http://www.aacb.com/A & A - Economic Digest - A & A Contract Customs Brokers LtdBringing Cross-Border Opportunities to You. Business Without Borders.en-usafan@aacb.com?2005 A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd.Sat, 4 Feb 2012 4:04:56 PDThttp://www.aacb.com/images/PoweredByAA.gifhttp://www.aacb.comA & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd.15546Wed, 1 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=187Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=187Economic Digest TICKETSBy next Christmas, all Canadian airlines will be required to advertise the full price of airfares. For consumers, it mea...
DEFAULTSAmong companies rated by Standard & Poor (S&P), there were just 44 corporate defaults around the world in 2011, down fro...
CLEANINGEfforts to create self-cleaning cotton fabrics are bearing fruit in China. Engineers have created a chemical coating tha...
AIRSHIPSA Yellowknife (NWT) airline and a UK hybrid vehicle company have signed an agreement in principle to develop and bring i...
EMISSIONSThe tiny super-rich Gulf state of Qatar will host the U.N. climate negotiations in 2012. Qatar has the world's highest p...
TRADEMexico's Senate has approved a free-trade agreement with Peru that aims to double trade between the nations, valued at U...
COCOAPrices for cocoa are suffering their longest period of decline in a half-century as more beans pile up in West African p...
AIRLINESThe merger of two major Latin American airlines, Brazil's TAM and Chile's LAN, has created the largest carrier in the re...
CHAMPAGNEThe French industry expected a bumper holiday season, a significant recovery from just two years ago when it slashed pro...
SHOWERSA survey, using innovative technology, has offered an insight into people's showering habits in the UK. The survey, that...
DOCTORSCanada has saved nearly C$400-million by poaching doctors from Africa, while the African countries that trained those do...
HISTORYLast summer, archaeologists clearing the way for a new mining project in the Yukon unearthed a 17th-century Chinese coin...
PHARMACEUTICALSRich countries spend a lot of money on health, 9.6 per cent of GDP in 2009. In 2009, OECD countries spent US$700-billion...
DEBTBritish Columbians have more consumer debt than anyone else in the country. The average B.C. resident has C$36,588 in no...
MONGOLIAThe world's largest ice-making experiment has been launched in Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia in an attempt to combat t...
WEALTHZhang Yin was the eldest of eight children of a Red Army officer. Today she is one of the world's richest self-made wome...
COINSLoonies and toonies may be popular in Canada, but in the U.S. the presidential dollar coin has fallen victim to Washingt...
TRENDSThe Somerset Council in England has taken action to halt the epidemic of metal thieves by introducing plastic manhole co...
MAILThe letter business is dying a slow death around the world as texting, online billing and e-mail are making the letter g...
GASAccording to the industry, over the next 25 years, natural gas activity in Canada is expected to yield C$285-billion in ...
FEARSA BBC World Services survey covering 11,000 people in 23 countries suggests that unemployment is the world's fastest-ris...
WORLD TRADEWith the Doha round of the global free trade talks dead, Canada and dozens of other countries are forging ahead with a ...
TENDERINGWhen Scottish police forces published an "invitation to tender" for sandwiches for the force, the description ran to 45 ...
]]>Sun, 1 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=186Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=186Economic Digest TRADEThe Canadian government is showing interest in joining the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership trade group, although the ...
PRICESPolysilicon is a material used to make solar cells and computer chips. In 2008 polysilicon was worth C$475 a kilogram. T...
VEHICLESThe lifespan of vehicles on Canadian roads has grown in recent years as durability improves. There has been a 20 per cen...
GAMESThe number of illegally downloaded video games has gone up nearly 20 per cent in the past five years according to new re...
FIRESA new study has shown that human-made fires are influencing the evolutionary process of some plants species' seeds. Scie...
THAILANDThe recent flooding in Thailand is likely to slow significantly the global production of personal computers well into 20...
RUSSIAA major hurdle has been cleared towards opening up Russia's huge oil-driven economy that would allow it to join the Worl...
PHONESAfrica continues to be the world's fastest growing mobile phone market and will soon have 735-million people using their...
VALUEThe average value of a Canadian home has doubled in the past decade. In 2000, the average value of a home was C$163,951....
