April 2002 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

April 2002 Edition

RICE

 
In a dispute at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) between a Texas based company and the Indian government, India lost its battle against the US patenting of the world famous Basmati (fragrant earth) rice when the USPTO granted patents to three hybrid strains developed in the US. India provided evidence that not only the grain, but also the seeds and plants which produce the grain, have been bred and cultivated in India and Pakistan. The US company may now label its product as a "superior basmati rice".

HEALTH

The World Health Organization predicts that, by the year 2020, depression will be the second greatest cause of premature death and disability worldwide for all ages and both sexes. It currently affects about 121 million people.

CONSTRUCTION

In its continued battle with Quebec over worker access, Ontario is about to ban Quebec workers and companies from Ontario's construction and trucking industries. Ontario claims it is making no progress in negotiations with Quebec about restrictions on workers from Ontario working in Quebec. It is claimed that as many as 7,000 Quebec workers depend on construction jobs in Ottawa alone. Ironically, Toronto home builders are importing 500 skilled tradesmen from overseas because they can't attract enough workers in Canada. These tradespeople are coming from Ukraine, Russia, the Philippines and Chile under a pilot program with the federal government.

COMPENSATION

Last year, major U.S. corporate executives pocketed smaller pay packages than at any time since 1989. Salaries and bonuses of surveyed CEO's dropped a median of 2.9 per cent. That is largely because many companies slashed or omitted their leaders' bonuses which are often linked to profitability. Corporate profits sank a median of 13 per cent.

BAKING

For 53 years, the Pillsbury company has held an annual bake-off. This year's winner, an accountant who won US$1 million, was among 100 finalists. The winning dish? Chicken Florentine Panini...the first winning sandwich. It was made with refrigerated pizza crust, sauteed chicken breasts, spinach and garlic-flavoured mayonnaise.

PROFIT

In 1999, Canadian government business enterprises earned profits of $15.5 billion, $1.5 billion more than in 1998. This was on total revenues of $99 billion. Provincial and territorial government business enterprises posted profits of $10.1 billion on revenues of $66 billion, accounting for more than 65% of all government enterprise profits in 1999. Federal enterprises earned $5 billion and local government enterprises, $0.4 billion. Provincial and territorial lotteries, gaming, and liquor enterprises generated after tax profits of slightly more than $8 billion in 1999, which is approximately 1.5 times the profits of all chartered banks in Canada in that year.

POULTRY

Russia has stopped issuing import licences for U.S. poultry and has placed a temporary ban on poultry imports. This is a move to pressure U.S. producers to divulge what antibiotics, preservatives and other substances are used. U.S producers sent Russia about 1 million tons of poultry, mostly chicken and turkey, worth about US$700 million annually. Russia produced only 564,000 tons of poultry last year.

PROGRESS

The Doomsday Book is the earliest public record of England. Commissioned by William the Conqueror, it details the land holdings and resources of England twenty years after the Norman conquest. Sixteen years ago, in a $5.6 million project to showcase England's electronic prowess, a computer-based multimedia version of the Doomsday Book was developed. Now, the special computers developed to play the 12-inch videodiscs of text, photographs, maps and archival footage of British life are obsolete and unreadable. Meanwhile, the original, nine-hundred year old Doomsday Book is still in fine condition and readable at the Public Records Office.

DIAMONDS

Every day of the year, 328,000 carats of diamonds are mined, many controlled by De Beers who spend US$200 million a year on advertising. The company's millennium advertising campaign increased sales in the first half of the year 2000 by 44 per cent from the previous year. Sales went from US$2.4 billion to US$3.5 billion. De Beers sells US$500 million worth of diamonds every five weeks.

HEATING

For three weeks in February, the heating on the campus of the University of Georgia, and all its hot water, was generated by burning 300,000 gallons of chicken fat and yellow restaurant grease. The experiment, which required the retrofit of one of the campus's steam boilers, worked well burning very cleanly with very low sulphur. Nationally, about 11 billion pounds of waste fat are produced each year in the U.S.

CELLPHONES

For the first time, worldwide sales of new cellphones dipped last year as wireless carriers reduced subsidies for new phones and many consumers held off on upgrades. The decline was 3.2 per cent, from 413 million handsets in 2000 to 400 million in 2001. This is a sharp break from the growth rates between 1996 and 2000, when each year saw a sales increase of 60 per cent.

AID

Canada is contributing C$1.3 million to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for trade-related technical assistance for developing countries. The aim of the assistance is to help those countries that decide to join the WTO but do not have the expertise or resources that would help them reap the full benefits of membership.

RAGE

A new study funded by Hewlett-Packard (Canada) states that photocopiers are a hotbed of stress and anxiety for Canadian workers. Some people are driven to fits of violence by copiers that don't cooperate. The poll found that 12 per cent of Canadians that have used a copier at work have become so frustrated that they have actually kicked or hit it. Another three in 10 said they seriously wished to do so but retrained themselves. People with a university education are the most likely to attack a copier.

WATER

A government analysis shows U.S. waterways are awash in traces of chemicals used in beauty aids, medications, cleaners and foods. Among the substances: caffeine, contraceptives, pain killers, insect repellent, perfumes and nicotine. Scientists say that the problem is that these substances largely escape regulation and defy municipal wastewater treatment. Hydrologists with the U.S. Geological Survey tested water samples in 30 states for 95 common compounds, an emerging class of contaminants known as pharmaceutical and personal care pollutants.

COSTS

On an annual basis, U.S. productivity continued to grow more quickly than did Canada's in 2001. However, Canada maintained an advantage in unit labour costs. In 2001, labour productivity grew 1.2 per cent in Canada and 1.9 per cent in the U. S. This 0.7 per cent difference in favour of American businesses is in line with the average 0.9 per cent gap per year measured since 1995. Despite Canada's softer productivity performance, lower growth in compensation paid by Canadian businesses more than offset this productivity gap.

ATMs

The Canadian Office of Consumer Affairs is warning Canadians about the spread of no-name automated teller machines that can cost users up to $3.00 per transaction. About 13,000 so-called "white label" ATMs--generic machines not operated by Canada's big banks--have sprung up across Canada in the past six years and now make up more than one third of the country's 35,000 banking machines. A recent poll suggests that 35 per cent of Canadians each month withdraw cash from no-name ATMs.

THE DOLLAR

The leading U.S. manufacturers' trade group is calling for a change in U.S. foreign exchange policy which it says undermines U.S. exports. The group claims that the dollar's 30 per cent rise since 1997 amounts to a 30 per cent tariff on U.S. exports of manufactured goods and a consequent loss of manufacturing jobs. The export of U.S. manufactured goods has dropped 20 per cent over the past two years and is expected to drop a further 7 per cent in 2002.

SOFTWARE

India's software exports are likely to grow by over 30 per cent this year and are expected to be worth over US$7.6 billion. This compares with US$6.2 during 2000-01. The number of persons working in the IT industry nearly doubled to 430,000 in 2000-01 over 220,000 in the sector in 1998-99.

LEEKS

The Welsh are upset that the European Union is interfering with one of the national symbols of Wales, the common garden leek. The EU intends that Welsh leeks should conform to international standards. There will be two classes of leeks. Leeks in class one must be of good quality with the white to greenish part of the leek representing at least one third of the total length. Size will be determined by their diameter measured at right angles to the longitudinal axis above the swelling at the neck. The minimum diameter is fixed at 8mm for early leeks and 10mm for other leeks!

TAXES

Tiger Woods paid more tax than anyone last year in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen--after just one weekend of work. Woods was paid US$2 million for two exhibition rounds and paid US$777,000 in taxes. China's per capita net income for urban households was US$1,218. Golf enthusiasts from Hong Kong reportedly paid as much as US$18,000 to play a hole against him.

PLASTIC BAGS

The Irish government has begun collecting a 13 cent environmental tax on plastic bags used in supermarkets, convenience stores and other shops. The tax is intended to encourage shoppers to use tougher reusable bags and cut down on the use of throwaway bags. The government hopes the new charge will raise $160 million annually to be used on Ireland's deteriorating environment.

DESERTIFICATION

According to the Institute of Desert Research, land degradation in China costs the nation US$6.7 billion a year and affects the lives of 400 million people. Current estimates say that 950 square miles of land becomes desert every year a 58 per cent increase since the 1950s much of it land that formally supported crops and livestock. In a nation of over one billion people, all of whom have adequate amounts of food but many of whom need better nutrition, such enormous losses are potentially devastating.

TRENDS

Some restaurants in Britain are forcing customers who like their meat rare to sign a disclaimer form before eating due to fears of the risk of E-coli and salmonella poisoning. The restaurants are prepared to serve rare hamburgers, sausages or minced beef only if diners complete forms giving up rights to take legal action.

TRIVIA

A motorist in Hong Kong sued a would-be suicide who jumped out of a window and landed on his car. The women who jumped argued however, that she should not pay as his car was illegally parked.

