March 2005 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

March 2005 Edition

 HOUSEWARES

Americans bought $62.2-billion worth of housewares at retail in 2003. U.S. households spent an average of $578 each on housewares, a higher amount than that spent on fruits and vegetables ($563) or dairy products ($335). Household electrics led consumer housewares purchases, representing 14.7 per cent of direct-to-retail sales, while cook and bakeware categories accounted for 11.5 per cent. Next were space organisers. Consumers spending on housewares has increased an average of 4.9 per cent annually over the past five years.

HUNGER

A new FAO report says that 852 million people are hungry. While some countries, such as China and Brazil, have reduced their undernourished populations since the early 1990s, Tanzania and North Korea are among those with rising numbers of hungry people More than five million children die each year from hunger-related causes and undernutrition is costing the world $30-billion a year in direct medical costs alone.

ADVERTISING

Worldwide advertising expenditure grew by almost seven per cent in 2004 to $370-billion. As this was well above global economic growth, it shows that the industry is recovering strongly after a previous slump. The ad market was boosted in 2004 by some special factors, such as the presidential campaign in the U.S. and the Olympics. Experts predict that by 2011, China will have overtaken Britain and Germany to become the third-largest advertising market in the world after America and Japan.

BUSES

Once the Cinderella of London's public transport system, buses are now the showpiece. Since 1990, London has poured US$970-million a year into the capital's bus network. Besides money, the buses have got more road space as well: London now has 280km of bus lanes, up by a half since 2000. Buses are now more frequent, more reliable and comfier. In their share of journeys, buses have gained four percentage points from cars.

CARS

More cars were sold on the planet in 2004 than ever before as would-be motorists in countries such as China and India began to drive global auto industry growth. It is estimated that worldwide sales hit 44.45- million in 2004, about three per cent above the 2003 level. China became the fourth-largest market, passing France and Italy, and will probably be No.2--ahead of Germany and Japan and behind only the United States, by the end of the decade. However, India overtook China as the fastest-growing market, with an estimated 29 per cent jump to about 900,000 vehicles. 2.3-million vehicles were sold in China.

LOYALTY

A Boston University study reports that supermarket loyalty cards are now more pervasive than the Internet or PCs. Eighty six per cent of adult consumers have at least one, and many have several. Researchers have found that even though privacy was a concern, the majority of cardholders believe that the benefits of loyalty cards outweigh any checks on personal privacy. Seventy-six per cent of cardholders say that they use their loyalty cards almost every time they shop.

CUBA

Tourism to Cuba increased 8-per cent in 2004 compared with 2003, despite new U.S. restrictions sharply cutting back on how many Americans visit the island. In 2004, 1.9-million tourists visited Cuba. Canadians top the list of visitors, followed by Europeans, primarily from Italy, France Germany and Spain. Tourism now represents 41 per cent of Cuba's foreign exchange income, a leap from just four per cent in 1990.

WEATHER

New figures reveal that 2004 was the world's fourth warmest year since records began in 1861. In 2004, the global mean surface temperature was 14C, which is 0.44C above the average reading for the years 1961 to 1990. For the first time, grass has become established in Antarctica, showing the continent is warming to temperatures unseen for 10,000 years. Plants are now blooming an average of 5.2 days earlier per decade.

SECURITY

The increasingly sensitive radiation detectors at many airports may now be set off by passengers who have had certain medical procedures. The thallium used in cardiac exams stays in the body for up to 30 days and iodine, which treats thyroid problems, has triggered alarms up to 95 days later.

LAWS

On the first day of 2005, China enacted 88 new laws that cover a wide range of areas including foreign trade, taxation, and advertising standards. As part of China's accession to the World Trade Organization, seven laws and regulations took effect that list some restrictions on auto imports and foreign participation in gasoline sales, auctions and insurance.

ROBOTICS

British roboticists are developing a robot that feeds on flies. Eco Bot II will use special cells to break down sugars in the flies and generate electricity.

TRADE

Canada and the European Union will begin negotiating a deal this year to boost two-way trade and investment. The agreement is not a traditional free-trade deal in that it doesn't seek to chop tariffs on industrial goods or tackle non-tariff barriers in farm products trade such as subsidies. Both Canada and the EU say that they believe that these matters are best left to multi-country negotiations at the WTO. Instead, the deal will try and cut red tape and regulatory barriers. The 25-member EU is Canada's second largest trading partner after the U.S., while Canada ranks ninth among EU trading partners.

MORE TRADE

The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently signed a pact with China to cut tariffs on a number of goods by 2010. ASEAN also aims to start trade talks with Japan next month. Six leading ASEAN countries, including Singapore and Malaysia, agreed to drop tariffs on electronics and ten other areas by 2007.

CRANBERRIES

This fruit is one of only three fruits native to North America. The fastest part of today's cranberry market is for cranberries that do not taste like cranberries Flavoured fruit pieces (FFPS to the trade) taste like orange, cherry, raspberry or any number of other fruits. Why make them taste like another fruit? Mainly because it is a durable little fruit. FFPS have a shelf-life of two years and keep a chewy texture when baked. Ocean Spray, a co-operative owned by 800 growers, sold about US$1.2-billion worth of cranberries and cranberry products worldwide in 2003.

WORTH

In the past three years, the total value of residential property in developed economies has increased by an estimated US$20-trillion to $over US$60-trillion. The increase is partially explained by the decline in the U.S. dollar, however, it is still double the US$10-trillion by which global share values climbed in the three years to 1999. Top of the league is South Africa where prices surged by 35-per cent, ahead of Hong Kong at 31-per cent.

SPACE

Experts predict that by 2030, the United States will require 44 per cent more total built space than existed in 2000 to accommodate population and job growth projections.

RUST

A cloud of deadly spores looms over the American south which can destroy millions of acres of crops. Asian soyabean rust, a lethal fungus that attacks soyabean plants, landed recently in the U.S. Scientists believe that one or more of the several recent hurricanes carried the spores from South America to the states on the Gulf of Mexico. Once there, the spores travelled more than 300 miles a day infecting nine states in just over a month. The disease could ruin next year's harvest.

SIZE

Women's pants labelled at size 8 can be anywhere from a size 4 to 14 depending on the manufacturer and price according to a North Texas School of Marketing study. A team of researchers measured 1,011 pairs of pants in different sizes and from different manufacturers. Some of the findings: size 4 ranged from 23 inches to 31.5 inches; size 10 ranged from 27 to 34 inches; size 14 ranged from just over 30 inches (smaller than some manufacturers' size 4) to 38 inches. They also discovered that pricey pants were consistently cut fuller, allowing them to fit a larger woman than less-expensive offerings.

MOOSE

The city of Anchorage, Alaska (population 271,000) has about 300 resident moose year-round. In the winter they are joined by hundreds more. Last winter, some 200 moose were killed in collisions around the city. They feed along median strips and shoulders and lick salt off the pavement.

HOLLYWOOD

The film industry is following the, lead of the music business by stepping up legal action against internet film pirates. An industry body launched legal action against over 100 middlemen in the U.S. and Europe who facilitate the downloading of pirated blockbuster movies.

SUPERMARKETS

2005 represents the 75th anniversary of the supermarket retail format which has been described as "a resilient and ever-changing enterprise whose contribution to communities worldwide is immeasurable." Historians agree that the first actual supermarket was a King Kullen store, opened August 1930 in Jamaica, N.Y. The store, comparable to today's no-frills warehouse outlets, sold more than 1,000 products. Key to the early success of the supermarket were the shopping cart, introduced in 1937; the car and free parking.

WATER

Paris is launching an advertising campaign to get people to switch back to tap water from bottled water. In 20 year, the consumption of bottled water has doubled to 130 litres a year per person. It is known that elderly people have a great need for calcium to fight osteoporosis. Tap water can provide this naturally. It is estimated that empty water bottles amount to 20,000 tonnes each year, the equivalent to two Eiffel towers.

JUICE

Brazil's frozen orange juice (FCOJ) exports totalled 408,040 in July to October 2004, the first 4 months of the crop year. This was down three per cent on the 495,380 tonnes in the same period in 2003. The EU was the main market for Brazilian FCOJ over the period at 360,400 tonnes, followed by NAFTA at 58,500 tonnes. The Far East received 37,200 tonnes.

NAFTA

A University of Toronto study reports that fewer U.S.-based multinational companies are investing in Canada since it formed the NAFTA with the U.S. and Mexico in 1994. The reason given is that U.S. multinationals no longer need to invest in Canada to access its markets. Researchers have found that Canada only receives 10 per cent of U.S. foreign investment while Europe receives more than half. 40 year ago, Canada and Europe received that same amount of U.S. investment.