WINEWhen France's wine producers finished picking the last of their grapes at the end of October, it is estimated that the o...
GROWTHThe value of Russia's trade with China in 2011 was expected to be around US$80-billion having already reached $53-billio...
ARGENTINAThe discovery of a huge amount of shale oil in south Argentina could boost its energy reserves by 44 per cent and mark a...
WATERAccording to the Levi Strauss, a typical pair of blue jeans consumes 919 gallons of water during its production cycle, o...
CAMELSA dead camel in Australia my soon pay off in carbon credits. Feral camels run rampant in the rangelands producing massiv...
CABSA licence to drive a New York city taxi is not only worth more than its weight in gold; investing in a yellow cab has be...
BEESThe value of crop pollination by bees each year according to the U.S. agriculture department is around US$70-billion. Th...
RENTHong Kong has now overtaken London to become the world's most expensive city in which to rent office space. Measured in ...
TIMEThe atomic clock in the UK's National Physical Laboratory has been declared as having the best long-term accuracy in the...
PETSAs the middle class stops buying pets for security and starts doting on them, spending on pets in Latin America has take...
BEERConsumption of beer in the UK has been falling for seven straight years and neighbourhood pubs are closing at a rate of ...
AUCTIONSGreece has completed an auction of high-frequency mobile telephone licences to the country's three main operators for US...
LANDBritain plans to sell public land worth an estimated US$15-billion to address a chronic housing shortage and help erode ...
CABLESIn the high-speed world of automated trading, milliseconds matter. In fact a savings of just six milliseconds in transmi...
OLYMPICSWhen the UK last held the Olympics in 1948 shortly after the end of the Second World War, the organizers asked athletes ...
]]>Thu, 1 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=185Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=185Economic Digest FISHConsumer Reports has revealed a scam that leaves millions of U.S. consumers clueless whether the fish they think they ar...
DEBRISA wave of debris from Japan's March tsunami will hit Hawaiian shores by 2013. More accurate forecasts are now being prep...
LANDSince 1700, the amount of cultivated land on the planet has increased from 7 to 40 per cent. When you look at a globe, m...
POLYMERThe look and feel of Canadian money has changed. Starting in November, the Bank of Canada introduced polymer-based bank ...
CARSTypical family cars have become more than a foot wider and almost double the weight over the past 50 years as manufactur...
STEALINGMove over Kobe beef and aged whisky, it now turns out that cheese is the most stolen food in the world. A UK retail rese...
MEATCanada's meat industry says it stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year unless Ottawa moves more quickly to...
NEWSPAPERSWorldwide daily newspaper circulation declined by 1.7 per cent in 2010 to 519 million. In the past five years the indust...
MANUFACTURINGIn 2010, manufacturing productivity increased in all 19 countries surveyed by America's Bureau of Labour Statistics. The...
FIRESA series of tens of millions of fires detected worldwide from space since 2002 show how fire affects our environment acc...
SCOTCHAs Africans grow richer, they drink more Scotch. They bought US$147-million of it in the first six months of this year, ...
SAMSUNGThis company began as a small noodle maker in 1938. Since then it has swelled into a network of 83 companies that accoun...
TOURISMDubai is significantly expanding its cruise ship port in an effort to attract more seafaring tourists to the city's Pers...
COOLINGFacebook Inc. plans to build a server farm in the Swedish town of Lulea, 100 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, usin...
FUELThe Spanish airline Iberia Lineas has flown the country's first commercial flight using a blend of fuel made from the in...
LIGHTA new type of "smart" window that switches from summer to winter mode has been made by South Korean scientists. The wind...
CORKAfter a decade of soaring growth for screw caps, bark has begun to beat back the assault. Now, the use of bark is up ag...
ARCTICRussia has predicted that Arctic shipping routes along Russia's northern coast will soon rival the Suez canal as a quick...
RUBIESWhile the price of gold continues to climb, growing numbers of investors are also venturing farther afield into gemstone...
TESTINGA technology company is building a US$200-million desert ghost town 20 miles square for testing smart city technologies,...
VOLUNTEERINGHaving volunteer work in your resume has the potential to make you more attractive to employers, a new survey suggests. ...