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

March 2002 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

March 2002 Edition

DENMARK

 
The recently elected Danish government has indicated that it is ready to lift its ban on beer and soft drinks sold in cans. In a court case initiated by the EC, Denmark faced charges for breach of the EU's packaging directives. Currently, Denmark allows beer and soft drinks in recyclable bottles. Some speculate that the removal of the ban will make it easier for foreign brewers to enter the Danish beer market, where the Carlsberg brewery currently holds a 70 percent market share.

SAFETY

European Union farm ministers officially passed laws to set up a new European Food Safety Authority. It is designed to bolster declining public confidence in food safety in the wake of alerts such as mad cow disease and dioxin poisoning. The body will employ up to 250 people with a budget of 40 million euros and will provide scientific advice to policy makers and give the public information on potential risks in the food chain.

EMPLOYMENT

Nearly one Canadian worker out of six was self employed in 2000, and most of these individuals became and remained self employed by choice, according to the first results from the Survey of Self employment. According to the survey, nearly 2.3 million individuals were self employed in December 2001. For almost 80 per cent of individuals, the transition to self employment was made voluntarily, The remainder, slightly more than 20 per cent, reported that they became self employed because of a lack of suitable paid employment opportunities.

SMALL

Researchers in Japan have created a thermometer 10 times shorter than the width of a human hair. The "nanothermometer" is the latest application for carbon nanotubes, structures built from a honeycomb pattern of carbon atoms and wrapped into a tube shape that's only 75 billionths of a meter in diameter.

BUILDING

Canadian builders took out an estimated $39.9 billion in building permits in 2001, just shy of the all time high set in 1989. Construction intentions for housing broke an annual record, and non residential permits hit a 12 year peak. The $39.9 billion annual total is an 8.1% increase from 2000, and just short of the best annual performance on record, $40.0 billion. Advances in both the residential and non residential sectors contributed to this strong showing.

ROADKILL

A space-age camera system is to be used on the roads of British Columbia to make them safer for wildlife. A prototype infrared camera is to be installed which will take continuous live video pictures of a stretch of road several kilometres long. The camera can see 25 metres on either side of the road. Before a bear, deer, moose or sheep decides to try its luck against the traffic, the camera will relay the animal's image to a computer that will convey information about the animal to a brightly lit digital sign posted on the highway. Wildlife accidents cost around $19 million in accident costs and highway cleanup costs.

WATER

The Great Lakes are at their lowest point in 35 years and water levels may drop even more because of the warm winter. Without the usual ice cover, millions of gallons of water are evaporating from the lakes. Last year, cargo ships were forced to lighten their loads and many boat ramps became inaccessible as water levels on the Great Lakes fell to their lowest point since 1966. For every inch of water that Lake Michigan loses, a cargo ship must reduce its load by 90 to 115 metric tons which mean losses of between US$22,000 and US$28,000.

LABELS

The US has sharply criticised the European Commission's proposals for labelling and traceability of genetically modified (GM) products which US officials say could cost US companies up to US$ 4 billion a year in export earnings. US officials have described the proposed rules as "trade disruptive and discriminatory". For instance, the regulations would require soybean oil to be labelled as a GM product, while European cheeses and wine made with biotechnology enzymes would not be covered.

CHINA

A study by the U.S. Conference Board concludes that the productivity of state-owned companies in China still lags that of private and foreign-owned Chinese companies by a wide margin. Among Chinese companies with some state ownership, those under local rather than state administration, are noticeably more efficient. However, the study which surveyed 23,000 companies operating in China, reports that as foreign companies venture deeper into the Chinese domestic economy, the advantages they enjoy will dissipate.

CONVENIENCE

The U.S. convenience store industry grew four per cent in 2001, increasing to a record 124,516 stores. This follows a 0.3 per cent increase in 2000 and a 5 per cent increase in 1999. 10 years ago the official industry store count stood at 103,400 and 20 years ago there were 71,400 stores. Overall, 14,385 convenience stores opened in 2001 offsetting the 9,000 stores that closed.

COLLECTIBLES

According to TIAS.com, a leading U.S. online catalogue of antiques and collectibles, the hottest items to collect in 2001 included china, cookie jars, furniture, lamps, books plates, Depression glass and Roseville pottery.

SECURITY

Many businesses that depend on the Internet have a false sense of security about the reliability of their computer systems and their ability to avert trouble, according to an Ernst & Young study. A sampling of 80 large Canadian companies found that computer system failure was sited as one of the biggest risks businesses face. 34 per cent of companies surveyed said it was their biggest risk. However, about one-quarter didn't have a business continuity plan or a computer disaster recovery plan while 41 per cent didn't have an overall management plan for any serious crisis.

BABIES

For the first time since 1971, women in the U.S. are bearing enough children to offset deaths. 4,058,814 births were reported in 2000, up 2.5 per cent from 1999. It was the first time since 1993 that births topped four million. Researchers believe that the roaring economy of the 1990s probably fed the baby craze with parents more comfortable about supporting a family. Teen births dropped 22 per cent in the decade.

CONTAINERS

A Richmond, B.C. company has developed a weapon to counter theft from shipping containers and trucks which costs the insurance industry US$10 billion annually in North America. Now being distributed throughout Canada and the U.S., the system has the backing of a major U.S. insurance broker and a Canadian company that manufacturers satellite tracking equipment. If a container is tampered with, the driver is alerted by pager within 10 seconds. Through GPS, the location of a container can be located to within 30 metres anywhere in North America.

SPORTS FISHING

Some scientists are warning that Canada's sports fishery, worth between $4.4 billion and $7 billion, is collapsing so rapidly it may soon suffer the same fate as the commercial cod and salmon fisheries on the East and West coasts. Virtually all sports fishery stocks are depressed. The situation is worst in the provinces of Alberta, B.C. and Ontario.

COLOUR

Nineteen per cent of North American new-car buyers purchased silver vehicles last year. Silver replaced white as the most popular colour. 16 per cent were white, 15 per cent were red, 11 per cent were blue and 10 per cent were green. Green was the most popular colour between 1994 and 1998 when more than one in five owners chose that colour.

TASTE

Italy's highway robbers have been preying on trucks delivering an unusual luxury product: dried cod. Their passion for the flaky white substance has turned the roads of southern Italy into a no-go area for Norwegian fish trucks, putting at risk trade worth US$180 million a year. Thefts of Arctic cod are so frequent that insurance companies have with- drawn their coverage for trucks hauling cod to Italy.

CANOLA

China's new restrictive regulations against genetically modified crops require all modified crops to be approved by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. This may leave Canadian canola farmers without one of their most significant customers next year. The new regulations have caused major problems for U.S. soybean farmers who sell US$1 billion worth of their crop to China--70 per cent of which contains genetically modified organisms. 60 per cent of Canada's canola crop is genetically modified and exports are worth C$2 billion. Some suggest that this is just a non-tariff barrier.

NEW

Food manufacturers are churning out a record number of new products to satisfy every craving imaginable. Roughly 32,000 packaged goods were launched last year in Canada and the U.S., more than half--16,977--were foods or beverages. The number of new food products keeps expanding each year. Last year's total was 23 per cent higher than in 1997 when 13,840 new foods and beverages were introduced.

TRENDS

When fluoride was added to the water supply, the incidence of dental cavities declined. But since so many people began drinking--and giving their children--bottled water, there has been a resurgence of cavities

E-BUSINESS

A study by the E-Commerce Times says that more than 600 million people worldwide will have access to the Web by the end of the year, and they will spend more than $1 trillion shopping online. The study also finds that e-commerce grew to $600 billion in 2001, a 68 per cent increase over 2000. Business-to-business (B2B) makes up by far the largest share of Web sales and is expected to account for 83 per cent of online sales in 2002 and 88 per cent in 2006.

SPRAWL

The world's airports are getting to be as large as cities. Stockholm covers 140 square kilometres; Denver International Airport covers 138 sq.km. Kuala Lumpur International Airport spreads out over 101 sq.km. and the city of Miami 94 sq.km.

DRUGS

Spending on direct-to-consumer drug advertising in the U.S. has more than tripled between 1996 and 2000 as manufacturers of prescription drugs increasingly aimed their sales pitches past doctors to potential consumers. Drug makers spent US$2.5 billion in 2000 to promote their drugs to U.S. consumers, up from US$791 million in 1996.

POWER

A company in Israel has developed a battery that can be printed directly onto paper, plastic or other flexible material. The battery produces electrical energy much like ordinary alkaline batteries. Two electrodes, or terminals, separate an electrolyte--a chemical compound that generates negative ions. Connecting the battery's two terminals--say, with a light bulb or a motor--completes the circuit, allowing the electricity to flow and power whatever is attached.

TRIVIA

Canada produced six billion bottles of beer last year resulting in annual revenue, including taxes, of C$11 billion.