ENVELOPES

The first envelopes with gummed flaps were produced in 1844 in Britain. They were not immediately popular because it was thought to be a serious insult to send a person's saliva to someone else.

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

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February 2005 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

February 2005 Edition

FISH

The Nile perch has been named as the most destructive of 100 invasive species worldwide.Since it was introduced to Africa's Lake Victoria in 1954, the perch has contributed to the extinction of more than 200 endemic fish species. Other deadly animals in the Top 10 include the crazy ant, small Indian mongoose, feral pig, grey squirrel and giant African snail. The plant species include the water hyacinth, Dutch elm disease and Japanese knotweed.

COOKING

Every year, about 1,000 cookbooks are published in the United States, with the majority of those titles being released in the fall for holiday shopping. If you add the self-published cookbooks as well, the number can double or triple.

SAFETY

A major Canadian food producer is adopting a method for tracking its pork products with DNA, a safety system that it recommends should be adopted by the meat industry as a whole. The Canadian processing industry can differentiate itself from its largest competitors in the U.S. by putting its focus on producing safe meat, at a time when consumers are worried about food safety. The system will allow the company to trace a piece of pork from the grocery shelf back to the live animal production chain.

CALLING

The global average for talking on a cellphone is 27 minutes daily. Canadians speak on their cells an average of 49 minutes daily, second only to U.S. citizens who average 63 minutes a day. Users in Britain talked for 32 minutes each day, while those in Italy and China round out the top five at 30 and 27 minutes respectively. In 2004, 63 per cent of Canadians owned a cell phone and that figure is expected to grow to 69 per cent in 2005.

BRANDING

Royal Bank of Canada is the country's most valuable brand, worth an estimated $4.4 billion according to a recent study. Next on the list are Bell Canada ($3-billion), Loblaws ($3-billion), TD Bank ($2.7-billion) and CIBC ($2.6-billion). The complete report listing the top 25 brands is available at www.brandfinance.com.

CHEESE

Record cheese prices are eroding profits at Canadian pizza manufacturers as the cost of mozzarella has surged 58 per cent in the past two years. Global stockpiles are the lowest since 1971 as rising incomes have boosted demand in Russia and the Middle East and drought eroded milk output in Australia, a major exporter. Cheddar prices have risen 81 per cent since November 2002, boosting the estimated value of global cheese output (about 16 million tons last year) to about US$45-billion from $25-billion two years ago.

TRADE

Last November, the Bush administration announced that it intended to negotiate trade agreements with Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. is now working on bilateral trade accords with 12 countries and has already finished deals with another dozen. America is just the latest fan of a broader global trend. As a new World Bank report points out, bilateral trade deals are all the rage. Almost 230 such agreements exist today, up from just 50 in 1990, and a further 60 or so are being negotiated. The average African country belongs to four different trade agreements and the average Latin American country belongs to eight.

CHILE

After the U.S., Japan and China are Chile's largest export markets. In the first nine months of last year, sales to Asia were up by 64 per cent. Much was owed to the high price of copper, Chile's main export, but it is now selling products like farmed salmon and wine. However, Chile interest in Asia goes beyond exports, it also sees itself as a potential bridge for trade and investment between Asia and other South American countries. Chile's many trade pacts give businesses based there zero or low-tariff access to a market of almost 1.3 billion consumers.

SQUIRRELS

Some U.S. power companies blame squirrels for up to 30 per cent of their outages.. Other sources claim that as many as 25 per cent of unexplained house fires can be blamed on intrusive squirrels.

RAIN

Australia is not only the driest inhabited country on earth, but also the greatest consumer of water per capita. The country has been suffering a dry spell dating back to the 1970s. Experts believe that in 17 years The Murray River, one of the county's foremost river systems, will be too salty to drink. The Murray, along with the Darling River, are responsible for irrigating 40 per cent of the country's crops. The growing of European-style crops is one of the main reasons for the degradation of the fresh water.

BRAINS

Taking advantage of new genetic information, plant scientists have discovered a surprising level of what looks like brainy behaviour in the vegetable world. Some plants can solve math and logic problems of a sort. They can calculate the ratio of two different hues of red light to decide when there's too much shade and they need to grow taller. To make smart choices, plant genes must take in multiple cues from their environment; light temperature, moisture, gravity etc, and assemble them into a meaningful whole.

CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech Republic's economy grew at a healthy pace in 2003 year. In the latest OECD report, it forecasts GDP growth of 3.9 per cent and 4.2 per cent in 2005. Consumer price inflation is expected to remain below three per cent through the end of 2005. However, government spending is rising creating a big budget deficit and the need for higher taxes.

AGING

The American Association for over 50s (AARP) states that the Netherlands looks after its old people better than any other country. The survey takes note of policies that are of special interest to the elderly, such as age-discrimination laws, mandatory retirement ages and health care coverage. Australia was second and Sweden third in the survey. Canada came in at 10th and the U.S. 13th.

TEENS

Pollsters have found that Canadian teens, who once could not be prised off the family telephone, are turning instead to Internet communications. They found that the home phone and instant messaging are virtually tied as teens' favoured means of communications at 45 per cent and 44 per cent respectively. Only six per cent of teens reported that e-mail was their favourite way to communicate with friends and four per cent reported that they preferred their cellphone.

MARKETS

Canada is launching a massive trade push on China in 2005: an all-out effort to boost business relations and bilateral ties with the growing economic juggernaut. The country is currently the destination for only about one per cent of Canada's trade exports though it is Canada's second largest trading partner with two-way merchandise trade in 2003 of $23.3 billion Besides China, the government is also targeting India and Brazil fearing that Canada could be left out of these giant emerging markets.

INFORMATION

The Economist reports that Denmark leads the world as the country most open to information technology. Sweden is second, the U.S. third and Canada fifth. The top Asian country is South Korea in eighth place with China 44th and India 51st.The ratings are based on an index which compares the use of computers, the internet and telecoms and also takes into account social factors that make countries open to IT.

SWEATSHOPS

An advisory group on sweatshops created by Canadian retailers says that factories in poor countries rarely pass their first inspection when outsiders check on how they treat employees. However, retail companies generally continue to buy from such factories, except in extreme cases, while pressing them to improve conditions. Most companies surveyed expressed a zero tolerance for certain things including child labour, forced labour, physical abuse and serious health violations.

PHARMACEUTICALS

Ireland is the world's largest net exporter of medicines but spends far less than the rest of Europe on pharmaceuticals. Thirteen of the world's 15 largest drug firms have major manufacturing operations in Ireland attracted by low corporate tax rates and a pool of skilled workers. While expenditure on health care in Ireland has more than trebled from 1996 to 2004, total expenditure on drugs is still low. Ireland exports medicines worth about $21-billion each year. Its net exports were more than double those of France, the nearest biggest net exporter.

ETHNICITY

Asian women born in the U.S. outstrip all their sisters in terms of earning power. The average hourly wage for American-born Asian ladies in 2001 was $19.30 with American-born whites next at $18.80. At the bottom came American-born Latinas at $15.1 The reason for the ethnic disparity is education. In California, 55 per cent of American-born Asians have at least a batchelor's degree. By contrast, only 14 per cent of American-born Hispanic women have a batchelor's degree.

OWNERSHIP

Harper's Index reports that the percentage of the value of all foreign-owned U.S real estate that is owned by Japanese companies is 15. The percentage of the value of all foreign-owned U.S. real estate that is owned by Canadian companies is 26.

THE BLIND

Equipped with a tiny camera, a high tech device that recognizes the white stripes of a pedestrian crosswalk and reads traffic lights, could tell a blind person when it's safe to cross a street, researchers say. The electronic eye, being developed at the Kyoto Institute of Technology, could one day be adapted for broader use to help the blind or visually impaired to get around without a walking stick or seeing-eye dog.

VEGGIES

Many vegetable and some fruits have declined in quality in the past 50 years as crop breeders put size ahead of nutrition. The University of Texas at Austin analyzed 43 common garden crops and found widespread declines in their content of vitamins B and C, iron, calcium and other nutrients The scientists say this reinforces earlier findings from Britain and raises questions about the wisdom of modern farming practices that focus too much on size.

BIKES

Folding bikes are common in Europe, Japan and China but have been slow to catch on in North America despite design advances that have made them lighter, more compact and easier to ride. Among the young and fashion-conscious, they are being touted as accessories to the chic urban lifestyle.. However, their future may lie with commuters. Sales have surged in England since a "congestion charge" of $11.00 was imposed last year on drivers entering central London.

GOLF

A New York company has come up with a golf ball that can correct its own flight path so it flies straighter than conventional balls. Its ability derives from the unusual properties of designer molecules measuring less than 100 nanometres.

TOURISM

The Afghan government is to promote Osama bin Laden's Tora Bora mountain hideout as a "must-see" tourist destination.

