For those with post secondary education, 422,000 jobs opened up. That means 99.3 per cent of people entering the labour force with a degree or diploma found work. From 1990 to 1992, total employment fell 323,000; from 1992 to 1994 employment rose by 450,000. Last year we were 127,000 jobs ahead of 1990. From 1990 to 1994, the economy created about 957,000 jobs for people with that essential piece of paper. At the same time, it destroyed 830,000 jobs for people with anything less, a massive change over such a short period in a 13.3 million-person job market.

ABSENTEEISM

            Canadians missed an average of 9.3 days at work in 1993, but the portion of time off because of illness and disability dropped slightly from a decade earlier. Time lost because of illness or disability declined to about 6.1 days from 6.7 days in 1983. Meanwhile, time lost for personal or family responsibilities increased from 1.9 to 3.3 days. Factors contributing to the decline in time off because of illness range from non-smoking workplaces, to fitness programs and improved safety conditions.

TECHNOLOGY

            B.C. firms lag behind those in other parts of Canada in adopting computer-based technology. According to Statistics Canada, among Ontario companies, 86 per cent have at least one technology on the premises, compared to 77 per cent on the Prairies, 76 per cent in Quebec and just 66 per cent in B.C.

PRIVATIZATION

            The federal weather offices in B.C. and Yukon are expecting to earn an estimated $500,000 this year. Under the federal government's move towards commercialization, the weather office is now selling commercials on weather information lines, working in partnership with private enterprise and developing personalized forecasts for business For $87.00 an hour, a business can get a one-on-one consultation from weather specialists. At the low end of the scale, people are paying a few dollars to get detailed weather faxes for holiday destinations. Next month, a marine weather service comes on line called Weathercall. A bulletin board for computer users, weather fax service and 900 lines are all new services.

SNOWBIRDS

            The recent budget will affect Canadians who live abroad permanently. Starting next year, they will lose at least one-quarter of their monthly Old Age Security cheques. If they don't tell Ottawa how much they earn--or if they do but earn over $84,000-- they lose OAS altogether. This budget provision will affect 69,000 of the 3.4 million people who receive OAS. As the system now works, Ottawa taxes back part of OAS income to people living in Canada if their annual income is more than $53,215 but it has no way of doing the same to Canadians who have left the country.

            A Canadian living in the U.S., for example, gets the whole amount and pays U.S. taxes on half of it. Under the new system, the same person would pay a withholding tax of 25 per cent of the monthly OAS payment, but the U.S. will not tax the remaining 75 per cent. This move will leave individuals worse off, but Ottawa, not Washington, will get the tax revenue.

BUREAUCRACY

            A 69-year old man who lay dead for nearly four years in a London council apartment building has been judged as a victim of "indifferently managed" home-help services. We wonder what would constitute "badly-managed" services!        

EMPLOYMENT VACANCY

            The post of Sheriff of Nottingham, once held by the arch-foe of legendary outlaw Robin Hood, is vacant for the first time in 800 years because nobody wants the job.

POLLS

            In a recent poll by the Washington Post, 43 per cent of people surveyed either approved of the 1975 Public Affairs Act or felt that it should be repealed. There is no such legislation!

TRIVIA

            After only seven days of learning, a herd of 133 cows in Sussex, England, have started to milk themselves. They decide when they want to be milked by the Dutch-made robotic system and if there is a technical hitch, the farmer is contacted by modem.

MARCH 1995 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

MARCH 1995 Edition

TECHNOLOGY

            The Chairman of Computer Technology Corporation once predicted that General Motors would be selling more computing power than IBM by the turn of the century. It remains a reasonable forecast. In 1970 a typical car contained about $75 worth of electronics, mostly in the radio. The average today is almost $3,000. And on cars such as the Lincoln Continental, laden with gadgets such as automatic seat-tilters, radio tuners and suspension adjusters, all triggered by a transmitter in the driver's key ring, the figure tops $4,000. All 2,000 Greyhound buses in America already carry radar that alerts the driver, and passengers, if the bus is too close to the vehicle in front.

INVESTMENT

            A year ago, shares of Toronto based Canadian Tire Corp. and Hudson's Bay Co. took a beating as Wal-Mart Stores, the giant U.S. discounter entered Canada. But it is becoming clear that both are holding their ground in the battle for market share. Recently, investors drove up Canadian Tire shares by 75 cents to a 52 week high of $13.50 while sending Hudson's Bay stock up an equal amount to $26.50.