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

February 2002 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

February 2002 Edition

 
CYBERSHOPPING

Canadian on-line shoppers dramatically boosted their spending on websites during the holiday season contradicting experts' predictions. Shoppers spent an estimated C$1.16-billion for on-line gifts in late 2001, a 78 per cent surge from the estimated C$680-million they spent a year earlier. They spent an average of C$324 on on-line gifts, compared with C$228 in 2000 and C$141 in 1999. Studies found that shopping Internet sites enjoyed 25.6 per cent more "unique visitors" and 11.2 per cent more "minutes spent per unique visitor" in December from that month a year previously.

WHALES

A Japanese city is planning to farm whales in a bay 620 miles south-west of Tokyo, to entertain tourists, study breeding behaviour and ultimately, to supply restaurants with meat. The idea, which appals conservationists, involves trapping whales in the open sea and bringing them into a netted area of nearly two miles. Japan has been killing whales in the Antarctic for years despite the global ban on whaling.

ALTERNATIVE HEALTH CARE

In 1998/99, an estimated 3.8 million Canadians, about 17 per cent of the population aged 18 or older, reported having sought the care of alternative health care practitioners in the previous year. Alternative practitioners include chiropractors, massage therapists, acupuncturists, homeopaths and naturopaths. Women were more likely than men to consult an alternative practitioner. In 1998/99, about 2.2 million women aged 18 or older, or about 19 per cent of the female population of this age group, sought their services. The corresponding figures for men were 1.6 million, or about 14 per cent of the male population in this age range.

MERGERS

Worldwide mergers and acquisitions fell to $1.9 trillion, measured by deal value, in 2001, down by 45 per cent from 2000, as a slowing global economy cooled demand for new deals.

HEMP

Its Canadian makers tout the substance as an excellent source of vitamin E, protein and fatty acids that can be added to everything from pretzels to ice cream. The U.S. drug enforcement authorities say it's part of a family of dangerous hallucinogens. A Canadian firm, North America's largest producer of hemp seed, is to file a US$20-million-plus NAFTA lawsuit against the U.S. government arguing that a ban would destroy its growing business in the U.S. A rare private lawsuit, which under Chapter 11 of the NAFTA allows investors to sue governments directly, is just one of a handful of cases filed against the U.S. government by a Canadian company.

AFGHANISTAN

The fledgling government of Afghanistan is likely to receive nearly US$221- million in funds frozen in the U.S. once U.N. sanctions against the country are lifted. In addition, the Montreal-based International Air Transport Association has some $24-million for overflight fees that were withheld while the Taliban were in power. The monies in the U.S. include $196-million in gold reserves and $25- million in cash held by a variety of financial institutions.

CARS

Queen Elizabeth is to become the first British monarch to break with a tradition that Rolls Royce supplies the official royal limousine. Bentley, owned by Germany's Volkswagen, will give her a custom made model as a golden jubilee gift this year. BMW, owners of the Rolls Royce marque, are said not to be amused.

DUMPING

Japan and the European Union plan to ask the World Trade Organization to allow them to enact a law, similar to 1916 U.S. antidumping law, that enables American firms to claim damages from foreign firms accused of dumping in the U.S. market. This is unusual as, in the past, both Japan and the EU have filed separate complaints against the 1916 U.S. antidumping law. Two WTO dispute settlement panels have ruled against the U.S.

WEIGHT

After a long history of famine, the Chinese now have an emerging problem with obesity. Health officials recently released a national health survey which said that more than 10 per cent of boys, and five per cent of girls aged 7 to 18 were obese, roughly double the figures from 1995. Another study released last year said 30 million Chinese over age 20 were overweight. Besides children being spoiled as a result of the one-child policy during the Cultural Revolution, China's consumerism boom is creating a fast-food culture that mirrors that of the West.

FREE TRADE

Japan and Singapore have signed a free trade pact, the first of its kind for Japan, that is expected to remove tariffs on almost all goods traded between the two countries.The agreement eliminates tariffs on goods covering 98.5 per cent of trade between the countries. The pact also provides for cooperation in science and technology, financial services, education, tourism and training. Japan has stated that this will provide a model for Japan's economic relations with Asia.

LOANS

Eighty two percent of small and medium sized enterprises that sought a loan or other type of credit during 2000, were able to obtain it, according to a Statcan survey of 11,000 companies. Larger firms were more likely to have been accepted for financing than were smaller firms. Businesses in knowledge based industries had a lower authorization rate for debt financing. About 70 per cent of these companies were successful in obtaining financing, compared with 93 per cent of companies in agriculture and 88 per cent in the primary sector, which includes companies in forestry and mining.

TOOTHBRUSHES

According to designers, toothbrushes are now in the vanguard of consumer product design, becoming to teeth what athletic shoes have been to feet. The Industrial Designers Institute of America claims there's more design in a toothbrush today than in the first space shuttle.

PAINTING

A British firm has won a 15-month contract to repaint the Eiffel Tower after convincing the French that it is a European company. The Tower is repainted every seven years. 70 tons of paint will be required for the 1,000 foot tall tower.

POTATOES

Canadian Geographic reports that the most popular item on the Canadian menu is fries. 85 per cent of all potatoes grown in North America end up as fries and Canadians eat their own weight in potatoes each year. Canada grows some $600-million worth annually, making potatoes Canada's most valuable vegetable crop.

PETS

The market for pet food continues to grow, thanks to more pet ownership and greater use of premium foods. The top seven firms account for 60 per cent of worldwide dog- and cat-food sales and have combined sales of nearly US$19-billion annually.

VALUE

American consumers believe food offers the best bang for their buck, according to a new survey. Nearly half of those surveyed (48 per cent) say "food offers the best value" outranking clothing (15 per cent), home electronics (10 per cent), home furnishings (nine per cent), automobiles (eight per cent) and non-prescription drugs (seven per cent) for offering the best price, convenience, quality, customer service and choice. The food industry outranks even the federal government in terms of favourability.

FEES

The federal government is dropping fees it charges out-of-country individual performers and small groups visiting Canada. The change takes place in June. Previously, a non-Canadian solo artist with a valid work permit had to pay $150 each time he or she entered the country to perform. Ensembles with 15 members or more never had to pay the fees.

GLOBALIZATION

Canada has jumped three notches to place seventh in a prestigious ranking of the world's most global nations, outscoring the United States and key European rivals. The leader in the 2002 tables was Ireland moving up from sixth place to replace Singapore.

CULTURE

A recent Japanese government survey has revealed that the country's men perform household tasks in only one per cent of homes. This alarming statistic has prompted Tokyo to offer middle-aged men a beginner's guide to such household basics as peeling an apple, making rice, turning on the washing machine and using a duster. However, the program will stop teaching them how to hang out washing or air the futon on the tiny apartment balconies because it recognizes that being spotted by a neighbour would be considered a loss of face.

FRIDGES

Scientists claim to have created the world's first magnetic refrigerator, which someday may save consumers on energy bills and be better for the environment. Researchers have worked for years to develop magnetic refrigeration as an alternative to traditional cooling systems, which emit gases that contribute to global warming. The new refrigerator uses a special metal that heats up when exposed to a magnetic field then cools when the magnetic field is removed.

NUTRACEUTICALS

Baby boomers, who are concerned with their health, are fuelling a sharp rise in demand for functional foods or "nutraceuticals." 204 new nutraceutical products have been launched in major markets in the past 18 months. The biggest single category comprised "probiotic" products that contain beneficial bacteria. It is predicted that vitamin supplements will start to decline in significance as consumers turn increasingly to products that promise cures and prevention of specific ailments

CHARITY

The Vancouver Foundation reports that with $90-billion in annual revenues and $109-billion in assets across Canada, the non-profit sector is comparable in size to the economy of B.C. It accounts for more than 12 per cent of national gross domestic product and employs 1.3 million people. In the face of ongoing government cutbacks, the philanthropic sector will only become more vital to the economic and social wellbeing of the province.

SAUCE

How many lumps are allowed in a sauce before it becomes a vegetable? The question, to be considered by the EU, could affect millions of dollars of trade. While the EU tariff on imported sauce is only 20 per cent, the tariff on an imported vegetable is 228 per cent. Protectionists in the EU fear that vegetables may sneak into Europe disguised as tinned sauces. They argue that if a sauce is more than 20 per cent made up of lumps of fruit or vegetables, it should be considered a vegetable. Most of the multinational companies have shifted production to within the EU to avoid the tariffs.

BUILDING

December 2001 saw Canadian builders have their best month and their best year since 1992. Industry experts expect the momentum to continue in 2002.

FORGERY

Irish counterfeiters have failed in one of their first attempts to cash in on the euro by missing out the "o" on a forged one-euro coin. In addition to the spelling error, the coin also had a smooth, not a serrated edge. It was also faded as if the coin may have been in circulation for 30 or 40 years.