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

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January 2005 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

January 2005 Edition

POLLUTION

There are a billion or so cellphones in use around the world. On average, users trade up to a new handset every 18 months. The discarded devices are packed with dangerous chemicals and metals. For instance, the cadmium in a single battery from an old-fashioned phone could seriously contaminate 600,000 litres of water. Cadmium is being phased out of new batteries but many other poisonous metals remain.

REALITY

BBC viewers in Britain will shortly be asked to identify the country's worst building in a new four-part reality series that will culminate in a live broadcast of the eyesore's destruction. Called Demolition, the programme is being supported by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

BEAUTY

Lead, mud, paraffin and nightingale droppings--through the centuries women (and some men) have plastered extreme ingredients on their skin in the pursuit of youth. The latest anti-aging product from Australia is a "breakthrough product found at the bottom of an Antarctic iceberg" which doesn't sound too extreme when compared with rival products based on plankton, rice wine and animal cartilage. A 50-millilitre jar of Antarctilyne containing the "wonder" ingredient Antarcticine, retails for C$72.00.

MONITORING

The Forrester Consulting Group reports that more than 43 per cent of large U.S. corporations employ staff to monitor employees' outbound e-mail. The monitoring was spurred mainly by fears workers might be leaking sensitive corporate information.

SIZE

Fears that big-box stores would devastate independent retailers and suck the life out of Canada's downtown main streets seems overblown. A new poll indicates half of Canadian small businesses don't compete with big boxes, and half of the rest say Wal-Mart, Home Depot and other behemoth retailers have not hurt them. The Decima Research survey found 16 per cent of respondents saying big-box retailers have hurt their businesses. In this group, about half said they had been forced to cut prices to compete.

2005

Canadian and U.S. economic growth will converge at around three per cent in 2005 to lead G7 nations according to Scotiabank. In Canada, exports hold the key to achieving three per cent growth because domestic demand is unlikely to accelerate. Mexican output is forecast to grow in 2005 by four per cent, the same as in 2004.

FRAGRANCE

New research suggests that having every room in the house smelling of synthetic flowers or pine forests is making small children ill and their mothers depressed. Researchers are urging house-proud families to limit the use of aerosols until more is known. Pregnant women, babies and the elderly could be particularly vulnerable. The study involved analyzing details of the way of life and health of 14,000 families.

VOLCANOES

There are 108 active volcanoes in Japan that have erupted at least once in the past 10,000 years. The country's weather office keeps a 24-hour watch on 20 volcanoes including 13 that are ranked as the most active. Mount Fuji is also being monitored, though this best-known volcano last erupted in 1707.

ROBOTS

The use of robots around the home to mow lawns, vacuum floors and manage other chores is set to surge sevenfold by 2007 as more consumers snap up smart machines, according to the United Nations. The boom coincides with record orders for industrial robots. At the end of 2003, 607,000 automated domestic helpers were in use. By the end of 2007, some 4.1 million domestic robots will likely be in use. Lawnmowers will still make up the majority. Japan still remains the most robotized economy.

CLICK

A new keychain gadget allows people to turn off most TV sets anywhere, from airports to restaurants. It works like a universal remote control but one that only turns TV sets on or off. With a zap of a button, the gizmo goes through a string of about 200 infrared codes that control the power of about 1,000 television models.

PEPPER

When Captain Carnes sailed into Salem, Mass. in 1797 with the first shipment of directly-imported pepper from Sumatra the stock sold out immediately at a profit of 700 per cent. Salem was able to become the world's premier pepper shipper, controlling the Sumatra market and re-exporting 7.5 million pounds a year in the 1800s when duties from the Port of Salem contributed an astonishing five per cent of the total budget of the U.S. government. Today, world trade in black pepper exceeds 200 million pounds and accounts for one quarter of the total spice trade.

PRINTERS

Mysteries used to be solved by identifying the typewriter upon which the ransom note was prepared. Now, U.S. scientists have discovered that every desktop printer has a signature style that it leaves invisibly on every document it produces. They have now found a way to identify individual laser printers. This will help to track down printers used to make bogus bank notes, fake passports and other important documents.

FRAUD

A small Quebec town saw half its budget blown in one fraudulent swoop recently when someone managed to cash a cheque for a quarter-million dollars with the mayor's forged signature. The cheque was drawn on an account the town uses to pay for large projects such as road construction work so the bank was used to seeing big cheques going through.

TASTE

Researchers in Peru have bred a new culinary export they hope will gain favour with diners around the world: the super guinea pig. Peruvians consume an estimated 65 million guinea pigs each year., but those weigh on average 10 ounces to 1 1\2 pounds. Now, researchers at La Molina National University have developed guinea pigs that weigh nearly 2 1\2 pounds. The meat is low in fat and cholesterol and tastes like rabbit.

TAXES

The tax burden in Canada remains the highest among the nations that make up the North American Free Trade Agreement. In 2003, Canada's tax burden was 33.9 per cent. In the U.S., the burden was 25.4 per cent. Mexico's tax burden rose in 2003 but remained the lowest at 19.5 per cent. The tax burden is calculated by expressing tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product, the broadest measure of a nation's economic activity. Outside Europe, only Australia, Canada and New Zealand have tax ratios above 30 per cent of GDP.

LOW

The Dead Sea, the world's lowest point, is listed as minus 1,365 feet (minus 416 metres) in the latest National Geographic Atlas of the World. This updated figure is down nearly 26 feet because of water consumption in the region.

CORRUPTION

A global watchdog group reports that most oil-producing nations are rife with corruption and that oil companies should provide more information about their operations to help clean up the market. Angola, Azerbaijan, Chad, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Nigeria, Russia, Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen all scored very low in clean government practices. Transparency International suggest that in these countries, public contracting in the oil sector is plagued by revenues vanishing into the pockets of Western oil executives, middlemen and local officials.

WTO

European Union and Vietnamese trade officials have concluded talks that could pave the way for Vietnam to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Vietnam, which has become a major player in textile trade, will have to gain the support of countries, including the U.S., who have an interest in Vietnamese trade.

CONSUMPTION

The World Wildlife Fund claims that people are plundering the world's resources at a pace that outstrips the planet's capacity to sustain life. Humans currently consume 20 per cent more natural resources than Earth can produce.

PRINTING

Industry analysts estimate that companies spend between one and three per cent of their revenue on copiers, printers, faxes and scanners. Print equipment and associated supplies are among the most costly assets for many companies and millions of dollars are lost due to poorly managed print environments. Today, many multi-function units are available that can reduce equipment investment, as well as consumables and operating costs, improving asset management significantly by allowing businesses to support one device instead of as many as four.

SPACE

An ecological footprint is the total area in acres of a country that is required to absorb waste from energy consumption, including carbon dioxide. It also comprises the total area per person of cities, roads and other infrastructures and the space required to produce food and fibre used for clothing. Nations with the top ecological footprints are: United Arab Emirates, 24.46 acres; United States, tied with Kuwait, 23.47 acres and Australia, 19.03 acres. Canada is eighth with 15.81 acres.

SCREENING

The British government estimates that a new hi-tech biometric passport screening system which relies on facial recognition will fail in 10 per cent of cases. The new passports are due to be introduced this year, five years ahead of the international deadline, to allow Britain to remain in the U.S. visa waiver programme.

RAIL

Saudi Arabia's recent decision to proceed with plans to link its east and west coast with a railway is likely to have far-reaching economic benefits for the global shipping industry. The development is long overdue. Even though Saudi Arabia occupies an area the size of Western Europe, it has just one railway line running from the Gulf coast port of Dammam to Riyadh, the capital. The new links are seen as handling mainly container traffic from Europe and North America destined for Saudi Arabia's central and eastern regions and other Gulf states.

SECURITY

Vatican City is home to 1.6 million books, centuries-old manuscripts and the oldest known complete Bible. Now, libraries at the Vatican are using cutting-edge technology to keep track of the priceless ancient collection. About 30,000 books have been tagged with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips. RFID chips, also known as tags, store information and send it via radio waves to a reader. RFID tags cost between five and 10 U.S. cents each.

CRAMPED

Dutch police stopped the driver of a small hatchback for transporting a Shetland pony crammed in the back. A woman on the back seat held the animal by a rope. He was fined for the improper transport of an animal.

TRAINING

The Vietnamese government is considering abandoning firing squads as a method of execution because up to a third of policemen miss their target because of nerves.

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

December 2004 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

December 2004 Edition

ACCURACY

Atomic clock technology has been made so small it may soon be possible to incorporate super-accurate timekeeping into mobile devices such as cellphones. Researchers believe final development should see a battery-operated system about the size of a sugar lump that will neither lose nor gain a second in 300 years. Standard atomic clocks measure time by 'counting' the natural vibrations of caesium atoms, at 9.2 billion 'ticks' per second.