NEWSPAPERS

            In March, the Vancouver Sun and Province become the first large daily newspapers in North America to have their photographers switch to all-electronic digital cameras and eliminate film. Each photographer will have a News Camera 2000 digital camera and a colour portable Macintosh 540K PowerBook computer. The equipment will be used to process and transmit pictures to the newsroom. Cost of the cameras is around $16,000 (US) and photographers can see their news shots right away and transmit them quickly via a modem built into the computer.

IMMIGRATION

            Nearly 25 per cent of immigrants to Canada in 1994 came to British Columbia. During the first nine months a total of 38,947 immigrants entered B.C., 11.5 per cent more than in the same period a year earlier. The B.C. share of all immigrant arrivals in Canada was 23 per cent up from 17.4 per cent. The top five sources of immigrants have remained the same since 1989--Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, the Philippines and China. These five sources constitute 65 per cent of all immigrants to B.C.

PROFITS

            Profits at Canada's biggest corporations climbed at a spectacular pace in 1994 and promise good results in 1995. According to a  Report on Business survey of Canada's 122 largest companies, aggregate aftertax profits grew 140 per cent with profits of over $18 billion compared with $7.7 billion a year earlier. This is the strongest growth since 1986. These gains came against a backdrop of a booming North American economic growth, a weak Canadian dollar and higher commodity prices which helped to offset higher interest rates. Over all, the manufacturing sector, led by automotive companies, posted the biggest gains with after tax profits of 394 per cent. Service company profits were up by 143 per cent and resource company profits were up 92 per cent.

VISEGRAD

            The Visegrad agreement brings together the countries of Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia and offers Canadian exporters opportunities worth exploring. These countries have a combined population of 75 million and have more than doubled their imports of Canadian agri-food products in the last year to a total of $70 million. Visegrad nations extend most favoured nation tariff treatment to other GATT members, including Canada. Exporters interested in technology transfer, joint ventures and commodity exports to the region are likely to find opportunities. These Central European nations can also offer a gateway for Canadian commodities and value-added food products into the European Union, the Middle East and other European nations. Joint ventures could include meat packing, canning and distribution. Technology transfer opportunities include animal genetics in beef, dairy, poultry and swine. Commodity markets could include wheat, corn, barley, beans, peas, lentils, animal feed, alpha cubes and tobacco. Also, seed potatoes and semi- processed food, such as meat, fruit, vegetables and dairy products are in demand. More information may be obtained from John Smiley at Agri-Food Canada at 613-995-9554.

CANADA

            A recent Decima Research poll shows that over 91 per cent of Canadians believe that Canada is the best place in the world in which to live. In Quebec, 83 per cent agreed, compared to 90 per cent in 1985. Unemployment and the economy were cited as the most pressing issues facing Canada by 36 per cent of those surveyed, followed by government deficits at 26 per cent and crime at 6 per cent. Thirty-one per cent said their financial situation had worsened in the past 10 years, while 33 per cent said it had improved. 44 per cent believe the health-care system has deteriorated in the past 10 years and 65 per cent said having a home computer will be important or essential in the next few years.

VISA

            U.S. consumers charged more on their Visa cards during the third quarter of 1994 than at any time in Visa's history. Charges totalled $74.7 billion--up 28 per cent from the same period in 1993. Canadians rang up a record $43.5 billion in purchases on their Visa cards in 1994, up more than 20 per cent from 1993, a reflection of re-emerging consumer confidence. Despite a sharp rise in interest rates, Visa is predicting a 13 per cent growth in dollar volume in Canada for 1995. The increase in dollar volume boosted Visa's share of total Canadian consumer spending on goods and services from 8.2 to 9.5 per cent and the number of Visa accounts grew almost 11 per cent to 13 million.

RETAIL

            Canadian retailers spend more money on information technology than their U.S. counterparts, but end up knowing less about their customers according to an Ernst & Young survey. Retailers surveyed--including department stores, mass merchants and food, drug and specialty stores--invest an average of 1 per cent of sales on technology, compared with 0.83 per cent for those in the U.S. But U.S. retailers are learning more about their customers for future marketing. Nearly 70 per cent of owners, compared to 55 per cent in Canada, collect computerized data on their customer. They are looking for insight into their customers' occupations, hobbies, and social events, as well as tracking preferences in products, vendors and colours.

OVERTIME

            Canadians are racking up too much paid overtime--as much as 6.4 million hours every week--at a time when too many people are unemployed or working at part-time jobs, a federal advisory committee says. To combat that, the Advisory Group on Working Time and the Distribution of Work wants to standardize the work week at 40 hours and limit paid overtime to 100 hours a year. The number of Canadians working 50 hours a week or more has jumped to 22 per cent in 1994 from 17 per cent in 1976. A decade ago, 14 per cent of all jobs were part-time; last year 23 per cent were part-time.