WOUNDSA would dressing that glows to indicate an infection has been developed. Scientists at Sheffield University have produce...
GASOLINEA British insurance firm has compiled a list of gasoline prices around the world. These are the five countries where gas...
RESTAURANTSA restaurant owner in Saudi Arabia is cracking down on food wastage by fining diners who don't eat everything they order...
]]>Tue, 1 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=184Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=184Economic Digest HISPANICSThe U.S. Census Bureau reports that the boom in the Hispanic population is spreading beyond traditional areas such as Ca...
DISENGAGEDHalf of all Canadian employees surveyed are disengaged from their work according to a recent poll. Thirty six per cent o...
WASTEDuring the recent summer heat in Tokyo ordinary consumers were trying to conserve energy offsetting shortages from the n...
YACHTSChina's seemingly insatiable appetite for luxury is a boon for yacht-builders, and other makers of luxury goods, at a ti...
REPLICASAn exact replica of an Austrian town is being built in China's Guangdong province. Chinese architects have already desig...
EMPLOYMENTIn most of the OECD mainly rich member countries, immigrants fare worse than native-born workers in the job market. In B...
PHONESWomen in developing countries are 21 per cent less likely to own a cell phone than men. This amounts to about 300-millio...
WINEWhereas counterfeit art has been around for centuries, wine forgery is relatively new. It started in the late 1970s when...
NUCLEARFrance has bucked the anti-nuclear trend following Japan's disaster by pledging US$2-billion of investment in atomic pow...
INNOVATIONCanada's Science Council reports that Canada is now a mid-level player in the global innovation race, passed by rising p...
FUELDutch airline KLM is using recycled cooking oil as biofuel to power 200 flights between Amsterdam and Paris, in a move a...
WEALTHThe number of millionaires worldwide grew to 10.9-million in 2010 despite a slowdown following the financial crisis. Can...
SHIPSThe Vale Brazil, biggest iron-ore carrier ever built, is capable of hauling 400,000 tonne cargoes. This is enough iron o...
LABOURGermany hopes to attract doctors and mechanical and electrical engineers from abroad by scrapping restrictions that made...
FONTSFord Motor Co. plans to use larger and bolder fonts for the text on many of its interior vehicle controls in order to ma...
AEROSPACEMontreal ranks third globally as an aerospace centre, after Seattle and Toulouse, France. Those employed in the 200 Mont...
LOGGINGIt is estimated that there are an estimated US$1-2-billion worth of dead trees on land flooded during the construction o...
LOADSA UK company has developed an innovative Load Weight Monitor system to maximize the safety and efficiency of loading ope...
INDIAMajor big-box retailers have been lobbying the government of India for years to allow them into the country to sell prod...
BEEFCattle futures are expected to rise in the next few months because of dwindling U.S. herd sizes, now at their lowest lev...
DEMOGRAPHICSMany emerging economies are in a favourable position with respect to their demographic transition, where the share of po...
TOYSThe European Union has introduced tighter safety measures for children's toys, which could hurt Chinese imports which a...
DOGSPlagued with pets that do their business, a Florida condo development is making residents supply mouth swabs of DNA samp...
]]>Tue, 4 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=183Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=183Economic Digest  CLIMATEThe destructive forces of climate change are already being felt in the world's biggest wine-producing regions, Californi...
EARNINGSThe wealth gap between whites and minorities in the U.S. has reached the widest in a quarter century. The median wealth ...
FOODThere are 230,000 Canadians employed in the food manufacturing sector. In 2009, Canada ranked fourth globally in agricul...
EXPLORATIONChina plans an ultradeep dive by a manned submersible beneath the Pacific that will propel it past the U.S. in a race to...
PANAMAThis country's smart banks, open economy and long lineups of boats at its ports have many comparing it to Singapore on w...
CYCLINGFor the first time, cyclists outnumbered motorists on some the United Kingdom's busiest commuter routes during the rush ...
TAXES324 households in Athens declared ownership of swimming pools for tax purposes. Satellite photos have detected 16,974 po...
PORTSIndia aims to pour US$60-billion into ports by 2020 under a drive to spur the fastest growth in more than two decades an...