POPULATION

The U.N. Population Fund forecast that the population of developing countries will soar unless donors give more money to reproductive and health programmes. The world's 50 poorest countries will triple in size by 2050, surging to 1.7 billion people. It is estimated that there will be 8.9 billion people on Earth by 2050.

COLOUR

According to a colour psychologist, the 'in' colour for teachers is now purple. Office-supply stores say their focus groups and conversations with teachers have also led them to conclude that a growing number of educators are switching to purple because it is 'friendlier' than red. Red is considered an aggressive colour that sets off the fight-or- flight response. Purple is attention-getting without being intimidating.

SERVICE

The owners of France's 60,000 bars, brasseries and cafes have said that poor service is driving customers away and have promised to do better. The number of cafes and customers has been dwindling as the number of complaints has been growing. The number of French cafes has dropped from 150,000 to 60,000 in fifteen years.

EXPOSURE

A Boston College report states that the average American child is exposed to 40,000 advertising messages each year and corporations are spending US$15-billion annually advertising and marketing to children up to age 12.

CONNECTED

South Korea is the most connected, high-speed internet country in the world and the technology is having a broad impact on society. Almost three of every four South Korean households had a high-speed Internet connection by the end of 2003. That is double the No. 2 country, Canada, with 27 per cent of households, and more than three times the United States, with 23 per cent.

RAIL

A new report states that the United States' outdated rail infrastructure is beginning to show its age after being exposed to record freight volumes this year. The rail network dates back many decades to the days of the Civil War when single track railroads were built to move troops. The report says the system is unsuited to the modern day operations with trains using double tracks allowing for travel in both directions.

BRAZIL

The global capital for computer hacking and internet fraud is Brazil, according to experts. Brazil is home to eight out of 10 of the world's most significant hackers. Within Brazil, the amount of money lost in internet financial fraud outstrips that lost through bank robberies. Roughly two-thirds of the internet's child pornography pages are also said to originate in the country.

SPEAKERS

Green-fingered gardeners have long espoused the benefits of talking to plants. Now, a gadget developed in Japan is allowing flowers to answer back with music. Called Ka-on, which means "flower sound" in Japanese, the gadget consists of a doughnut shaped magnet and coil at the base of a vase. It hooks up to a CD player, TV or stereo and relays sounds up through a plant's stem and out via the petals. The speakers shoot sound in all directions, filling a room with music.

FILTHY

Paper money is so rancid in parts of French-speaking West Africa that even beggars hate to touch the notes. Now an eight-country money-laundering campaign is about to begin which aims to retire more than 1 billion dollars in decaying currency which is seen as much as vectors of disease as units of exchange. French West Africans have until December 31 to turn in old bills for new ones.

PERFUME

The Comoros Islands are know as the Perfume Isles and export around 80 per cent of the world's supply of ylang essence, an essential oil that is the main ingredient of most expensive perfumes. Originally from the Philippines, the ylang plant was introduced to the Comoros by the French in the late nineteenth century. It takes 100kg of flowers to produce three litres of the essential oil.

TRADE

A Canadian economist has warned that China could eventually supplant Canada as the United States' largest trading partner unless policy makers in Ottawa respond energetically and creatively to the Asian giants rapid worldwide economic expansion. This means the federal government must develop a sound North American economic strategy and a long-term non-North American strategy. China is already closing in on Mexico as the U.S' second largest trading partner after Canada.

THE WALL

Fourteen years and a billion euros after reunification, one in five Germans would like to see the barrier that split the country during the Cold War put back, a new survey has found. A quarter of western Germans wish the 15 million east Germans were behind the Berlin Wall again. 12 per cent of east Germans want out of the united Germany.

COFFINS

The death industry is going through big changes. For instance, mega-retailer Costco is test marketing a coffin kiosk in two Chicago stores. People can't drive away with a pine box tied to the roof of their car but they can see samples. The coffins come in just one style and six colours, but sell for US$800, half the ticket price for the same coffin in funeral homes. A coffin can be delivered to the funeral home of choice within 48 hours.

CEMENT

Construction demands in Asia are one factor crimping global cement supplies and affecting 29 U.S. states. There are 144 cement plants in the U.S. all running 24 hours a day and seven days a week, but they still can't keep up with demand. Traditionally the U.S. imports 25 per cent of its cement.

LOBSTER

Maine's lobstermen have been hauling up phenomenal numbers of lobster for almost 15 years. Their 62.3 million pounds in 2002 set a record--triple the typical catch during the 1980s. That catch was worth more than $200-million and by far the dominant share of the Northeast's most valuable fishery. But starting in the late 1990s, in the southern reaches of the commercial range, the catch has been withering at an alarming rate from New York to Massachusetts and signs of decline have now reached Maine. Some blame overfishing and other disease, pollution and predators.

COFFEE

Four of the world's largest coffee companies have agreed to a voluntary pact to help improve conditions in producer countries. The agreement, signed by coffee giants Nestle, Tchibo, Sara Lee and Kraft, aims to end the use of child and forced labour. The pact also calls for closer ties with growers of the best coffee beans to ensure they get the highest price. Critics say prices will only rise if coffee's huge oversupply is tackled by cutting supply.

ADVERTISING

In the first four months of this year, advertising spending in China surged 36 per cent from a year earlier to $9.1-billion without counting radio, outdoor and cinema ads. China will certainly soon overtake Japan as the world's second-largest advertising market. It is even gaining on the U.S. where overall spending is still about four times as high.

MUSIC

Global sales of recorded music fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2003. Sales of recorded music, both in audio and video formats fell by 7.6 per cent in value and by 6.6 per cent in units, compared with 2002 and is now valued at $32-billion on unit sales of 2.7 billion. The market has declined by $6.2-billion since 1999, a fall of 16.3 per cent. The decline is attributed to three causes; CD burning and illegal downloading; competition for consumer spending from DVDs and cellphones and economic uncertainty in Latin America and Asia.

STORES

The General Merchandise Distributors Council in the U.S. has released a study saying that supermarkets have a tremendous opportunity to increase store sales by leveraging pharmacy operations. The study contends that a new consumer-concentric approach combined with a holistic view of the whole store rather than one segregated by merchandise categories, brands, or retailer disciplines is essential to generating notable growth.

EXERCISE

Money spent on sports and exercise should be tax deductible as part of a national strategy to fight flab, say doctors in Britain who are grappling with one of the world's most rapidly growing obesity epidemics. The U.S. has the highest proportion of fat people in the industrialized world, though many European countries are close behind. Doctors in Britain can already refer patients to supervised programmes in gyms or local leisure centres.

TV

Twelve years after his death, The Lawrence Welk Show is the highest-rated syndicated show on U.S. public television, with an audience of more than three million households. Viewers outnumber those for MTV and BET on Saturday nights. More than 1,000 episodes of the Welk show were taped.

PORT

The Prince Rupert Port Authority has announced that it will triple the size of its Fairview Terminal to 150 acres by 2009. The expanded facility should help relieve congestion that ports on the U.S. and Canadian west coast are experiencing due to the rapidly growing trade between Asia and North America. The projects first phase, scheduled for completion by late 2006, will provide an annual handling capacity of 400,000 TEUs.

LAW

Foreign companies will soon be able to independently ship goods to and from China without having to use the services of a Chinese trading house following amendments made to trade laws recently. Foreign companies will be able to contract directly with Chinese firms without having to go through an import\export intermediary.

LUXURY

Until recently, wealthy Muscovites travelled to New York, Paris, Milan and Swiss ski resorts for luxury goods. In the last few years however, shops have rushed to open in Moscow. Burberry, Hermes, Christian Dior, Gucci, Bulgari, Ferrari and dozens more. Rolls- Royces are sold at the quintessential Russian address: 1 Red Square. Moscow is now one of the fastest growing markets for luxury goods with shoppers spending around $3-billion annually.

DUST

Dust storms emanating from the Sahara desert have increased ten-fold in the past 50 years, threatening human health, contributing to climate change and affecting the environment around the world. Experts believe that a major cause is the replacement of the camel by four-wheel drive vehicles which have destroyed the thin crust of lichen and stones that have protected the Sahara for centuries.

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 2004 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

November 2004 Edition

CARS

 
The number of cars on China's roads is set to rise sevenfold to 140 million by 2020 the government has forecast. The total number of cars will eventually peak at 250 million, or 150 cars for every 1,000 people. That compares with 500 cars per 1,000 people in Western Europe and close to 900 in the U.S. The projected surge in car sales reflects rapidly rising income levels fuelled by China's economic boom. Foreign car firms have pledged to spend a total of US$13-billion in China by the end of the decade.