TOP OF THE POPS

            Japanese shopkeepers are playing CDs with subliminal messages to curb the impulses of shoplifters. The Mind Control CDs have soundtracks of popular music or ocean waves, with encoded voices in seven languages, including Japanese, English, Thai and Chinese warning that anyone caught stealing will be prosecuted. Punctuated by the sound of police sirens, this subliminal message is recorded at 20,000 hertz--the highest frequency that can be heard by humans. About 12,000 of the CDs were bought by book, music and department stores in the first month of release. Stores that admit to using them have reported a decline in shoplifting but the manufacturer states that the warnings would only be effective against "impulse" shoplifters, not premeditated thieves.

HIGH-TECH

            High personal and corporate taxes are cited as reasons that B.C. compares poorly with some of its rivals in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. One study completed last year reported that B.C., with a population of 3.3 million, was home to only 25 high-technology companies with more than 100 employees each. Oregon, with a population of 2.9 million, had 142 such companies and Washington state with five million people had 158. The Business Council and other economists are calling on the B.C. government to take steps in the March budget to truly make the province more attractive to job-creating investment.

POTATOES

            Growers in Ontario and B.C. are threatening to sue the federal government over a proposal they say will flood Canada with cheaper U.S. potatoes. The problem has been caused by P.E.I. and New Brunswick, two of the largest potato-growing provinces, which want Ottawa to create a Canada No. 1 grade for smaller-sized potatoes. Eight of 10 provinces oppose the move. Most provinces already have a small potato grade, but the absence of a national grade means the smaller potatoes can't be sold between provinces, exported or imported. A recent economic impact study suggests that while the move might gain $14 million for Maritime potato growers, it would cost growers in the rest of the country $57 million. It is alleged that a national grade for small potatoes would open the market to a flood of lower-priced potatoes from Florida, Washington and California. However, Canada would have the option of imposing anti-dumping duties against the U.S.

PORTS

            According to a KPMG Peat Marwick report for Transport Canada on behalf of Canadian ports, lack of government support puts them at a disadvantage to U.S. ports. For instance, the Port of Seattle relies more on taxpayers money to keep its marine division running than other large North American container ports. King County taxpayers pay $35.6 (US) million each year and without it, the marine division could not do business, the study concludes. By contrast, the west coast ports of Vancouver, Los Angeles and Long Beach make payments of millions of dollars to their respective governments each year. The study examined 13 major ports in North America to compare the amount of government support each receives.

ENERGY

            Vancouver's Westin Bayshore is planning to become the first hotel in Canada to generate its own electricity. A natural gas-fired co-generation plant, designed in Austria, will be installed. The unit will displace about half a megawatt of electricity currently bought from B.C. Hydro. Co-generation is the simultaneous production of electricity and heat, usually in the form of steam. The unit is about the size of a 12-metre container and costs about $500,000.

SAFETY

            A recent study suggests that having a car with air bags makes some drivers more accident prone because it emboldens them to take more risks. It looked at 206 fatal crashes in Virginia during 1993. In crashes where one car had an air bag and one did not, the driver with the bag was responsible 73 per cent of the time, and in 13 single-car mishaps in which  passengers died but not the driver, nine of the drivers had air bags.

QUOTES

            "That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them"--U.S. President Rutherford Hayes in 1876 after participating in a trial telephone conversation between Washington and Philadelphia.

TRIVIA

* By mistake, the U.S. Postal Service designed a stamp for St. Valentine's Day with a wistful-looking cherub that is actually a Renaissance angel of death.

* The latest Swedish export is synthetic wolf urine. It keeps its odour for more than nine months and will be sprinkled in Kuwait to keep camels from colliding with cars.

FEBRUARY 1995 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

FEBRUARY 1995 Edition

CROSS-BORDER SHOPPING

            With the Canadian dollar at its lowest point in nine years, the incentive to shop south of the border has been removed and the reverse is now occurring. From January through November of 1994, same-day car trips, considered an indicator of cross-border shopping, plunged 23.1 per cent from the same period in 1993 according to Statistics Canada. And trips of one or more nights are down 17.3 per cent. Meanwhile, same-day trips from the U.S. rose 7.9 per cent. The trend has already taken its toll on some retailers. Some stores in Niagara Falls, N.Y., have seen a 33 per cent drop in Canadian customers and the percentage of B.C. cars in the parking lot of Bellis Fair Mall, in Bellingham, Wash., has dropped to 35 per cent from 40 per cent. Many U.S. shopping centres, built just south of the border to take advantage of the boom in Canadian shoppers of a couple of years ago when the dollar was soaring, are now suffering from a severe lack of traffic.