TVsThe size of the average British television set has surged to nearly 36" in the past year. The demand for 40" to 47" TVs ...
TRADEThe U.S. trade deficit with China widened 11.8 per cent through June of this year. At the current rate, the trade gap wi...
DISEASEA new survey reports that more than half of Americans have at least one chronic disease. Some 55 per cent of people in t...
PATENTSApple has applied for a patent on a mobile phone safety feature that would deploy an airbag if the device falls. The pat...
LANDRussia is offering agricultural land to Southeast Asian nations to grow crops and help secure reliable food supplies, pa...
CHOPSTICKSA shortage of chopsticks in China has become so acute that a U.S. company has begun exporting millions of pairs to the c...
VENDINGParisians can now buy fresh baguettes from coin-operated machines which could sound the death knell for the bakeries Fra...
TOURISMThe Canadian tourism industry is ramping up its efforts to target the blossoming Chinese market. Other countries like th...
HAIRThe growing desire for glossy, long locks is fuelling a multi-million dollar global trade in human hair, with demand for...
SHOPPINGGiant posters on Shanghai's subway system now allow commuters to do their weekly shop on the way home simply by taking p...
AGINGThe Ueshima coffee shops that dot Tokyo seem like any other chain. But if you look closely you see the aisles are wider,...
FUELMajor U.S. car makers have agreed new fuel efficiency standards proposed by the U.S. Administration in an effort to end ...
WHEATCanadian revenue from the export of wheat in 2010 was C$5.2-billion of which 48 per cent came from Saskatchewan. 90 loav...
HOLIDAYSGermans work hard but they also enjoy the most generous holiday time in the European Union taking an average of 40 days ...
DAMAGEWhen a container fell off a forklift recently, 462 cases of the top-rated Australian 2010 Mollydooker Velvet Glove Shira...
SIGHTIn the early 1970s, 25 per cent of Americans were near-sighted; three decades later the rate had risen to 42 per cent, a...
ORGANICA new poll has found that the majority (58 per cent) of consumers prefer organic food to conventional food. This prefere...
]]>Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=182Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=182Economic Digest SOFTWOODMay of this year saw British Columbia's lumber sales to China eclipsing those to the United States for the first time. P...
JUNK FOODThe Association of National Advertisers, a Washington D.C. based lobby group is urging the White House to curb its enthu...
PARKINGAccording to Colliers International, Calgary is now second only to New York as the most expensive city to park in North ...
VIEWINGThe receivership of DVD rental chain Blockbuster is one of the latest signposts along a road that has seen DVD sales and...
CHARITYCanada has about 85,000 charities and they must disclose to Revenue Canada how much their 10 highest-paid workers earn. ...
SOLARThe first solar park in Wales will soon be converting sunlight into electricity in Pembrokeshire. Almost 10,000 solar pa...
COUNTERFEITU.S. Customs estimates the global value of counterfeit and pirated products to be US$600-million rising to $1.7-trillion...
HEMPCanada's hemp sector is small but growing quickly, with an increase in exports of 500 per cent over the past four years....
LABOURFollowing in the controversial footsteps of Arizona's lawmakers, Georgia also introduced beefed-up immigrant legislation...
TRASHAir France is to ask passengers to clear their seats and take trash with them when leaving the plane as they seek to cut...
DISPUTESAfter a 17-year dispute, the U.S. and Mexico have signed a deal to allow their trucks to use each other's roads. The 199...
POTATOESScientists in Scotland has decoded the full DNA sequence of the potato for the first time. The breakthrough holds out th...
INSURANCEAfter two years of decline, the global insurance industry returned to growth in 2010. Overall, insurance premiums rose b...
MARITIMESTime was when the economies of the four Atlantic provinces were virtually indistinguishable, depending on the fortunes o...
CIRCUITSScientists in the U.S. have created a roller ball pen that can be used to draw functioning circuit boards. They have use...
PUMPSCanadians already paying steep gas prices have also been paying out money for gas they didn't receive. Government data ...
TIRESChina's insatiable demand for commodities has prompted a tripling in the price of mining truck tires, making them more e...
FORMULA ONESome of the most sophisticated data-acquisition and analysis equipment is found on F1 cars allowing them to shave fracti...