PHONES

Cellphones have bitten into hotel earnings according to one hotel consulting group. Profits from in-room phones have dropped 76 per cent in four years, sliding from US$644 an available room in 2000 to US$152 last year. The downturn accounted for 10 percentage of the hotel industry's 36 per cent decline in profits during the same period. Last year it was reported that phone jamming equipment was being sold to hotels in Britain as a tool for increasing revenue from in-room phones.

BEANS

Canada is in a 10th place tie with Mexico for baked-bean eating. The world ranking of estimated per capita consumption: Ireland, 5.6 kilograms annually; Britain, 4.8 kilograms and New Zealand 2.3 kilograms. The United States is 4th at 2.0 kilograms. Canada and Mexico consume 1.2 kilograms per capita annually.

PIGEONS

In Britain, owners of racing pigeons will try a new tactic to deal with losses of their birds to a resurgent population of peregrines and sparrow hawks. They will spray their slower birds with a foul-tasting chemical or give the birds a dietary supplement that has the same effect. It is hoped that after a few bad meals the raptors will develop an aversion to pigeons. Some pigeon fanciers have paid more than $230,000 for stud birds and commonly pay $2,300 for the birds they will race.

FUNGI

It has been estimated that there are 1.5 million species of fungi existing on earth. Of these, only about 10 to 15 of these have been discovered and named. By contrast, an estimated 90 per cent of the world's 300,000 species of flowering plants have already been described. From 1980 to 1999, an average of 1,100 new species of fungi were found and described each year. The fungus kingdom has made many significant contributions to 20th-century medicine, including penicillin.

TEXTILES

The U.S. textile industry plans to petition the U.S. Administration to block the flood of Chinese imports expected next year after global quotas on textiles and apparel are lifted. Leaders of the textile industry warn that the U.S. could lose up to 600,000 jobs if action is not taken. The request is unusual because petitions normally seek to limit imports after they have damaged a domestic industry. American textile groups have joined dozens of other industry groups from 590 countries in asking the WTO to vote on slowing the elimination of quotas.

CAVIAR

The United Nations agency that controls trade in endangered species has halted exports of caviar until the countries where it is produced comply with an agreement to protect sturgeon. The main exporting countries which border the Caspian Sea have failed to provide an accurate measurement of how much sturgeon is illegally harvested. International trade in the world's 20 or so varieties of surgeon has been regulated by the UN since 1998 after a drastic rise in poaching.

TECHNOLOGY

As with many businesses, wine stores are turning to computers for help. An increasing number are installing interactive touch screens to dispense information about wines, wine and food parings, grape varieties, distilled spirits and more. Some allow customers to find wines by country, grape variety, price and other criteria. Each unit has a bar code reader and built-in printer. Buyers curious about wines can scan in the code, read the text on the screen and print it.

IRELAND

A new survey show that Ireland's population now totals more than four million--its highest level in 130 years--with this rise reflecting immigration stemming from the country's economic boom. In most countries a relatively small population growth might go unnoticed but Irish history with its long periods of population decline and mass emigration, means the latest survey is significant. This is the first time the population has exceeded four million since 1871. Thirty years before that, in the 1840s, the population stood at double that figure.

SPACE

The European Space Agency's chief scientist has said there should be a Noah's Ark on the Moon, in case the Earth is destroyed by an asteroid or nuclear holocaust. The ark would be a repository for the DNA of every single plant or animal. The scientists are concerned that if there is ever a catastrophe and the Earth was destroyed, there would be nothing left of the rich diversity of life on the planet.

STOWAWAYS

The number of people found hiding in compartments, cargo holds and containers fell to 481 last year, a 16 per cent reduction from the previous year. The key stowaway route in 2003 was the journey from West Africa to Europe.

NAFTA

Since 1993 when the North American Free Trade Agreement was passed, total trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico more than doubled from US$306-billion to US$621-billion. U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico grew from US$142-billion to US$263-billion. Mexican exports to the U.S. grew 242 per cent. U.S. manufacturing wages rose 14.4 per cent in the 10 years after NAFTA passed, more than double the 6.5 per cent increase in the 10 years preceding NAFTA.

COUPONS

The Promotion Marketing Association (PMA) Coupon Council reports that manufacturers in the U.S. offered more than US$250-billion in coupons in 2003 resulting in $3-billion in consumer savings. The council also found that retailers are increasingly turning to coupon promotions to help attract, retain and reward loyal shoppers--in fact, in 2003, 46 per cent of retailers reported offering some form of bonus coupon program. The average face value of manufacturers' coupons increased 4.9 per cent to 85 cents in 2003.

STORES

Fast-growing Family Dollar Stores opened 109 discount stores in the U.S during August 2004, bringing its total to 5,466. During its last fiscal year, the chain opened 500 stores, closed 61 for a net addition of 439 stores. The chain runs stores in 44 states and plans to open another 500 stores in its next fiscal year.

POST

Britains Royal Mail has missed all of its performance targets in the first quarter of its financial year. The beleaguered state-owned deliveries service had a raft of bad publicity earlier in the year when it was revealed it paid more than US$100-million in compensation for late deliveries made last year. New figures show that just 88.3 per cent of first class letters were delivered on time against a target of 92.5 per cent.

PEARLS

There are about ten pearl farms in the Deching region of China, one of the country's most traditional industries which began in the thirteenth century. China is now the largest fresh water pearl producer in the world. Almost a thousand tonnes of pearls are produced each year by about 300,000 workers around China. In some factories, only about 10 per cent of all pearls produced are used in jewellery, the rest are crushed and made into medicine and make up. Crushed pearls are used in skin creams as pale women in Japan are considered beautiful.

WATER

A group of Texas irrigators and farmers is seeking $500-million from Mexico for crop-loss and other damages caused by that country's failure to comply with a water-sharing treaty. The 1944 treaty requires Mexico to send the U.S. an average of 350,000 acre-feet of water annually from six Rio Grande tributaries. The U.S. in return must send Mexico 1.5-million acre-feet from the Colorado River. An acre-foot is 1,234 litres enough to flood one acre a foot deep.

CLIMATE

Scientists believe a 50-million-year record of the Earth's climate lies in an underwater mountain chain in the ice-clogged waters near the North Pole. An international team is drilling three 500 metre holes deep into the Arctic Ocean ridge for the first time in a complex effort to extract sediment that will provide a climatic history, and may help to explain how humans are changing the planet. Glaciers, the sun and Earth's rotation and orbit are considered the other main factors affecting climate.

ART

Over the past century, an estimated US$5-billion worth of art has been stolen, the Wall Street Journal estimates. Most often, high-profile works of art are never recovered. According to the Art Loss Register, which tracks stolen art worldwide, among the missing are 467 works by Pablo Picasso and 289 by Marc Chagall. The Register says it adds about 10,000 items a year. Of art thefts, 54 per cent are from private homes compared with 12 per cent from museums.

FISHING

Recreational anglers may be responsible for landing nearly 25 per cent of over-fished salt water species caught off U.S. coasts a new study suggests. Researchers say that the impact of 10 million U.S. recreational anglers is far more significant than previously thought. Across the country, recreational and commercial fishers have been pointing fingers for decades over which group is responsible for dwindling stocks of sports fish.

SOURCING

More than half of U.S. consumers (54 per cent) choose supermarkets as their preferred point of purchase for fresh fruit and vegetables during peak growing seasons in their region. Thirty-seven per cent prefer to buy from local farm stands and vegetable stores and believe produce from these stores are fresher. The majority of those buying at supermarkets do so for reasons of convenience. Taste and consistent quality play a key role in determining where consumers shop.

DISCS

A group of record labels has announced plans to introduce a new disc format later this year that combines CD and DVD technology. The DualDisc product will have a full album on the CD side of the disc and the DVD side will include a range of features such as music videos, interviews, photo galleries, concert footage and lyrics. The announcement comes as traditional music sales are under pressure from on-line file swapping and legal downloads from the Internet.

CAPACITY

According to projections of Russia's Ministry of Industry and Energy, airfreight volumes in the country will rise by 10 to 12 per cent in the next few years. There are fears for lack of capacity by 2006 to 2008 due to the condition of the aircraft fleet. Two-thirds of the commercial aircraft stem from the Soviet era.

TASTE

The Far Eastern Economic Review reports that Raw Horseflesh Ice Cream is on sale in Japan. Other new flavours available from Ice Cream City in Tokyo include: goat, whale, shark's fin noodle, abalone, seaweed, chicken, garlic and lettuce-potato.

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 2004 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

October 2004 Edition

 LATINOS

With around 39 million people, Latinos have overtaken African-Americans as the largest ethnic minority in the United States. The Latino population is not only the largest minority, it is also growing by three per cent a year, compared with 0.6 per cent in the rest of the population. And Latinos are getting richer; their income now accounts for about eight per cent of America's GDP and is expected to reach 10 per cent by 2010. The Latino population is also a marketing man's dream with around 75 per cent living in just seven states, many in just four counties.