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

January 2002 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

January 2002 Edition

 JOBS

According to the government, at least one Canadian job in three depends on exports and over 85 per cent of our exports go to our partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement. This is one of the reasons that Canada's unemployment, at 6.9 per cent, is the lowest for 25 years. Free trade is critically important for Canada. We earn nearly half our wealth from international trade-related activity (46 per cent of GDP, up from around 25 per cent before the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA).

FARMERS

China has 328 million farmers. With WTO entry, China's average tariff on agricultural imports will fall to 15 per cent from 22 per cent. Lower tariffs and a relaxation of state quotas and other controls are expected to bring a surge of food imports that will throw 13 million farmers out of work. China's agricultural output was US$300 billion in 2000, roughly as big as South Korea's economy. But public investment in infrastructure and production-related subsidies was just US$14 billion, far less that the 10 per cent allowed by WTO rules.

TRAVEL AGENTS

The Canadian travel arrangement industry, which comprises travel agents and tour operator services, grew 6.0 per cent in 1999 to $6.5 billion. The revenue generated by the travel agents in 1999 fell 2.8 per cent to $1.7 billion, the result of cuts in the commission rate paid by suppliers of travel services, such as airlines. The tour operators industry grew 10.0 per cent in 1999 to $4.7 billion.

CHARITY

Total charitable donations by Canadians in 2000 grew four times as fast as the number of donors. Donations totalled $5.4 billion in 2000, up 9.2 per cent from 1999 after adjustment for inflation. The results for 2000 maintained the upward trend seen since 1991. After declining slightly in 1999, the number of people reporting charitable donations rose from 5.4 million to 5.5 million in 2000, up 2.3 per cent. As in 1999, Manitoba had the highest percentage of taxfilers declaring charitable donations in 2000. At 29 donors per 100 taxfilers, Manitoba ranked just ahead of Ontario (28) and Saskatchewan (27). The national average remained steady at 26 donors per 100 taxfilers.

BEETLES

Billions of dollars of British Columbia's forests are being ravaged by the mountain pine beetle and billions more are at risk of exposure to the voracious insect. Over the past year, the beetle has expanded its range by 75 per cent to encompass about ten per cent of the provincial land base. Last summer, mountain pine beetles had infected 41 million cubic metres of Interior lumber, equal to almost two-thirds of B.C.'s annual timber harvest. Total value of infected timber is estimated to be C$18 billion.

RENTALS

The vacancy rate for rental housing has tightened across Canada to 1.1 per cent last month from 1.6 per cent the previous month. This is the lowest level since rental statistics were first measured in 1987. The lowest rates were in Victoria, Montreal and Ottawa.

CORRECTNESS

The city council in Liverpool, England, has changed the job title of street sweepers to "street scene operatives." An official explained they do more than merely sweep streets: they also cut grass, tend shrubbery and look after street signs.

FRANCE

Hundreds of French bakers have marched through Paris to oppose the national 35-hour working week which they say will threaten their livelihoods and the quality of their traditional baguettes, croissants and pastries. In a bid to create jobs, France has passed legislation reducing the work week to 35 hours. France has around 33,000 artisan bakers, 115,000 bakery workers and 30,000 bakers' partners. They produce approximately 72 per cent of the country's bread and sales are valued at US$7 billion.

ORGANIC

An increasing number of Latin American farmers are producing organic crops, using traditional and natural methods that do not require agro-chemical inputs. Total yields remain limited, but producers have their eye on markets in Western Europe and the U.S. where consumers are prepared to pay extra for organic products. Organic Chilean wine, Mexican coffee and Venezuelan cocoa are just some of the region's initiatives.

CHANGE

A surplus of coins compounded by Americans emptying their change jars in the softening economy has forced the U.S. Mint to begin layoffs. Mint officials now believe they will need only 15 billion new pennies, nickels dimes and quarters this year instead of 23 billion. The mint had already made too many coins during the previous year. Tens of millions of dollars worth of coins are unexpectedly back in circulation after months or years on dresser tops and in shoe boxes.

IT

A recent survey indicates that Canadian Information Technology (IT) spending will see negligible growth this year, rising to C$27.9 billion from C$27.1 billion last year. Modest gains are expected in 2003. The slowdown in Canada mirrors that in the rest of the world. Worldwide spending is expected to have declined by 9 per cent in 2001 and will fall still further in 2001. Software and services remain the long-term bright spots.

FREE TRADE

Canada has launched free trade negotiations with El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua aimed at further enhancing Canada's trade relationship with Central America. In 2000, bilateral trade between Canada and these four countries totalled C$617 million. Canadian direct investment in the area is estimated to be C$160 million. Potential exists for Canadian companies in several priority export sectors including telecommunications and environmental equipment and services, processed foods, automotive parts and construction

DIPLOMATS

The diplomatic service is a powerful economic force in Britain. Official statistics estimate that last year overall expenditure by envoys and their families amounted to US$1.5 billion and billions more is spent on goods and services. About 18,000 Britons are directly employed by foreign embassies.

POLLUTION

According to the Commission for Environmental Co-operation, utilities in North America want to build more than 2,000 electricity generating stations, most of them fossil-fuel fired, by 2007. The NAFTA pollution watchdog says that could cause carbon dioxide emissions from power generation in the U.S. to rise 14 to 38 per cent. It added that Mexican emissions of greenhouse gases would likely rise 48 to 76 per cent, and Canadian emissions from 5 to 16 per cent.

MILK

A new report says Canadians are paying $1 billion a year more than Americans for milk products. The Fraser Institute, a Vancouver policy think tank, says Canadians pay between nine and 36 cents more for a litre of whole milk than Americans. The author of the report claims that milk boards boost domestic prices and that Canada's supply management system distorts prices.

AGE

The Chicago Tribune reports that the average car in the U.S. is eight years old, up from 6.5 in 1990. The number of vehicles that are 11 years or older has been growing steadily since 1992 and is now more than 83 million out of 213 million cars on the road in 2000.

TOURS

A Dutch company is offering an adventure holiday package called Live Like a Tramp in London. For $680.00, it will fly tourists to that city and leave them to fend for themselves on the streets. Each person will get a sleeping bag and either a musical instrument or a sketching pad and pencil to earn survival cash. On the last night, those still in the streets will get a meal and a room in a good hotel. British homeless charities are outraged and the police say they will enforce the Vagrancy Act.

FAT

For the fourth consecutive year, American sales of low-fat products are falling. Five years ago, nearly one in three new food products made a low-fat claim. Today, only one in 10 so much as mentions low fat.

GM

Researchers have been baffled as an ancient variety of corn maize has tested positive for modified organisms in an area where no engineered crops are grown. DNA from genetically modified corn has been found in native corn plants growing in remote southern Mexico. The growing of GM crops has been banned in Mexico since 1998 and none was grown closer than 60 miles to the contaminated maize. Corn pollen is heavy and does not travel far on the wind.

TRADE FAIRS

Germany is a leader in implementing global trade fairs. It hosts two thirds of the world's leading fairs and is home to 6 of the world's 10 largest trade fair companies. In 1999 there were a total of 161,000 exhibitors and more than ten million visitors at German shows. Of 77,000 foreign exhibitors, almost 25,000 came from non-European countries. Some 1.8 million of the visitors came from abroad, including 300,000 from outside Europe.

PLENTY

A combination of bumper harvests and high support prices has landed the Food Corp. of India with a growing mountain of grain. It is also forcing the government to review its policy on agricultural subsidies. At hundreds of state-run depots across the country, India's public stock of food is at an all-time high and next spring it will grow still further to 80 million tonnes, four times the amount necessary in an emergency. Storage costs alone are $2 billion a year.

VIETNAM

The U.S. has signed a trade agreement with Vietnam, the last step in normalizing ties between the two countries. Vietnamese goods and services will gain access to the world's largest market with the same low tariffs enjoyed by most nations. In return, Vietnam must open its state-controlled markets to foreign competition and international standards. It's estimated that Vietnam's exports could double from the current $800 million a year.

DUMPING

Canada and the U.S. led the list of countries that launched investigations into the alleged dumping of goods in their markets in the first half of 2001. The U.S. launched 39 investigations, up nine from in the same period last year, while Canada started 23 investigations. A total of 18 WTO countries started 134 anti-dumping investigations against imports from 41 countries in the first half of the year.

TRENDS

The traditional dining room is disappearing from British homes. Eight out of ten homeowners in London no longer have a separate dining room. Nearly 70 per cent said they had converted it to another use during the past two years. People are putting them to use as offices, playrooms or bedrooms. Fewer family meals and more pressure on space have left homeowners reluctant to set aside a room for formal eating.

TRIVIA

British record company Charrm is releasing a single, in a limited edition of 500 copies, of the one-minute silence in Hyde Park after Princess Diana's funeral in 1997.