GREENHOUSESStatistics Canada reports that there were 22.9-million square metres of greenhouses in Canada in 2010, up from 22.4-mill...
PAPERSBetween 2005 and 2009, the average circulation decline in newspapers in Japan was 50 per cent. In Britain it was 15.9 pe...
RETIREMENTIn Greece, the retirement age is 62 except for those who labour in "hazardous professions" such as hairdressing where th...
SIZEChina has opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge which stretches five miles further than the distance from Dover to...
WATERIn many countries around the world, access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities is still limited. Researche...
]]>Wed, 3 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=181Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=181Economic Digest REFUGEESThe UN defines a refugee as a person who flees their country due to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of ra...
RESEARCHA deal has been announced which will see Google and the British Library make available about 250,000 books. Internet use...
EMPLOYMENTThe Economist reports that the outlook for employment in the third quarter of this year is positive in 34 of the 39 coun...
SITESThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced that websites will no longer be limited to...
BEERThe brewing of beer stretches back to the Bronze Age in China and the Middle East. Now, archaeologists have uncovered ev...
WATERMELONSA prized Japanese watermelon fetched nearly US$4,000 at auction recently. The rare Densuke watermelon, a solidly black, ...
ELEVATORSThe 102-floor Empire State Building in New York is to upgrade its elevators. without disrupting its thousands of office ...
CIGARSProduction of Cuban cigars and tobacco leaf are on the rise after falling on hard times due to smoking bans and the inte...
CHIPSDriven by the success of the iPhone and iPad, Apple Inc. has now become the world's largest buyer of chips for computers...
ROYAL MAILTens of thousands of Royal Mail workers in Britain face the threat of losing their jobs after the company reported a C$1...
CLOTHING New research shows that the average British woman buys 62 pounds of clothing, or about half her body weight, in a single...
SERVICEA Consumer Reports survey indicates that Americans are fed up with poor customer service with 64 per cent walking out of...
GUTSSome industrious companies have devised clever ways of taking the inedible parts of animals like cows, pigs and sheep an...
CLOTHESChina still dominates the business, supplying nearly half of the European Union's garments imports and 41 per cent of Am...
DISTRESSA lifeboat was launched after a distress call was received four miles off the Welsh coast. After a three hour search for...
RESERVESAccording to the oil company BP, the world's known reserves of oil rose by 6.6-billion barrels during 2010, as increases...
ROAMINGIn a recent report issued by the OECD, Canada was found to have the highest data roaming fees out of all 34 countries su...
SEASRussia and Norway have agreed a deal to divide up their shares of the oil-rich Barents Sea. The accord will allow compan...
WINEExports are booming for California winemakers. Foreign shipments rebounded to a record US$1.14-billion in 2010, up 25.6 ...
SUNSCREENBy next year, help will be on the way for North American consumers who are confused by the maze of sun protection number...
WINDOW SHOPPING Shoppers will soon be able to "try" on the latest fashions from the sidewalk outside some stores. Researchers in the UK ...
RENTALThe Bloor Street shopping district in Toronto is the priciest in Canada at US$291.66 a square foot, making it the only C...
]]>Fri, 1 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=180Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=180Economic Digest TANKERSA surplus of supertankers competing to haul Middle East crude oil has swelled, hindering owners' chances of making chart...
TURNOVERAccording to Booz & Company consultants, 11.6 per cent of the world's 2,500 biggest publicly listed companies got new CE...
EXPECTATIONSDespite decades of apparent gains towards workplace equality, Canadian women starting careers still expect to earn consi...
BOOKSUntil now, Amazon Inc. has been a pusher of paper. But the Seattle-based company recently announced that it is now selli...
TRENDSBooming lumber sales from British Columbia to China (in March sales tripled from a year ago) is creating its own transpo...
DEMOGRAPHYAccording to the UN, the world's population will surpass 7-billion at the end of October, a few months earlier than had ...
CHONGQINGAn explosion of manufacturing and construction activity draws as many as 500,000 new residents to this Chinese inland mo...
ROADKILLGlobally, road accidents were the ninth leading cause of death in 2004, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)...
OUTSOURCINGWith the pay for factory workers soaring in many countries overseas, some companies are increasingly rethinking their ...