SHOES

In the past 25 years, U.S. women's shoe sizes have grown more than men's. Part of the reason is that women nowadays are more athletic. The average womans' shoe size was a six or seven 40 years ago. Today, the average is between 8.5 and nine.

FIRE

Jewel beetles lay their eggs in the bark of smouldering trees. The habitat may be harsh but it is safe from the beetles point of view with no predators, competition or the deadly sap of living trees. Forest fires though, occur unpredictably, and the beetle needs a way to locate them from a distance. Evolution has provided the beetles with a heat detector that can sense a fire from a distance. Scientists have now constructed a replica artificial prototype of this sensor which has significant commercial applications.

MIGRANTS

The number of international migrants has more than doubled since 1970, one in every 35 persons is now a migrant. In 1970, money sent home by international migrants to developing countries through official channels amounted to $2-billion. By 2003 the figure was $93-billion. If unofficial transfers are also counted, the volume of such remittances could be double this amount. These figures are staggering, exceeding the $68.5-billion that rich countries currently spend on official development assistance.

EDIBLE

Soon, hungry summer picnickers will be able to eat their sandwiches and other food without removing the wrapping. Scientists have developed a wrapping that not only keeps food fresh but can also be safely eaten. The film, which contains natural preservatives, can be fortified with vitamins and minerals. Used in liquid form, it can also be sprayed on fresh foods such as fruit to keep them fresher.

WINE

For the majority of vineyards in the French wine industry, these are tough times. Domestic consumption is down, foreign competition and the weakness of the dollar have battered exports, overproduction is rampant and need changes are thwarted by obsolete rules and regulations. The Bordeaux appellation comprises well over 10,000 wine properties, most of them small (about 20 acres or less). Industry figures predict that 600 to 1,000 smaller producers may be forced to close over the next few years.

CONSUMPTION

Luxembourg now leads the world in alcohol consumption. In 2002, its residents consumed an average of 12 litres of pure alcohol per person, in the form of beer, wine and spirits. Mexicans, by contrast, enjoyed only around a quarter as much. Some countries have been curbing their drinking. In France for example, alcohol consumption fell by 30 per cent between 1980 and 2002. Over the same period however, beer-loving Czechs increased their alcohol intake by 12 per cent.

RICE

Global warming could have a severe effect on rice production according to scientists working in the Philippines. Researchers studied 12 years of rice yields and 25 years of temperature data to work out how they are linked. Yields dropped by 10 per cent for each degree of warming, an alarming trend since rice is the staple diet for most of the world's expanding population. World rice production must increase by about one per cent every year to meet the demand of the planet's bulging population.

PRIDE

Uruguay's national anthem at more than five minutes, is the longest. Qatar's is the shortest at 32 seconds. Greece's anthem has 158 verses. The British were the first off the blocks with their anthem: God save the King was first sung in 1745. The tune is shared with Liechtenstein. Most places happily managed without a national anthem until the end of the 18th century, by which time Spain, Britain, France and Austria had adopted them.

COTTON

China, the world's biggest producer and consumer of cotton, looks set for a record harvest this year. Even so, this will not be enough to satisfy demand which in April pushed cotton imports up 186 per cent more than in the same month last year. Since 1999, the Chinese government has relaxed its control of the cotton industry. Farmers no longer have to sell part of their crop at set prices and no longer have the certainty of guaranteed purchases by the state. As a result, private traders have surged into the market.

CLEANING

Researchers in Hong Kong have come up with what could be the next big thing in fashion: self-cleaning clothes. They have coated cotton fabrics with an ultra-thin layer of titanium dioxide.. The chemical has a photo-catalytic effect when put under ultraviolet rays like sunshine. As long as the fabric is exposed to light, it will continue to break down carbon based materials that are on the coating's surface and the dirt disappears without being washed. Unfortunately blue dyes also disappear. Next on the agenda is to test if body odours and wine stains will also disappear.

BLIND

Scientists in New Zealand, investigating the health of guide dogs, have found that at least one in 10 working dogs is seriously short-sighted. Some of the so-called seeing-eye dogs have such poor vision that they would be prescribed glasses if they were human.

SHOPS

Napoleon called England a nation of shopkeepers but high streets have changed significantly over the past 10 years. Butchers and bakers are fast disappearing but the number of candlestick makers has more than trebled thanks to the country's obsession with home make-overs and alternative therapies. In Yellow Page listings, aromatherapists have increased by 5,000 along with dieticians and cosmetic surgeons. Grocers are down by 59 per cent followed by butchers, down 40 per cent; hardware shops, down 34 per cent and bakers, down 20 per cent.

FOOD

In the 1990s. KFC sold 11 pieces of chicken each year for every man woman and child in the U.S. Fried chicken is the most popular meal ordered in sit-down restaurants in the U.S. The next in popularity are: roast beef, spaghetti, turkey, baked ham and fried shrimp. Argentina and Uruguay lead the world in the consumption of beef with the U.S. third. People in Hong Kong eat on average 103 pounds of poultry per person each year.

PEPPERS

Mexican chili farmers, under pressure from cheap foreign peppers, want to give their products the same international brand protection as French champagne or Parma ham from Italy. Growers at a recent congress have decided to push for Mexican varieties to be origin-controlled, meaning Jalapeno-type chili peppers grown in countries like China and the U.S. would have to be called something else. Mexico, boasting 120 varieties of chili peppers, now ranks just fourth in the world market. China is fighting India for the lead position with the U.S. third.

RETAIL

The small-format value retail stores, including dollar stores, are forecast to remain a high-growth darling of mass retailing over the next five years with an estimated 8,000 more stores opening across the U.S. Sales growth estimates for 2004 are 7.5 per cent and an average of 6.2 per cent though 2008.

POTATOES

Starch food consumption has fallen 50 per cent since 1975 with the sale of potatoes dropping 4.5 per cent in the last year alone while people are buying more fruit and vegetables. But leading promoters of Idaho's signature commodity see little interest in shifting any production to a new lower-carbohydrate potato developed in Florida. With 30 per cent fewer carbohydrates, five years of testing in Florida has produced a new variety that scientists say tastes good, has a shorter growing cycle, is disease-resistant and handles extreme weather conditions.

PUMPS

In the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, dozens of faulty gas pumps short-changed both customers and retailers last year. More than 100 pumps tested by Measurement Canada, were found to be pouring less or more gas than the customer paid for because of wrongly calibrated fuel flows. There was no evidence any of the infractions were caused by deliberate adjustments to the pumps and most of the large-volume errors actually hurt the retailers rather than the customer.

TRANSACTIONS

The Food Marketing Institute has requested the Federal Reserve investigate the rising costs of fees for electronic transactions. Food retailers handle over half of all PIN-based and signature based debit transactions. In its request to the Federal Reserve, the FMI notes that there have been 11 credit\debit rate increases this year: PIN fees have increased 267 per cent since 1999: electronic payments volume has increased 500 per cent from 1989 to 2000 and card associations have collected over US$29-billion in 2003 on interchange fees.

FRAUD

A green baseball cap is the latest weapon in Europe's fight against farm fraud. A yo-yo size satellite receiver on the cap collects global positioning signals beaming down from seven military satellites in orbit more than 300 kilometres above. The information is fed to a research scientist holding a hand-held computer who walks the edge of a field that would once have taken surveyors a day to survey. Within minutes the computer calculates the area of the field. That's the EU's answer to swindlers who have bilked the EU budget for more than $125-million a year in subsidies for non-existent crops.

BEDBUGS

They are about one-eighth inch long, reddish-brown in colour, with oval, flattened bodies, they are world travellers hitching rides in suitcases and clothing, and world-class squatters equally happy in four-star hotel rooms, homeless shelters and luxury apartments. They can lay 500 eggs in a lifetime and can wait a year for a meal. They were common in North America 50 years ago but the widespread use of DDT almost eliminated them. But they remained prevalent elsewhere in the world. Now, as a result of immigration and increasing international travel, these bloodsucking parasites are on the move again. The good news is that they don't transmit disease, but they do feed on humans.

KIOSKS

The Canadian self-service kiosk industry seems to be making a comeback after months of false starts and languishing returns. Some players have reported up to a fourfold increase in business in 2003 compared with the previous year. More than 250,000 high-tech kiosks are expected to be installed in North American stores and public areas by 2005. Digital photography kiosks, airline check-ins and retail self check-out are among newer applications.

CASHBACK

Police in England are mystified by the robber who broke into a bank and stole $211,300. A week late he broke into the bank again and returned most of the money.