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 2001 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

  December 2001 Edition

WTO

After 15 years of negotiations, the World Trade Organization is about to welcome China as a member. China is the world's seventh-largest economy and ninth-largest exporter. It is also Canada's fourth-largest trading partner (two-way trade reached C$15 billion in 2000). Upon accession to the WTO, China will immediately institute tariff cuts. Most of these will be in place by 2005, with further cuts to be phased in over nine years. Industrial tariffs will fall from an average of 16.3 per cent to about 9 per cent and agricultural and agrifood tariffs from 21.4 per cent to about 16 per cent.

COMPETITIVE

Finland is the most competitive economy in the world, despite its rigid labour markets, powerful unions and high tax rates, according to the Global Competitiveness Report from the World Economic Forum. It displaces the U.S. from last year's top slot. Canada moved up to third from seventh position. Of the 75 countries included, Zimbabwe, experimenting with a more extreme form of socialism, languishes in last place.

KETCHUP

When they changed the colour and introduced a new container, the H.J. Heinz Co. transferred a mundane food product into a star. Last year, when the company launched green ketchup, consumers grabbed it off the shelves. In less than a year, Heinz boosted its share of the ketchup market by almost 5 percentage points. While most of the press focused on the colour, Heinz officials said that the new container, built to fit the hands of children and encourage extra squeezing, was more important to the product's success.

WATER

Residents of a district in Pakistan were left without running water for 16 years because someone forgot to switch on a set of water-pumping stations. Recently, an engineer discovered six unused pumping stations in the area. One village has never had running water despite being next to a working dam.

WATER

Residents of a district in Pakistan were left without running water for 16 years because someone forgot to switch on a set of water-pumping stations. Recently, an engineer discovered six unused pumping stations in the area. One village has never had running water despite being next to a working dam.

TOMATOES

A preliminary ruling by the U.S. Department of Commerce has placed a 33.9 per cent duty on B.C. hot house tomatoes entering the U.S. B.C. produced C$74 million worth of greenhouse tomatoes in 2000, almost all of which were exported to the U.S., primarily Washington, California, Texas, Connecticut and Florida. This duty is a blow to B.C. greenhouse vegetable growers who also produce peppers and cucumbers

HEALTH

Health Canada is re-evaluating its approval of pressure treated wood for use in play structures amid concern that harmful chemicals could be leaching from it. A study was conducted in the late 1980s but the results were never made public. Most commonly, treated wood contains Chromate Copper Arsenate or CCA, a pesticide that keeps the wood from deteriorating. It also contains arsenic. One piece of tested wood had levels of arsenic that exceeded the current Canadian guideline by more than 10 times.

CITIES

A new United Nations Population Fund report states that roughly 2.8 billion people presently live in cities. By 2005, that number will have risen to 3.9 billion, nearly three-quarters of them in the developing world. In 2015, there will be 23 mega-cities, those with 10 million or more people, compared with only five in 1975. The top five will be: Tokyo, Mumbai (Bombay), Lagos, Dhaka and Sao Paulo

WORTH

A woman seeking renewal of a 25-year licence for a refreshment kiosk near the Tower of London has been offered over US$4 million for it if she is successful. The kiosk's position, near the entrance to the Tower, which attracts more than five million visitors a year, is one of the busiest and most profitable in London.

FREE

For the eighth straight year, Hong Kong has topped the list of the freest economies in the survey compiled by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. Singapore ranked second and New Zealand third. The United States tied for fourth with Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Canada was 15th and China was 121st. An average tariff rate of 15.7 per cent; quotas; import licensing; import substitution and local content policies; restrictive quarantine and certification standards earned China the most negative rating for protectionist trade policies.

CELLPHONES

China has leapfrogged past the U.S. as the nation with the most cellphone users. China now has 120.6 million mobile phone users, compared with 120.1 million U.S. users. With less than 10 per cent of China's population using a cellphone, the market there is expected to continue to grow by another 80 million by 2002.

BRITAIN

After decades of drinking heavily, Britons are turning their backs on the bottle. New research shows that health-conscious consumers are cutting down on beer, wine and spirits and turning to bottled water and soft drinks. After 20 years of rising alcohol consumption, the number of people drinking regularly fell by almost 5 per cent between 1990 and 2000.

AFRICA

Now that sub-Saharan Africa has passed the threshold of one telephone subscriber per 100 inhabitants, all countries in Africa are connected to the Internet. The U.N. telecommunications agency has said that the number of subscribers more than doubled from 0.51 to 1.2 per 100 people from 1995 to 2000. This followed economic improvements in Africa and expansion of competitive operators on the continent. The agency has predicted that by the end of this year, there would be more mobile than fixed subscribers on the continent.

DRUGS

Canada's four Atlantic provinces want to set up a joint panel to review drugs for the entire region. They believe that a joint approach to drug review could eliminate duplication as well as increase Atlantic Canada's buying power when it signs contracts with drug manufacturers. Right now, each province reviews prescription drugs to decide which one should be covered by publicly funded plans.

MEXICO

The industrial corridor between Linares and Allende in the State of Neuvo Leon is becoming increasingly dedicated to providing food to the U.S. market. The zone is strategically important for the duty-free transport of food, originating in Europe, to the U.S. market. European foods that arrive as finished products in the U.S. are subject to duties, but producers are taking advantage of the NAFTA to send their products to the U.S. via Mexico.

THE ENVIRONMENT

A plastic golf tee has been developed that dissolves after five hours under a golf-course sprinkler system.

BUGS

About 150 experts recently gathered in London at the first international conference on bugs in books. From Nigeria to New Zealand, museums and libraries are taking pest control very seriously. No collection is safe from bookworms, beetles, booklice and even termites. Central heating in libraries gives tropical bugs a place to spend the winter and cutting back on cleaning staff brings the beetles marching in.

EUROPEAN UNION

The EU may, within three or four years, let in ten more countries all at once. Thirteen countries have asked to join the 15 that are already members. Most are from Central Europe and have been applying since the fall of communism in 1989. Negotiations with ten countries may well be concluded by the end of next year, paving the way for them to enter the Union as early as 2004. The ten new members would add some 75 million people to the EU's present population of 375 million.

TEXTILES

The textile and apparel industry employs more than 500,000 workers in the U.S. but it has lost 600,000 jobs since 1994, and almost 70,000 this year. Sales of U.S. cotton to textile companies in the U.S. have gone from about 11. 5 million bales in 1997 and 1998 to about 7.8 million bales this year.

MARRIAGE

The average Canadian bride and groom were well over 30 years old in 1998, according to new Statistics Canada data on marriages. The average age of a bride, including first-time brides as well as previously divorced women and widows, was 31.1 in 1998, up from 28.6 in 1988. The average man was wed at 33.7 years old in 1998, compared with 31.2 a decade earlier. In total, 152,821 couples were married in 1998, virtually unchanged from 1997.

EMPLOYMENT

In 2000, the percentage of employment in the service sector in Canada was 74.1 per cent. In the U.S. it was 74.5 per cent, France 74 per cent, U.K. 72.8 per cent and Japan 63.1 per cent.

CURRENCY

Vietnam has declared its numismatic independence with a 50-dong souvenir note crafted from polymer substrate--the first home-grown note after decades of dependence on Russian, Chinese and Swiss assistance in engraving and printing Vietnamese currency. It is worth only cents but has become a hot collectors item. Bank officials say the new note represents a trial run in using polymer substrate, which costs about one-and-a-half times as much as ordinary paper but is more durable and counterfeit-resistant.

PRODUCTIVITY

Boosted by new technology advances, labour productivity in the U.S. between 1995 and 2000, increased by an average of 2.6 per cent, up from 0.8 per cent between 1990-1995, and outpaced the European Union and Japan, according to the International Labour Organization. Labour productivity is considered a key indicator of economic performance and is influenced by factors such as accumulation of machinery and equipment, improvements in organization and transportation, workers skills, or human capital, and new technology.

VIEWING

More Canadians are tuning into pay-television and specialty channels at the expense of conventional Canadian and foreign stations. Of all television viewing, pay and specialty channels took 30 per cent of the audience during the fall of 2000 up from less than one per cent in 1992. The percentage of those watching Canadian channels only was down to 53 per cent in 2000 from 75 per cent in 1982.

RAGE

Japanese designers and engineers have developed a speaking car, called the Pod, that avoids road rage by telling drivers when they are overreacting and praises them for good manners.

OSAKA

The City of Osaka has introduced a subsidy programme for foreign-affiliated firms setting up business in Osaka. The programme applies to firms that establish a new base in the city between April 1, 2001 and March 31, 2002. Eligible expenses include commission fees for market research and other purposes, interpretation and licensing fees, registration and other legal formalities and non-refundable deposits for the rental of offices or other facilities. The amount of the grant is not to exceed half of the sum of applicable expenses.