AIDJapan is set to make the traumatic leap from being one of the worlds's most generous aid donors to one of its biggest ai...
INFRASTRUCTUREThe Democratic Republic of Congo has started a five-year, US$600-million renovation of rail lines in the southeast of th...
DROUGHTThe Yangtse River, the longest waterway in Asia and China's most important shipping route has been closed to navigation ...
BORDERSThe Danish government is reinstating guards along borders with Sweden and Germany and is conducting spot checks designed...
MUSICSince 1999, when the file sharing website Napster appeared, global sales of recorded music have collapsed from US$27.3-b...
BRANDSApple has overtaken Google as the world's most valuable brand, ending a four-year reign by the Internet search leader, a...
LEGOAfter nearly going under eight years ago, Lego, the plastic brick maker, now has 5.9 per cent of the global toy market, ...
RICEScientists have shed new light on the origins of rice, one of the most important staple foods. A study of the genome sug...
BLIMPSThe Goodyear Tire Co. plans a 21st century makeover for its fleet of iconic blimps. The company will team up with Zeppel...
CHEESEFor years, inferior cheese masquerading as the finest from Switzerland has snuck onto the shelves of stores around the w...
DEBTStatistics Canada reports that about one-third of retired Canadians are in some form of debt and the median amount owed ...
LAND MINESWatermelons have been exploding by the score in eastern China after farmers gave them an overdose of growth chemicals cr...
]]>Wed, 1 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=179Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=179Economic Digest REVENUEU.S. Internet advertising revenue jumped 15 per cent to US$26-billion in 2010, setting a record high and proving that mo...
WORKA study of 29 industrialized countries released by the OECD shows that workers in Mexico work the longest days while Bel...
CARSMen prefer their cars beefy, while women go for lower price tags and better fuel economy according to a new survey which...
COPPERLast February the price of copper reached a record high of US$10,000 per tonne. This is leading to a surge in stealing w...
PHONESAccording to a new Oxford University study, British consumers are spending US$7-billion too much on cell phone contracts...
AIDThe Development Assistance Committee of the OECD reports that rich countries provided a record amount of US$128.7-billio...
OIL SANDSThe majority of Americans surveyed, while admitting they are not familiar with Alberta's bitumen deposits, believe their...
GENETICSWales is set to be the first country to produce a DNA barcode for every one of its native flowering plants. The project ...
HAZARDSMassive floating islands of houses, cars, and even bodies, almost 70 miles in length from the Japanese tsunami are causi...
SYRUPVillages in Quebec have created a Strategic Reserve of over 10-million kilograms of maple syrup. Producers are preparing...
AUSTRALIAThe twin natural disasters that hit Australia early this year will cost its economy around US$9.4-billion. This is a sub...
BREADWhite bread, the mainstay of Britain's diet for decades, has fallen from favour for the first time as more consumers swi...
CITATIONSScience is becoming bigger and more global. Britain's Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific academy, states that ...
LOSSESThe recent U.S. census shows that Detroit is dying, having lost a quarter of its population, 273,500 people, from 2000 t...
DRINKINGWhisky drinking has increased worldwide despite the global recession, or perhaps because of it. The Scotch Whisky Associ...
DAIRIESNearly half of China's 1,176 dairies are being shut down after failing to obtain new licences resulting from a governmen...
CADMIUMEffective January 1, 2012, it will be illegal to sell children's jewellery in the state of California that contains more...
SEAFOODThe U.S imports 83 per cent of its seafood. These imports were worth US$14.2-billion in 2008 of which Canada earned a 22...
TRENDSThousands of shops in the UK are getting ready for the roll-out of a new technology which could allow shoppers to use ce...
PANAMAConstruction of the Panama Canal expansion, which will enable vessels twice the size to navigate the passage, will likel...
GROWTHWhile many analysts are focused on opportunities in Brazil, Russia, India and China, the best of the US$300-trillion ris...
CHLORINEA budget-conscious council in Austria is asking swimmers to stop swallowing water to save money. They estimate bathers a...
]]>Sun, 1 May 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=178Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=178Economic Digest SIZEThe Subway sandwich chain has now surpassed McDonald's as the world's largest restaurant chain by units. McDonald's is s...