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 2004 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

September 2004 Edition

WAVES

 
Massive waves up to 100 feet in height, once thought to be extremely rare, actually roam the oceans quite frequently and could threaten to overturn ships and oil rigs. A study conducted on radar images gathered by the European Space Agency revealed at least 10 of the rogue waves over a three week period. These waves are suspected of having played a role in the sinking of some of the 200 large supertankers and container ships that have gone down in bad weather over the past two decades. Most ships and oil rigs are designed to withstand waves up to 50 feet.

ZONES

The Association of Canadian Port Authorities is recommending that Canada should consider creating free-trade zones at its major ports to cut red tape and keep the country competitive with ports south of the border. The U.S. government has announced $30-billion for port infrastructure in coming years. In the absence of any similar promise from Canadian authorities, the country stands to fall behind and lose business to more efficient and streamlined U.S. counterparts.

GUM

Modern chewing gum originated around 1870 when someone arrived in New York with a load of chicle. The substance, a latex gum from the sapodilla tree of Central America, was considered a potential substitute for rubber.However, it was discovered that chicle made lousy tires but great chewing gum, much superior to the mixture of spruce bark and paraffin wax that people then chewed. Chicle gave way to artificial ingredients and gum's chewy base nowadays comes not from Central American trees but ExxonMobil polymers.

VALUE

The Christian Science Monitor reports that a tiny but growing number of consumers are spending as much as US$20,000 for hand-made mattresses boasting superior coils and layered with cashmere and Belgian silk.

CHARMING

The first dial-a-snake-charmer service is about to be launched in India. Luring snakes out of baskets using a "magical" flute is illegal because of animal-conservation laws, but conservationists plan to find employment for out-of-work charmers by hiring them to catch snakes that have slipped into people's homes. A charmer can earn between $1.40 and $14.00 to catch a snake while he would typically earn about $1.00 for a whole day of playing his flute and making a snake dance for the crowds.

PARTS

The world's auto makers announced $14.7-billion worth of new vehicle assembly investments in the first six months of 2004., but none of the money will be spent in Canada or the U.S. as auto companies instead pump billions into China and Eastern Europe.Auto makers unveiled $7.4-billion of new investments in China during the period, compared with $3.2-billion in the same period a year earlier. They will pump another $2.8-billion into Eastern Europe compared with $1.4-billion in the first half of 2003.

SECURITY

Mexico's top federal prosecutors and investigators are now getting chip implants in their arms to access restricted areas inside the attorney general's headquarters in Mexico City. The chips are designed to provide certainty about who accessed sensitive data. Mexico's biggest security problem until now has been corruption by officials themselves.

GRAIN

Food shortages were second only to oil prices in causing the huge global inflation of 1973 to 1975 and history is threatening to repeat itself. Despite a hoped-for small rise this year, China's grain output is still some 12 per cent below its peak and the country is experiencing another large grain deficit. Most of India is awaiting a belated monsoon. If it doesn't come, India's ability to export food will be in jeopardy. Australia too is in the midst of another drought.

RAGE

Japanese inventors have patented a car that expresses emotions as an answer to road rage. The car laughs, cries, or shows anger and sings to the occupants. Called a "vehicle expression system," the inventors say that such a system is vital for today's traffic congestion. and that cars with "expression functions such as laughing and crying" could create a"a joyful, organic atmosphere."

BEAUTY

China only recently lifted a 54-year ban on beauty pageants. Now, China has announced a new artificial beauty pageant for Miss Plastic Surgery. The contest will be open only to those who have undergone cosmetic surgery and can prove her beauty is man-made. Plastic surgery is on the increase in China with around $2.4-billion spent yearly on beauty treatments. China now has a million beauty salons employing six million people. The rise of the salons is based on the assumption that beauty is a route to success.

TIRES

A record 80 per cent of old tires were recycled for other uses, including fuel and playground equipment in 2003, according to a U.S. industry report. Back in the early 90s, there was over a billion tires in stockpiles, no one knew what could be done with them and the markets that did exist were very small. In 1990, only 11 per cent of scrap tires were recycled. In 2001, 78 per cent were recycled. and this figure is expected to grow to about 85 per cent by 2006. Last year, 223 million old tires were recycled and 290 million new tires produced.

VALUE

Volunteer work done by Canadians 65 or older amounts to over 161 million hours annually which translates into almost C$2-billion of paid work, according to the University of Guelph.

CHANGE

Next January, changes will be needed to the lowly bar code which appears on everything from chocolate bars to chairs and identifies products as they move through retailers' checkout scanners. By Jan 1, 2005, North American retailers will have to switch to the European 13-digit code from their current 12-digit code. If retailers fail to act, come January, the lines in grocery stores could back up along with lost business, higher supply chain costs, inventory mistakes, pricing errors. and the loss of customer loyalty.

DISCOUNT

A London restaurant recently promised free meals to any customer found to be related to Genghis Kahn. The unusual promotion is to mark the Mongolian government's decision to allow citizens to have surnames for the first time since they were banned by the communists in the 1920s. The restaurant has teamed up with a DNA-based research company to analyze cells from cheek swabs of customers. It is estimated that 17 million people worldwide, including the British royal family, Iranian royalty and the family of Dracula, are descendants of the Mongol leader.

CONGESTION

Moscow, famed under Communism for its slick public transport system, is to tackle its traffic crisis by using helicopters to shuttle passengers into and out of the city.The city is planning 10 helicopter terminals on the Moscow ring road to enable tourists and businessmen to avoid the congested roads that have turned the capital into a motorists' nightmare.

MANHOLES

A hand-carved circle of Coast Salish tadpoles and a digitally rendered constellation of bacterial dots are the two winning designs that will grace Vancouver, B.C.'s new manhole covers. The city recently sponsored a competition to design two new cast-iron manhole covers for Vancouver's separate storm and sanitary sewer systems. The competition surprised city staff when it drew a staggering 643 entries. Each manhole weighs 200 pounds.

CURIOUS

A Yorkshire, England, company has won a contract to export tea to China. The company, which already exports to 30 countries, recently dispatched $75,000 worth of flavoured teas to Shanghai.

DECAF

Scientists report that they have found a naturally decaffeinated version of the world's most popular coffee bean. Full strength coffee can raise blood pressure, trigger palpitations and disrupt sleep, and decaffeinated now accounts for about ten per cent of the world market. But the decaffeinating process often flushes out important flavour compounds, so the demand for a flavoursome, low-caffeine blend remains high. After screening 3,000 coffee trees from around the world, the scientists have isolated three plants from Ethiopia with a naturally low caffeine content

TRADE

Australia and Thailand have signed a trade deal which is expected to boost the economies of both countries by billions of dollars. The agreement is expected to boost Australia's GDP by $6.7-billion and Thailand's by $32-billion over 20 years. Thailand exports cars, fruit and vegetables to Australia while Australia exports fuel and chemicals to Thailand. Last year, Australia signed a free trade deal with Singapore.

CHOCOLATE

The price of chocolate bars could soar if diseases that have devastated South America's cocoa crops are allowed to spread to other parts of the world. One expert in fungi fears that infections such as Witches Broom disease could spread to Africa and trigger an international shortage of chocolate. Fungal infections of cocoa have cause economic devastation in Brazil putting 200,000 people out of work.

SHIFTS

According to recently released census figures, because of the demand for 7\24 service, one in five U.S. workers now works the late-shift--going to work between midnight and 6.30am. Once the haunt of nurses, police officers and factory workers, the "graveyard shift" has grown to include computer support staff, research scientists and brokers working trading desks halfway around the world.

PRODUCE

Mexican agricultural producers are being displaced in their own market because it is more common to find fruits and vegetables originating in the U.S. or Chile at the main supermarkets. The lack of investment and technology as well as a limited packaging system and good product presentation are limiting Mexican products from supermarkets.

COMPETITION

Hong Kong is a key air passenger hub for East Asia with its new airport handling 35 million passengers a year. Now however, China has opened a giant airport in Guangzhou (formally Canton) at a cost of US$2.5 billion with an eventual planned capacity of 80 million passengers a year. This is in the heart of the Pearl River Delta, known as the workshop of the world for the string of manufacturing cities that have sprung up there in recent years. It was this growth that, up to now, has made Hong Kong the primary East Asia port and service centre.

DINING

A fillet of red snapper costs about $7.95 a pound, but you might want to take a DNA kit to the fish counter as it may be fake. A University of Carolina study revealed that 75 per cent of store-labelled red snapper that it tested in eight states bore the genetic makeup of other fish. The profits from mislabelling fish can exceed those of drug dealing.

INTERNET

A number of Finish conscripts have been excused their full term of military service because they are addicted to the Internet. Doctors have found the young men miss their computers too much to cope with their compulsory six months in the forces.