PARROTS

At (www.parrotmountain.com), the Parrot Mountain company is selling rollerskates for parrots in three different sizes.

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 2001 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

November 2001 Edition

 FRUIT

China has become the world's largest centre for fruit and vegetable production. Statistics show that in 2000, China's fruit growing area and production reached 8.67 million hectares and 62 million tons, accounting for 18 per cent and 13 per cent of the world total respectively. Meanwhile, China's vegetable growing area and production amounted to 14.67 million hectares and 440 million tons, accounting for 35 per cent and 67 per cent of the world total respectively.

RETIREMENT

Rates of early retirement in Canada have tapered off after peaking in 1997. During the early 1990s, the overall rate of early retirement increased steadily until 1997, when 46 per cent of all workers who retired did so before they were 60. One reason behind the surge in early retirement during the early 1990s may have been downsizing in some public?sector industries. Many older public servants were encouraged to take early retirement packages. In 1997, 65 per cent of those who retired were under 60.

MINIATURIZATION

In another milestone in computer miniaturization, IBM has announced that it's scientists have built the smallest-ever computer logic circuit made from a single molecule of carbon. The material used to construct the circuit is a carbon nanotube, a hollow strand 100,000 times thinner than a human hair.

POPULATION

As of July 2001, Canada's population surpassed 31 million reaching an estimated 31,081,900. From July 2000 to July 2001, the population increased by 312,200 people, the largest annual population rise since 1996/97. The population grew by an estimated 1.0 per cent in 2000/01, compared with increases of less than 0.9 per cent during the previous three years. The main factors behind this higher growth were an influx of 252,100 immigrants to Canada in 2000/01, about 46,000 more than in 1999/2000. In addition, the number of non?permanent residents rose by 22,900 in 2000/01, almost double the estimated number in 1999/2000.

CABS

More than 62,000 cellphones were left in London cabs during the past six months. Half were never reclaimed.

CHINA

Once in the WTO, China will represent the world's fifth largest trading power after the Quad group (composed of the US, the EC, Japan and Canada). Several analysts conjecture that China's entry will change the balance of forces in the body, adding weight on the side of developing countries. Conversely, easier access to a market of one billion people is widely believed to offset Quad concerns over the stance China might take in the trade organization.

VEHICLES

According to the international police organization Interpol, there has been a worldwide surge in car theft, with one vehicle being stolen every 10 seconds. It is urging improved cross-border cooperation to combat car thieves. Three million vehicles disappear each year and criminals make an annual profit of about $19 billion. In 1999, Interpol said 1.7 million vehicles had been reported as stolen, up from 1.1 million the previous year.

COSTA RICA

The President of Costa Rica has suggested that the country's suffering coffee growers shift to sugar for the Canadian market. Since signing an FTA with Canada, Costa Rica is allowed to export up to 20,000 metric tons of sugar each year. Under the treaty, the sugar quota could rise to 40,000 tons within seven years. Coffee producers have been losing about five dollars on each 100 pound bag of coffee.

E-BUSINESS

A survey of 500 IT executives, by Jupiter Media Metrix, concludes that U.S. businesses are more concerned about the impact that online security problems have on consumer confidence and trust in e-business, than about suffering an actual financial loss due to a security breach. Just over 12 per cent of U.S. companies with a Web presence said they have suffered direct financial losses due to an online security breach. 40 per cent said they are more worried about how online security invasions will affect their customers.

LOW TECH

Archaeologists in the City of London have unearthed two machines that show that the Romans used to lift water on an industrial scale.The three-foot high water wheels were found in two deep wells near the site of a Roman bathhouse and amphitheatre. They would have been turned by a man walking on a 10-foot high treadmill and, on an average day, would have raised an estimated 60,000 gallons of water, enough to fill nearly 2,500 modern bathtubs.

BIOTECH

Contradicting the prevailing sentiment in Europe against biotech crops, a recent report from the European Union suggests that they may be safer than regular foods. The biosafety report summarizes 81 research projects financed by the EU over the past 15 years, at a cost of US$64 million, on genetically modified crops and products made from them. The research has not found any new risks to human health or the environment, beyond the usual uncertainties of conventional plant breeding. In fact, the use of more precise technology and greater regulatory scrutiny probably make them safer than conventional plants and foods.

FRANCE

French vineyards have called for millions of litres of wine to be turned into either methylated spirits or cooking brandy, in a desperate attempt to survive the slump affecting the country's wine industry. French wine consumption has dropped dramatically in recent years: The average adult drinks only 57 litres of wine annually, compared with 91 litres in 1980

SAFETY

More than half the foreign ships inspected at Canadian ports last year were found to have defects and in 10 per cent of the cases those defects were serious enough that the ship had to be detained. Of the 1070 ships inspected at Canadian ports, there were 583 foreign vessels found to have defects and 103, with an average age of 16.3 years, were detained. The vast majority of ships inspected were involved in commercial transport. Passenger ships made up only four per cent of ships inspected. Ships operating under the Panamanian flag were the worst offenders in 2000.

CATFISH

This is a Dixie delicacy increasingly liked by other Americans. One recent poll placed it as the country's third-favourite seafood, beaten only by shrimp and lobster. Around 600 million pounds of catfish, worth US$500 million, are sold every year in the U.S. Most of it comes from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. Last year some seven million pounds of catfish were imported from Vietnam, compared with two million pounds in 1999 and 575,000 pounds in 1998. Farmers are blaming the Vietnamese for falling prices, from about 80 cents a pound to 60 cents a pound in the past year.

FIZZ

An American researcher has injected carbon dioxide into oranges, pineapples and pears, making them fizz like a carbonated drink. The gas, which is said to enhance flavour and make fruit more appealing to children--except bananas which explode. The products are being test-marketed at U.S. grocery stores.

MARKETS

Kentucky Fried Chicken, which pulled off an extraordinary coup by opening a huge outlet next to Tiananmen Square in 1987, now has nearly 500 sites across China. McDonalds, which first erected its golden arches in Beijing in 1992, now has 370 outlets around the country. Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffee-shop chain is the latest symbol of American consumer culture to make its mark on China's urban landscape. Opening in 1999, it now has 35 outlets, mainly in Beijing and Shanghai, which is considered remarkable given that China is a country of devoted tea drinkers who do not take readily to the taste of coffee.

TRENDS

The percentage of Canadian-born players in the National Hockey League has reached another record low. There were 375 Canadian players, or 52.3 per cent of all players, on opening night rosters compared to 380, or 53.2 per cent, a year ago. European content is up for the 12th consecutive year.

DROUGHT

Saskatchewan farmers are expected to harvest 18 per cent less spring wheat this year. Production will probably fall by 1.6 million tonnes to 7 million tonnes, the lowest production estimate in recent history. The yield has declined by about 10 bushels per acre. Canola production has fallen by 38 per cent to 2.1 million tonnes.

ALLERGIES

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require food labels to show common allergens and to develop common manufacturing standards to prevent allergens from contaminating food. The CSPI estimates that 4 million Americans are allergic to foods such as peanuts, nuts, eggs, soybeans and wheat. Each year, 29,000 people visit a hospital after an allergic reaction and about 150 die as a result of their allergy.

CARTELS

The European Union Commission has fined six companies US$52 million for operating a secret cartel to fix prices and share the market for sodium gluconate, a cleaning solvent ingredient. The Commission found that the cartel, which accounted for most of the world-wide production, operated the cartel between 1987 and 1995. The market was worth US$16 million annually during the eight year infringement period.

CADILLAC

Once an American automotive icon of luxury, style and performance, Cadillac has fallen on hard times. In 1998, it was displaced as the top-selling luxury car brand in North America after leading the segment since 1950. Today, Cadillac is in sixth place with Toyota's Lexus division first.

DRUGS

A U.S. senator is spearheading an effort designed to encourage drug wholesalers and pharmacists to import cheap prescription drugs from Canada. The goal of the proposed legislation is to eliminate the need for individuals to visit Canada themselves and to put pressure on U.S. drug makers to ease prices. Canadian regulations hold the prices of most prescription drugs to much lower levels.

AGRI-FOOD

A new service should make it easier to move Canadian product into Mexico, one of the largest markets of Canada's agricultural and agri-food industry. A full-time resource person has been placed at the Mexican border to ensure that Canadian companies are well prepared to meet Mexican requirements. Mexico has a fairly complicated import regime and getting products (especially processed foods) across the border can be challenging.

ODD

Centuries after King Arthur, a new type of knight is wandering Britain. When asked their religious affiliation on the 2001 census forms, many Britons wrote in "Jedi Knight." So many have done so that the government has been forced to give Jedi Knight its own category when compiling the census results. Jedi Knights are warriors who battle evil through the ages in the Star Wars movies. Jedi Knights have been given its own code in processing the census because of the large number of people who entered it. However, officials report that this will not be included as a religion in a future census

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 2001 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

October 2001 Edition

 RUSTLING

Beef prices are at a 10-year high in Canada and that has triggered a run on cattle. In Alberta, the demand for meat has created a serious problem in cattle rustling. About 6,000 head of cattle disappear in Alberta every year costing ranchers $6 million. Livestock detectives say the problem is getting worse. Some ranches have lost more cattle in the last three years than in the previous forty. One ranch lost 11 head of cattle in one day worth $1,900 each.