DIET

            Since 1972, agricultural analysts at Statistics Canada have been recording the import, production and supplies of basic foods and by dividing everything by population size they arrive at "apparent per capita" consumption patterns. Bananas are big on the list, an average of 13.4K per person annually. Lettuce, and carrots remain favourites as are pork and beef. But patterns have changed since 1972. Certain dairy products have declined steadily over the past 20 years. Whole milk has plummeted while 2 per cent milk has climbed. Chicken has gained in popularity year by year while red meat has dropped slowly. Peppers and cucumber have become especially popular. Butter, three kilograms per capita in 1993, is now making a slight comeback against margarine at 5.4K per person. Ale and beer  consumption was 68 litres in 1993. Milk was 51 litres for 2 per cent, 10 litres for 1 per cent and six litres for skim. 

SUPPORT

            People who have studied the Mexican market agree the most effective way to explore opportunities in Mexico is through a personal visit. A new federal government program called NewMex (New Exporters to Mexico) provides support for Canadians who want to participate in missions to Mexico. Participants travel to major Mexican cities to learn first-hand how to do business there. External Affairs and International Trade have more than 30 sector-specific studies available for the Mexican market. Information on NewMex can be obtained by calling John Wiebe in Vancouver at 666-1436. International Trade has Centres in 11 Canadian cities and a network of trade commissioners abroad. A guide called Trade Development Programs and Services is available by calling 1-800-267-8376. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) operates an Industrial Co-operation program (INC) that uses financial incentives to mobilize private-sector resources for development, including direct technical co-operation and feasibility studies. For more information call 819-997-7775.

PUBLICATIONS

            The Royal Bank has introduced a newsletter entitled Trade Talk aimed at Canadian businesses seeking international importing and exporting opportunities. It provides an economic digest of specific regions as well as information on the bank's products and services designed to assist companies in their trade activities. The inaugural issue deals with Latin America and presents information on Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Trade Talk will be issued quarterly and is available by calling 800-263-9191 or from the bank's International Trade Centre in Vancouver at 665-5108.

           

PRINTING

            Last year, Canada's printing industry was understandably upset when the 1994 contract to print about 45 per cent of Canadian stamps was awarded to an Australian printing company. The printing of stamps is a complex, and high cost undertaking involving strict security systems and expensive finishing equipment. At the root of the problem was the unwillingness of Canada Post to award contracts other than on a year by year basis. Helped by a major lobbying effort by the printing industry, Canada Post has now amended its procedures and awarded a $24.1 million contract to a Toronto firm which will guarantee that the printing of stamps stays in Canada in the future. The company will hire up to 125 employees and invest $4 million in equipment. The contract is for three years with two one-year options and involves the printing of around four billion commemorative and definitive stamps during the period. Equipment manufacturers and suppliers will also cash in on the contract. This is welcome news for the Canadian printing industry which, after being pounded by the recession, is now showing signs of recovery.       

TRENDS

            Despite four visits in three years by the Premier, trade with the Asia-Pacific region is going downhill. At the same time, provincial exports to the U.S. have been growing even faster than the share of Asia trade has been dropping, due to free-trade and the declining Canadian dollar. Diversification of the provincial economy is considered critical as a hedge against an over-reliance on the U.S. economy.

            In 1990, Pacific Rim countries took 38 per cent of the value of B.C. exports and about 41 per cent went to the U.S. By the end of last year, exports to the U.S had climbed to 55 per cent of total exports and the Pacific Rim share was down to 34 per cent. Despite trade missions, the B.C. presence in the Asia Pacific region has not substantially broadened and Japan takes a 71 per cent share of exports and this single-market concentration has locked B.C. into the problems of Japan's economy while other Asia markets are booming. The share of the value of B.C. exports to Europe has dropped to 8 per cent from 16 per cent and there have been smaller drops in exports to Latin America. The good news is that the value of B.C.'s exports has grown 25 per cent between 1991 and 1993.