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 2004 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

August 2004 Edition

BILLIONS

 
The Russian capital Moscow now boasts more billionaires than any other city in the world, according to a survey by Forbes magazine. The study also estimates that a quarter of Russian wealth is now concentrated in the hands of just 100 people. Just a dozen years after the fall of communism, the Russian capital is home to 33 billionaires according to Forbes, while New York has just 31.

PAPER

A paper disc that can hold up to five times more data than current DVDs has been developed by two Japanese companies. The disc is 51 per cent paper and could offer foolproof security. Since a paper disc can be cut by scissors easily, it is simple to preserve data security when disposing of the disc. The disc is based on blue-laser DVD research and can hold 25 gigabytes of information, compared to the current limit of 4.7 gigabytes for a standard DVD.

CREDIT

A Spanish nightclub is giving guests a chance to pay for drink and admission by using a tiny microchip that is planted under their skin. The VeriChip, a U.S. product, can be injected into any part of the body as long as it can be flashed in front of a scanner.

ASSETS

The value of assets held abroad by Canadians in 2003 decreased for the first time since 1948. Assets held abroad by Canadians reached C$399-billion, down from a record C$429-billion at the end of 2002. At the same time, foreign direct investment in Canada rose to C$358-billion, up from C$349-billion at the end of 2002. Direct investment assets in the U.S. by Canadians declined by C$32-billion to C$165-billion. The strong Canadian dollar lowered the value of overseas assets by C$55-billion.

SADNESS

A psychologist with the Carnegie Mellon University warns people who are feeling sad not to buy or sell anything, and to stay away from Ebay or other shopping sites, until they cheer up. This is because people tend to pay considerably more for an item when they are sad. Also, feelings of disgust can lead people to sell things at a lower price than they would otherwise.

TRADE

According to a report by the Korea International Trade Association or KITA, South Korea's share of outbound and inbound shipments took up 38 per cent of the total volume of trade conducted in Northeast Asia last year. That's higher than Japan's 31 per cent but lower than China's 40 per cent, Three-way trade between among South Korea, Japan and China totalled US$493-billion, accounting for nearly 24 per cent of the world's trade volume in 2003.

HEALTHY

Architects are designing a new generation of "fit" office buildings that encourage employees to become healthier by countering the chair-bound culture. Some of their ideas: Meeting rooms and cafeterias situated far away from offices: "Skip stop" elevators that discourage their use by stopping only at every third floor: Positioning corporate works of art so as to attract employees up stairs rather than using elevators.

COLOUR

A truly blue rose, according to experts, would capture five per cent of the billion-dollar international cut flower market. Now, two U.S. biochemists have accidentally found a liver enzyme that turns bacteria blue and have patented the process. If they can capitalize on their discovery by moving the gene into plants, they could produce a blue rose.

FOOD

If the combined forces of France's wine industry and the majority of French parliamentarians have their way, wine is to be reclassified as a natural food rather than an alcoholic drink. The change would allow wine makers greater latitude in advertising their product at a time when French wine consumption is falling. Forty years ago, the average French consumer drank 134 bottles of wine a year compared to only 77 today. The fall is blamed on changes in working habits, the arrival of numerous new alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and government anti-drinking campaigns.

VISAS

According to a study by eight trade associations, U.S. companies have lost more than US$30-billion since July 2002 because of government delays in granting visas to business travellers from other countries. Visa applicants from China, India and Russia have had the greatest difficulty in obtaining timely visa processing. Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea were ranked next in order. The report cites examples that include jets left on the tarmac in Seattle because foreign buyers couldn't get visas for pilots to retrieve them.

CHECKOUT

A new study from IHL Consulting forecasts that self-service shopping will generate transactions worth US$70-billion in 2004, rising to over US$-330-billion by 2007. In stores currently using self-checkout systems, as much as 40 per cent of the total number of transactions now go through the self-checkout, allowing retailers to provide more customer assistance within the aisles to help customers to find products.

NEWSPAPERS

The world's newspapers enjoyed buoyant advertising sales in 2003 but overall reader numbers were in marginal decline. Circulation increased in 2003 across 35 of 208 countries studied with developing countries accounting for much of that growth, while a number of mature markets, notably in Western Europe, registered a fall in circulation. China held the overall record for newspaper circulation with more than 85 million publications sold each day, followed by India with 72 million. The most serious declines were in Ireland, Britain and Portugal.

WATCHING PAINT DRY

A new show has been unveiled on the Internet called Watching Paint Dry which is available around the clock at www.uktvstyle.co.uk. Each day a different type of paint will be applied to a wall and the camera will film it drying. Viewers will be able to vote online for their favourite finish from a selection of matt, silk, gloss, satin and smooth.

MALES

Sixty-one per cent of men now do at least some grocery shopping. Two years ago that figure was 41 per cent. Men are staying single longer, researchers note, and more two-career couples are sharing domestic responsibilities. Retired men are also shopping for food in greater quantities as the ranks of older consumers increase. More male supermarket shoppers are over 55 than under 35. Only a quarter of men use shopping lists when they shop compared with three-quarters of women.

TRANSLATORS

The European Commission is facing a backlog of untranslated documents and is asking officials to produce shorter documents to overcome the crisis. The present page average is 32 per document resulting in a backlog of 60,000 pages of untranslated material. If current trends continue, the Commission will need up to 4,000 translators by 2010, compared with 2,400 now employed.

CARS

Almost 15 per cent of all new cars sold in the USA last year were in one of the many shades of red. Compare that to Japan where red is almost rare and accounts for less than five per cent. However, about a third (35 per cent) of new vehicles sold in Japan were in some shade of white, while in the U.S. it's about half that. In Europe silver and grey are the most popular new-car colours accounting for 40 per cent of the market.

SHRIMP

Growing consumer demand for shrimp is fuelling an environmental crisis in some of the world's poorest nations. Shrimp farming is destroying wetlands, polluting the land and oceans and depleting wild fish stocks according The Environmental Justice Foundation. As much as 38 per cent of global mangrove destruction is linked to shrimp farm development. Shrimp farming is worth US$-50-$60-billion at the point of retail in around 50 countries. Leading shrimp producers are: Thailand, China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam. Ecuador and the Philippines.

SWITZERLAND

After years of wrangling, Switzerland finally agreed to levy a withholding tax on the savings accounts of EU citizens as part of a series of bilateral agreements that also includes deals on trade and the environment. Switzerland was rewarded with entry into the EU's passport-free area, probably in 2007.

FARMS

Canadian farmers saw their net cash income tumble last year to the lowest level in 25 years as drought and the mad cow crisis took its toll. The farm net cash income--the difference between a farmer's cash receipts and operating expenses--fell 43 per cent last year to C$4.22-billion. Prairie farmers were hardest hit as net cash income plunged 72 per cent in Alberta, 69 per cent in Saskatchewan and 51 per cent in Manitoba. Producers of wheat, excluding durum, saw their revenues drop almost 31 per cent.

FRAUD

The Advertising Standards Authority warns that fraudsters are taking advantage of the summer months when top executives are away to send fake invoices in the hope that they will be paid while management is away. The body is warning businesses to beware of unfamiliar bills, especially those from Swiss, Austrian and Czech companies, usually for subscriptions to internet directories.

GROOMING

An increased interest in appearance, hygiene and grooming on behalf of today's males has contributed to the growth in personal care categories around the world. An analysis of retail purchases in 56 countries across nearly 60 categories found many examples of this trend, including the sales by value of shower gels--one of the fastest-growing personal care categories worldwide, which grew by seven per cent in 2003 on the strength of male-oriented products.

STEEL

Rental rates in newly built office towers, apartments and retail complexes could rise by as much as 5 per cent as significant increases in steel prices over the past eight months have added millions of dollars to the cost of constructing commercial and institutional buildings in Canada. In addition, continued uncertainty over prices, coupled with fears of an impending steel shortage, have contractors and building owners concerned that projects could face delays. Steel accounts for up to 20 per cent of the cost of many of Canada's commercial buildings and has risen in price by 20 to 60 per cent in recent months.

CHARM

Churlish Russian border guards have been given strict new orders--smile and be polite to visitors entering the country. In an effort to put an end to the intimidating scowls and steely glares often suffered by travellers, guards checking passports are now under orders to be nice.

SCRAP

The market for scrap continues to heat up with reports that Shanghai, China's biggest city, is replacing hundreds of thousands of iron manhole covers with concrete and plastic ones after a 57 per cent rise in scrap steel prices encouraged thieves to steal about 1,800 of the lids. Scrap steel which comes from sources such as used autos and washing machines is melted and used to produce about 35 per cent of the world's steel. Recently, metal thieves in the eastern Ukraine stole a historic steam locomotive and a steel bridge which cut off a local town.

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