AFRICAConsumer spending in Africa was US$860-billion in 2008, a figure which is estimated to grow to $1.4-trillion by 2020. Af...
MAGAZINESCanadians have drastically reduced their spending on magazines over the past few years. Consumer purchases of magazines ...
CARDSThe Amex corporation has introduced the Amex Centurion which is a charge card, so monthly balances must be paid in full....
AIRPORTSBeijing became the world's second-busiest airport last year eclipsing London Heathrow and narrowing the gap to Atlanta. ...
ACCIDENTSGrain bin accidents, a little-known peril of the workplace in farming country have risen in the U.S. Last year, 51 men a...
PRICESThe U.K.'s official statistics agency has updated the contents of the "typical" shopping basket of about 650 items it us...
TOURISMKenya's overseas tourist arrivals hit a record 1.1-million in 2010, short of a 1.2-million target, but up from 950,000 i...
MALLSTwo of Canada's top shopping centre developers are squaring off over plans to bring U.S.-style premium outlet malls to C...
MANUFACTURINGLast year China topped the U.S. as the world's largest manufacturer for the first time, accounting for 19.8 per cent of ...
GPSScientists are warning that the U.K has become dangerously reliant on satellite-navigation systems. Use of space-borne p...
TECHNOLOGYPeople stuck for a stamp in Denmark can now send a text message to pay the postage on a letter. The Danish post office h...
FUNDSThe total assets held by pension funds in the 13 biggest markets were worth more than US$26-trillion at the end of 2010,...
LIVINGFor the fifth straight year, Vancouver has topped the Economist's list of the world's most livable cities. Australian an...
SHIPPINGA Danish shipping company has ordered ten colossal vessels from a South Korean shipyard at a cost of US$1.9-billion with...
POWERIceland is considering building the world's longest sub-sea electric cable to allow it to sell its geothermal and volcan...
TOBACCOChina is starting to wake to the health-care costs of its citizens' enthusiastic tobacco habit. Profits from producing c...
INSURANCEThe European Union's highest court has declared illegal the widespread practice of charging men and women different rate...
SNOWBIRDSBetween 2000 and 2008, the number of Canadian snowbirds travelling to the United States have increased 102 per cent. The...
GMThe area of the world's farmland used for growing genetically modified crops grew by about 10 per cent last year. GM use...
ARMSIndia has overtaken China to become the world's largest importer of arms. India accounted for nine per cent of all weapo...
NEWSROOMSNearly three-quarters of top management jobs in news media across the world are held by men, as are two-thirds of report...
JOBSAlmost three-quarters of 4,500 Canadians responding to a survey said they would be willing to make a move for the right ...
TOOTHPASTEThere has been an explosion of specialized pastes and gels that brag about their powers to whiten teeth, reduce plaque, ...
]]>Fri, 1 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=177Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=177Economic Digest LUMBERWhile Japan remains a weak market for B.C. lumber and the U.S. housing market is stalled, the bright spot is the Chinese...
ORGANICSThe U.K government has been criticized in a new report for not doing enough to support and promote organic food and farm...
ETHANOLSwitchgrass, the prairie plant that once fuelled the buffalo herds of the American Great Plains, may one day fill automo...
DIAMONDSA 78-carat diamond, described as the finest ever found in Canada and dubbed the Etaki Spirit, sold recently in Antwerp f...
CANALSColumbia has announced that it is negotiating with China to build an alternative to the Panama Canal. The proposed trans...
FORESTSThe Food and Agriculture Organization, a UN body, estimates that although the world as a whole continues to lose forests...
SOCCERIn 2009-10, for the sixth year, Real Madrid headed the Football Money League a ranking of football clubs' revenues. Real...
COALThe biggest floods in years in Queensland, Australia, are turning into a windfall for U.S. coal mining companies anticip...
IMMIGRATIONThe Canadian government intends to reduce the overall number of visas it grants to overseas immigrants by five per cent ...
WELLSChina is launching a massive well drilling operation to save the crucial wheat crop stricken by the worst drought in dec...
STORAGEMankind's capacity to store the colossal amount of information in the world has been measured by scientists. The study, ...