INVESTMENT

            One of the biggest worries Canada had with the advent of free trade was that Canadian firms would head south to where wages and taxes are lower, unions weaker and winters milder, and many have done so. However, when it comes to long term investment, Canada still has the edge. Philips, the Dutch electrical-products group, decided last fall to move two light-bulb production lines from Mexico to London, Ontario. Chrysler is setting up a research unit in Windsor, Ontario. Toyota is spending more than C$600 million to more than double the capacity of its Corolla assembly line near Cambridge, Ontario, to 200,000 cars a year. All the extra cars will be exported to the U.S. Two Swedish firms, in pharmaceuticals and telephone equipment, have chosen Montreal as the site for large research facilities with international mandates. One will have more than 600 employees. These firms have discovered that the lure of low wages in the southern U.S. and Mexico can be outweighed by the productivity of a loyal, well-educated--albeit highly paid--workforce. Free trade has helped make Canada a more attractive place in which to invest. Lower tariffs on goods sent south from Canadian factories are one reason. Another is that competition from Mexico and the U.S. has  spurred Canadian firms to improve productivity, mainly by investing in plant and machinery.

RETAIL

            The stronger economy has resulted in a record number of new products making their way on to the shelves of North American supermarkets. Grocery, drug and other stores launched a record 21,986 products in 1994, a healthy 26.6 per cent surge from the 17,363 new products reported for 1993. New foods, beverages and health and beauty aids topped the list. Some products were not really new but "line extensions." Baking soda was added to a lot of cleaning products and alpha hydroxy acid was added to creams as a regenerating agent.

            An industry study has found that the average price of items in Canadian supermarkets is 10 per cent lower than products in the U.S.--an average price of $1.88 in Canada and $2.09 south of the border. The disparity exists even though some Canadian goods, such as milk and eggs, are priced higher than they should be because of the country's supply management system. Canadian grocers and wholesalers fared well in their sales growth in 1993 compared with those in the U.S. reporting a sales increase of 7.6 per cent over the previous year which is double the U.S. growth. Yet, average weekly sales for U.S. supermarkets was $332,475, 68 per cent higher that the $198,268 in Canada. Total Canadian food sales were $1.1 billion in 1993.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

            Timely, relevant, product and industry specific market information is now available within Canada on a new service through Industry Canada's Market Intelligence Service. Using the Harmonized Commodity (HS) and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC), the service provides Canadian and U.S. micro-trade information to Canadian entrepreneurs, manufacturers and investors.     A Canadian company can use the service to increase business awareness for new product development and production; increase domestic and foreign market share; identify new markets and buyers. Data sources include Statistics Canada, Revenue Canada and the U.S. Department of Commerce and the data are updated quarterly and annually. For more information contact the Strategic Information Branch, Industry Canada, Tel: 613-954-4970, Fax: 613-954-2340.

COMPACT DISCS

            Cassette tapes are on their way out according to the industry. CDs gained about a 65 per cent market share over the Christmas season compared to 35 per cent for tapes. In 1992-93 CD sales totalled 45.3 million compared with 38.5 million tapes and 300,000 vinyl albums. CDs sales will increase even more as new cars are equipped with CD players rather than tape decks. Three out of four Canadian households had tape players last year compared to one out of three with a CD player.             The pirating of CDs is one of the major irritants in the copyright piracy issue that might see the U.S. impose trade curbs on up to $800 million worth of Chinese exports from toys to textiles and possibly shoes and electrical goods. CDs that cost $22.00 in the U.S are sold on street corners in China for as little as $2.00. 

            U.S. trade authorities have identified as many as 29 factories scattered throughout South China's special economic zones churning out an estimated 75 million bootleg CDs every year. Only about 5 per cent are sold in China, the rest are smuggled to Hong Kong and other parts of South-east Asia and some have even turned up in Western Canada. So far, Chinese authorities have been unable, or unwilling, to shut down these factories. In fact, since the U.S. authorities first raised the issue 18 months ago, the number of illegal CD factories has nearly doubled.

EURO-BUREAUCRACY

            The New Year saw a spate of new EC regulations come into effect to protect its citizens! Among the highlights: Abnormal curvature of bananas is forbidden nor can they be less than 5 1\2 inches long (British tabloids have opened up banana hot-lines so that readers can turn in stores selling bent or short bananas); Carrots are fruit (so that Portugal's carrot jam can continue to be sold); The land snail, favoured in French restaurants as escargot, is a fish, this enables French snail farmers to claim fish-farm subsidies; Young persons aged 15-18 are "adolescents" if they have left school, but "children" if they have not; Quail are not poultry; It will be illegal to ski on snow less than eight inches deep; Curvaceous cucumbers are not permitted; Restaurants serving cheese and celery sandwiches must have separate boards to carve the cheese and celery; Cattle are required to have double eartags engraved with a 14-digit number to identify them and have individual passports which must accompany them wherever they go, but the number on the passport is different from the eartag number; British foresters are up in arms over a ban on using the hearty English oak for furniture making because it is too "bendy"; Next year should see the introduction of standards for a Euro-Santa and Christmas trees.