WATER

Mexico has missed a deadline for the payment of water to the U.S. under an international treaty governing the Rio Grande, a critical source of water for farmers along the river's valley in South Texas. Mexico has owed the U.S. about 1.3 million acre-feet of water since 1992 under the agreement and was supposed to pay about 600,000 acre-feet to the U.S. by the end of July 2001.

ONLINE

Canadian women are among the world's most eager surfers in cyberspace, while Germany has the lowest percentage of women Internet users among 26 countries in Europe, North America and Asia. Of the 26 countries surveyed, only Canada and the U.S. had female majorities in cyberspace, with 51 per cent and 52 per cent respectively. The study showed that only 37 per cent of German on-line users were women.

HOURS

Roughly one in six workers in developed countries is a part-timer (less than 30 hours a week). In the past few years the incidence of part-time work has risen sharply in some European countries, notably the Netherlands and Belgium, but has fallen in the U.S. Women dominate the part-time workforce, but in some countries, such as Britain, the share of men has been rising, from 15 per cent in 1990 to 20 per cent in 2000.

TRENDS

The former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan has abandoned the Cyrillic alphabet in favour of Latin letters. A government decree has ordered that all official documents and commercial signs, along with Azeri-language magazines, books and newspapers, be written in the Latin script. The Latin alphabet was the official script for the Azeri language for almost two decades before Stalin imposed the Cyrillic alphabet in 1939. Further back still, Arabic script was also used.

LATIN AMERICA

Competition between Japan and South Korea for the South American market has intensified, especially in the automobile and naval sectors. In 2000, South Korea exported US$9.36 billion worth of goods to Latin America, while Japan's exports to the region totalled US$19.54 billion during the same period. South Korea was at a disadvantage with respect to the number of companies it operated in Latin America, only 116 compared with Japan's 753. Japanese companies have diversified from manufacturing to service sectors, such as finance and investment.

MOODS

A day after the Hong Kong Mood Disorders Centre opened in May of this year, 1,000 people jammed its telephone hotline asking for help. The flood of calls was unexpected. Asians typically don't see mood problems like depression as an illness requiring medical attention. They don't think it's appropriate to tell their doctor they're anxious or depressed. Instead they complain about chronic fatigue, insomnia, headaches, chest discomfort or poor memory.

RUSSIA

The Russian foreign trade protection commission has announced its intention to reduce, by five percentage points, the import duties on 400 items of industrial equipment. The current duty on industrial equipment ranges between 10 to 15 per cent. The decree will apply to iron and steel, automobiles, light and textile industries, machine tool construction and food industries.

BACTERIA

British scientists say cooking with copper pots instead of stainless steel may lower the risk of infection from food bugs. Researchers from the University of Southampton released a study on E.coli 0157 which can survive for more than a month on stainless steel. The researchers are hoping to develop the bacteria-killing properties of copper. They found that the bug was able to survive up to 35 days and sometimes as long as three months on stainless steel surfaces, whereas it was only able to live on copper for four hours.

AGING

The world's elderly population (those over age 60) will be one billion by 2020, or 13.3 per cent of an expected total population of 7.5 billion. This is up from 8.5 per cent of the population in 1980 and 11 per cent now. Almost three-quarters of seniors will live in developing countries.

OATS

Months of below-normal rainfall in Saskatchewan and Alberta have threatened this crop and sent prices surging to a three year high. The two provinces supply half the oats consumed in the United States. The grain is of such high quality that it is used in breakfast cereals and animal feed going to breeders of Kentucky racehorses. More than two-thirds of all oats in the U.S are consumed by livestock.

PORTS

According to StatsCan, Canada's major container ports have competed successfully against their U.S. counterparts for overseas container traffic. The keys to the success of Canadian container ports have been a combination of natural endowments, investments in intermodal facilities and competitive pricing. These factors are likely to continue into the future; however, the competition among container ports is likely to intensify as industry consolidation continues and as publicly funded U.S. intermodal terminal and corridor projects come to fruition.

APPRENTICES

In 1999, the number of registered apprentices in Canada increased 6 per cent to 188,776. Since 1994, the number of such apprentices has grown 14 per cent ? almost returning to the peak reached in the early 1990s. Registrations have increased by 15 per cent or more since 1994 in all but two of the major trade groups. The two exceptions are building construction and electrical and electronics trades, where increases over the last year raised registrations to about the same level as in 1994.

SOLAR POWER

Newly installed solar-powered parking meters have fallen victim to Britain's notoriously gloomy weather. This is allowing hundreds of motorists to escape paying for tickets. The City of Nottingham spent US$2.25 million on 215 high-tech meters earlier this year. More than a quarter of the machines have stopped working due to the lack of sunshine.

PETS

Americans are the most pet-fond people in the world. In the year 2000, Americans spent more than US $27 billion on their small companions which is more than India's annual defence budget. 17 per cent of U.S. citizens keep a picture of their pet in their wallet or purse.

FASHION

A Japanese company has invented T-shirts that automatically dispense vitamin C to wearers. Each shirt is made of fibres impregnated with as much vitamin C as contained in two lemons. The vitamin-dispensing power fades only after 30 washes.

ENERGY

Canada is a big supplier of energy to the U.S. to the tune of US$20.2 billion last year. We provide our neighbour with 9 per cent of its oil needs and 15 per cent of its natural gas. Some claim that the Alberta tar sands contain 300 billion barrels of oil, far more than Saudi Arabia's proven reserves.

SPORTS

In 1937, when Gallup began asking Americans to name their favourite sport, baseball was the runaway winner with 34 per cent, peaking at 38 per cent in 1948. This year, baseball polled just 12 per cent, an all-time low, and a distant third behind football and basketball

FISH

Aquaculture sales soared past C$600 million in 1999 in the wake of increases in both production and prices of fish products. The industry generated revenues of C$611.4 million, a 17.6 per cent gain from 1998. Finfish, mostly salmon, accounted for C$560.2 million in sales, 91.6 per cent of the total, while molluscs accounted for C$44.8 million, or 7.3 per cent. Aquaculture exports increased 5.2 per cent to C$385.5 million in 1999. About 96.5 per cent of finfish exports go to the U.S. each year; France, Japan and Taiwan take the remainder.

REGULATIONS

A survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business concludes that provincial regulations have the greatest impact on the development of small and mid-sized enterprises. It also appears that the policies of the two wealthiest provinces, Ontario and Alberta, are the most popular among business. The survey of almost 8,100 entrepreneurs found that 39 per cent said policies set by provincial governments had the greatest impact. About 26 per cent said municipal decisions were the most important.

CORN MAZES

In recent years, spurred by a need to generate new revenue, farmers across North America are turning to agritourism. Some farmers claim that corn mazes can generate more revenue in five days as a maze then they would in a year as a crop. But mazes are not cheap. On average, farmers pay between C$10,000 and C$15,000 for the maze design which usually represents a theme.

BRITAIN

A new government study suggests that British companies conduct very little business over the Internet with online sales accounting for only two per cent of total sales of the sectors covered. Internet business in Britain could be worth US$83 billion annually. About 40 per cent of those questioned said that the cost of developing systems and uncertainties with contracts were barriers to making sales using e-commerce.

REFORM

Canada and 17 other top food-exporting countries are warning that attempts to launch a new round of trade liberalizing talks in Qatar could fail unless these include agricultural reforms. The 18-member Cairns group has said that agriculture is a significant enough issue that new negotiations on freer trade in products and services may not get off the ground if eliminating farm and exports subsidies is not on the table.

ADVERTISING

As U.S. retailers are gearing up for autumn, some are cutting their advertising budgets in favour of special events and better pay for sales-clerks. Instead of pulling out all stops to woo customers with typical newspaper inserts and local television and radio spots, many U.S. merchants are taking the axe to their ad budgets. Overall, national magazine advertising by retailers fell by 22 per cent in July with retailers spending US$9.2 million less then they did in July, 2001.

FILMS

The Screen Actors Guild in the U.S. is calling for an investigation into what it says are unfair trade practices in Canada. The actors union says Canadian tax incentives to American film studios are illegal. Earlier this year, an American government estimated that the U.S. was losing more than $15 billion a year because of so-called runaway film production outside the country. Canadian officials dispute that figure.

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 2001 Economic Digest - Importing and Exporting

September 2001 Edition

 EUROPE

Plans for the European Union to liberalise trade with the world's poorest countries are on hold. Following complaints from farm lobbies, Europe's trade commissioner has pushed back a proposed transition period for an "everything but arms" market-opening to 2006-08. The original plan was to eliminate tariffs on most goods by 2004.