BORDERA new poll shows that Canadians overwhelmingly favour co-operating with the U.S. to increase border security while easin...
SIM CARDSSome 400 high-tech South African traffic lights are out of action after thieves in Johannesburg stole the mobile phone S...
CASSAVAThis plant is also known as tapioca or manioc and is the world's fourth-largest calorie provider and is Africa's second ...
CRICKETLast February, 14 teams, including Canada competed in the International Cricket Council's World Cup in India. Broadcast ...
WEALTHWith a population of only 33,000 the GDP per capita of Monaco, the two-kilometre square sovereign principality surrounde...
DEPORTATIONThe cost to arrest, detain and deport a person from the United States is US$12,500. Immigration and Customs deported alm...
AQUAFARMINGThe UN estimates that in 2009 the world produced over 145-million tonnes of fish. About 38 per cent of this came from aq...
CARGOGlobal air cargo traffic surged by over a fifth in 2010 from the previous year, driven by a rebound in international tra...
PRESCRIPTIONSChanges to Canada's drug patent system being proposed by the European Union as part of a Canada-EU trade deal being nego...
CHILEIn 2010, Chile achieved a record year for exports which were valued to be US$69.6-billion, up nearly 30 per cent from th...
TASTEA Tucson taco restaurant that has already served up python, alligator, elk, kangaroo, rattlesnake and turtle tacos is no...
]]>Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=173Economic Digesthttp://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/view.asp?type=economic&newsletterID=173Economic Digest AUTOS Canada lost ground to Mexico last year in auto production. Mexico has posted the strongest turnaround in North Americ...
WRAPPING A new generation of smart packaging is being developed in Glasgow which flags food that is going off. Researchers fro...
POWER According to the World Bank, access to electricity is one of the biggest constraints to doing business in countries a...
PATENTS Canada is winning patents at a record pace as companies push to innovate. U.S. patent authorities issued a record 5,2...
REACTORS The uranium market is active again, set on fire by China's quest to secure nuclear fuel. There are now 442 operable n...
INVESTMENT According to the United Nations, developing countries and economies in transition attracted more foreign investment t...
MOVIES Chinese box office takings increased by 64 per cent last year helped by Hollywood blockbusters such as 3D movie Avata...
DRIVING Some of the world's most dangerous roads are South African. An average of 43 people are killed each day in a populati...
SHIPS The world's fleet of cargo ships is set to grow at a rapid pace in coming years despite some cancellations of new ton...
RAIN For centuries people living in the Middle East have dreamed of turning the sandy desert into land fit for growing cro...
GAMBLING Having tripled in size since 2006, the Isle of Man's lucrative online gaming industry expects to nearly double this y...
WORTH Apple Inc., approaching bankruptcy before the return of CEO Steve Jobs in 2007, has become the world's second-most va...
HOARDING Britons have stashed more than US$10.9-billion of cash at home as low interest rates deter depositors. The average U....
SHRIMP Vietnam earned an estimated record high of US$2-billion last year from its shrimp exports as prawn-loving Americans p...
RECALLS Auto makers recalled about 20-million vehicles in 2010, with high profile recalls led by Toyota that prompted new scr...
CARGO Singapore has lost its crown as the world's busiest container port, losing its place to Chinese rival Shanghai. Shang...
VACATION Nearly half of Canadians failed to take all their vacation time in 2010. An online survey of 627 employees by a manag...
TAXIS When taking a taxi in a foreign city it is hard to know what it will cost in the end. Now, thanks to a website priceo...
WIND Building wind farms offshore in the Great Lakes could generate thousands of jobs in Ontario according to the Conferen...
GOLD Imports of gold into China in 2010 surged five-fold turning the country, already the largest bullion miner, into a ma...
THEFT U.S. cargo theft rose 4.1 per cent to a record high in 2010 with a reported 75 cargo thefts each month across the tra...
TRENDS Wal-Mart is installing wine vending machines in some of its U.S. stores. Thirsty shoppers must insert their driver's ...
TEA Growers in the tropical Assam state, India's main tea growing region, say rising temperatures have led not only to a ...
EARNINGS The average stagehand at Lincoln Centre in New York earns US$290,000 annually while the top paid stagehand at Carnegi...
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