PUBLIC SERVICE

Employment in the Canadian public sector has rebounded to the levels of the mid-1990s after several years of tight budgetary control and government restructuring. The public sector employed an average of just under 2.9 million people in the first quarter of 2001. This is an increase of 1.1%, or 31,100 people, from the first three months of 2000, and is the eighth straight quarterly increase. There are now as many people working in the public sector as there were in the first quarter of 1996.

PHONES

Nearly 50 per cent of children in Britain aged between 7 and 16 own a mobile phone. A study by the NOP Research Group revealed that 52 per cent of girls and 44 per cent of boys have their own mobile phones.

ICELAND

Global warming is giving Iceland an unexpected headache. Its roads--recently freed of much of their ice cover--are being ground to dust by cars fitted with studded winter tires. Plumes of asphalt are drifting across the island, raising cancer fears among health experts and environmentalists, while roads are breaking apart under the strain.

RADIO

Revenues of private Canadian radio broadcasters surpassed $1.0 billion for the first time in 2000, advancing 5.2 per cent from 1999. This increase was largely the result of the good performance of FM broadcasters, whose revenues grew 7.9 per cent; AM broadcasters' revenue grew 0.8 per cent. FM stations, as a group, have generated profit margins exceeding 16.0 per cent in the last four years, reaching a high of 22.5 per cent in 2000. During that period, AM stations recorded losses every year.

DANGER

A British 1999 study found that far more people were injured by magazines (4,371) than chainsaws (1,207); accidents involving tea cosies jumped to 37 from 20 the previous year.

FARES

The average Canadian domestic air fare in the second quarter of 1999 was a record $208, up 5.6% from the second quarter of 1998 and 2.1% above the previous record level of $204 reached in the second quarter of 1995. This was the ninth consecutive quarterly increase in average fares in the domestic sector, erasing the effect of seven consecutive quarterly decreases in 1995 and 1996. The average international air fare in the second quarter of 1999 was $364, 13.1% lower than the record average international fare of $419 reached in the third quarter of 1994.

TRAFFIC

The Mayor of London, England, has announced a plan that would see all vehicles entering the heart of London paying a $10.00, one-day, congestion fee starting in 2003. It is hoped that the plan will raise half a billion dollars a year to be ploughed into the public transport system and reduce traffic jams by 15 per cent. It is estimated that 750,000 vehicles pass in and out of the congestion zone each day. More than 100 digital cameras, both static and mobile, will enforce the new law. The pass will last the whole day and allow unlimited entries and exits.

CHINA

Swarms of newly affluent Chinese are helping to bolster the tourist-hungry economies of their Asian neighbours. More than ten million Chinese went abroad last year, up from just three million less than a decade ago. The Chinese list foreign travel as their No. 3 desire, after housing and education. Those that go abroad currently spend $2,000 to $3,000 (U.S.) each per trip. In Thailand and South Korea, for example, they are becoming an important source of revenue, particularly as arrivals from Western countries slow along with their economies.

FRANCE

The French government has announced a US$1.5 billion project to make high-speed Internet access available throughout France within five years. As part of a far-reaching technology initiative, government and industry will pool another US$180 million to bring mobile-phone service to the 8 percent of France that does not have it. The Internet services will be developed using cable, satellite and high-speed modem technologies.

CONTROL

The majority of Canadians are against letting control of the country's media and communications companies fall into foreign hands, fearing it could lead to a loss of national identity and sovereignty. A survey found that seven out of 10 Canadians oppose raising the current limits on foreign investment in the industry. 41 per cent said they strongly oppose changes that would allow foreign majority ownership. Just 5 per cent said they strongly favoured it.

PIRACY

The first pirate-proof compact discs which cannot be copied have gone on sale in California. CDs recorded on the new system play normally on a CD player or computer, but the digital code holding the sound is corrupted if anyone tries to copy it.

ONTARIO

Ontario's exports to Europe jumped 8.9 per cent in the first four months of 2001 relative to the same period last year. In 2000, Ontario's exports to Europe increased 9.7 per cent over 1999. According to the government, this year's increase has led to 2,000 new jobs in Ontario. In 2000, Ontario's exports to Europe totalled C$7 billion. Aircraft, computer parts, optical devices and precious metals led Ontario's export gains. Key markets were the U.K., France, Germany, Russia and Norway.

MEAT

The European Union, whose beef market collapsed in the wake of the mad cow epidemic, is to spend US$10 million promoting beef consumption. The 12 month scheme is to win back some of the estimated 1.5 million tons of consumption lost due to the collapse of public confidence in the safety of beef and beef products. The main emphasis of the campaign will be to reassure consumers that beef is safe to eat as well as emphasizing the nutritional benefits of eating beef.

ORGANIC

The Canadian government has created a national centre for organic agriculture based out of Nova Scotia's Agricultural College. The new facility will carry out research and education. Organic food accounted for C$1 billion in sales last year and has a 20 per cent annual growth rate. The centre will help Canadian producers eat into markets in Europe, Japan and the U.S. Key to the centre's mandate will be the development of four web-based courses in organic agriculture available to students and farmers across Canada.

DOGFISH

Marine biologists used to condemn these fish as an enemy of the fishing industry. Now, the spiny dogfish is creating a small Maritime industry. Landings of the small shark have shot up over the last four years. Meanwhile, markets have grown with a steady demand for their thick white meat in fish and chips in British pubs, in Chinese shark-fin soup and as snacks in German beer gardens. There are about 40 boats in Nova Scotia catching dogfish compared to eight four years ago. Fishermen caught about 2,400 tonnes last year, six times the catch in 1996.

PAY PHONES

It is predicted that pay phones and telephone booths will disappear in Canada within a few years due to the popularity of increasingly sophisticated and relatively cheap cell phones. Already, the explosive growth of cell phone use--20-to 30-per cent annually--is causing many Canadian pay phones to be permanently disconnected. About 9.1 million Canadians now carry cell phones.

TIME

Researchers have developed an atomic clock that keeps even better time than the microwave atomic clocks currently in use. The newer clock uses optical (visible) light and is accurate to one second in the lifetime of the universe--about 15 billion years. Until now, the best atomic clocks were only accurate to one second every 15 million years!

CHANGE

Tupperware Corp. is to begin selling its products in SuperTarget stores in the U.S in October. The stores will be staffed with Tupperware consultants who will explain and demonstrate the products like they do at Tupperware parties. The partnership with Target is only the latest step the company has taken recently to expand the distribution of Tupperware products beyond the parties. In the last three years, Tupperware has sold its kitchen utensils and plastic storage containers at 148 shopping mall kiosks, online and on television

FLOTSAM

The amount of buoyant, indestructible rubbish that floats in the world's oceans has exploded since the 1950s and 1960s. Before that, most marine garbage was organic, so it eventually rotted or sank. As many as 1,000 or more boxcar-size shipping containers fall off ships annually, releasing fleets of floatable goods. Autopsied sea animals have been found with items like cigarette lighters, plastic bags and toy soldiers.

OLYMPICS

In recent years, the Olympics have become a great commercial success. The TV rights alone have shot up from US$101 million for the 1980 Summer games to US$1.33 billion in 2000. By 2008, the IOC forecasts its TV rights for the Summer games will be worth US$1.72 billion. Revenue from its top 10 advertisers program will grow from US$96 million for the 1988 Calgary Winter and Seoul Summer games to an estimated US$600 million for the combined 2002 Salt Lake City Winter and 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.

BRIBES

Foreign companies bribed their way into obtaining US$37 billion in overseas commercial contracts over the past year, according to a Department of Commerce report. In the period from May 1, 2000 to April 30, 2001, the competition for 61 contracts may have been affected by bribery of foreign individuals, and of these contracts, US firms are believed to have lost nine, worth approximately $4 billion. Aided by eavesdropping and other intelligence, the US also found that over the past 15 years, firms from 53 countries have offered bribes and officials from 112 countries have taken them.

SIZE

Of the 100 largest economies in the world, forty-nine are countries and fifty-one are corporations. (Wal-Mart's $167 billion in sales for 1999, for example, is bigger than the GDP of Norway). Canada's GDP of about $1 trillion has yet to be surpassed by any corporation. With $45 billion in sales last year, Nortel was Canada's largest corporation. Larger, financially speaking, than every province except Ontario (provincial revenue last year $67 billion) and Quebec (revenue last year $56 billion).

MIMICS

The electronic tweeting of mobile phones is so widespread in Australia that some birds are mimicking the sound as part of their mating and territorial songs. Australia has six so-called mimic birds that commonly imitate sounds in nature.

MONEY

Australia's 'paper' currency is made from plastic. The special polymer is virtually uncounterfeitable and is recyclable.

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