The luxury segment in Germany is booming

The luxury segment in Germany is booming thanks to its considerable strengths. High quality, technological innovation and unique design demonstrate the expertise of luxury companies and their employees. These virtues are paying off: all market segments grew substantially in the last half of 2012.

The outlook for the next six months is very positive too: 62% of company directors in the industry expect substantial sales growth in the first half of 2013. Almost one in two thus intends to hire more staff (48%) and invest in marketing (45%). One in three generally expects investment budgets to rise. Compared to other countries, Germany is a key growth market, with 55% of companies based there seeing better sales in Germany than in other markets.

Those are the key findings of a survey of 60 senior managers from leading companies for the first MEISTERKREIS index. This index tracks the mood in the German luxury segment and from now on will be conducted twice a year by MEISTERKREIS in collaboration with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. In addition to market and sales development, the index evaluates aspects such as profitability and investment.

Munich, 02/25/2013 |InternationalTradeNews| (Fragment)

Canada - India trade agreement

The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, today announced the conclusion of the seventh round of negotiations toward a Canada-India comprehensive economic partnership agreement. Negotiations took place in New Delhi on February 5 and 6, 2013. “Our government is committed to building on our already-strong ties with India to create a partnership that will lead to jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for workers in both our countries,” said Minister Fast. “More than a million Canadians of Indian origin is clear proof of how both business and people-to-people ties are helping us deepen the Canada-India relationship.”

Negotiations this week were productive and focused mostly on market access and related areas.
A Canada-India joint study concluded that a trade agreement between the two countries could boost Canada’s economy by at least $6 billion. That translates to almost 40,000 new jobs across the country, or a $500 boost to the average Canadian family’s annual income.

Canada has identified core economic opportunities in India in the energy, agriculture, infrastructure and education sectors.

In less than six years, Canada has concluded free trade agreements with nine countries: Colombia, Honduras, Jordan, Panama, Peru and the European Free Trade Association member states of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. In addition to India, Canada is engaged in negotiations with large, dynamic and fast-growing markets, such as the European Union, Japan and the countries that comprise the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

February 6, 2013  |Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada|

China Rejects Status As World’s Biggest Trader

BEIJING — China has a new status its government doesn’t want — world’s biggest trader. Official Chinese and American trade data indicate China passed the United States last year in total imports and exports by a margin of $3.866 trillion to $3.822 trillion. That is about $44 billion, or just over 1 percent of China’s total.

The Commerce Ministry has taken the unusual step of publicly denying China is the new No. 1. It says China still trailed the U.S. by $15.6 billion last year — or a razor-thin 0.3 percent — under World Trade Organization standards for valuing goods.

Beijing wants to be a global leader but insists it still is a poor country. It is wary of any change that might erode that status and fuel demands for action to stimulate the global economy or concessions on trade and climate change.

“I think there is some concern from the Ministry of Commerce that this might be used as evidence by Western countries that China is not doing its part to rebalance the global economy,” said Xianfang Ren, China analyst for IHS Global Insight.

China’s explosive trade growth has abruptly altered global business. It created new opportunities for some but prompted complaints by the United States and others over its multibillion-dollar trade surpluses, market barriers and currency controls.

In just five years, China has surpassed the United States as a trading partner for much of the world, including American allies such as South Korea and Australia, according to an Associated Press analysis of trade data.

As recently as 2006, the U.S. was the larger trading partner for 127 countries, versus just 70 for China. By 2011 the two had clearly traded places: 124 countries for China, 76 for the U.S.
Trade is especially sensitive amid anxiety over a possible global slowdown. Beijing’s trading partners accused it of hampering a recovery from the 2008 crisis by obstructing access to its market.
For 2012, Beijing reported a $231 billion global trade surplus on exports of $2.049 trillion and imports of $1.818 trillion. The United States reported $1.547 trillion in exports and $2.335 trillion in imports, for a deficit of $788 billion.

Fragment |AmericanEconomicAlert.org|

Germany’s economic boost

According to GfK forecasts, spending of private households in Germany will increase by 1 percent in real terms in 2013. This was announced by Matthias Hartmann, CEO of GfK, at today’s press conference in Nuremberg. Private consumption is therefore making a stable contribution to the German economy.

In light of low interest rates and concern about the future of the euro, consumers are tending to make high value purchases. Moderate growth is forecast for retailers. German consumers have started 2013 in positive spirits. All indicators of the GfK Consumer Climate were on an upwards trend as the year began. Although economic development noticeably slowed down in winter 2012, for consumers the turning point has seemingly been reached. Economic expectations are currently improving. This assessment of consumers is also shared by business, as demonstrated by the Ifo Business Climate Index, which increased for the third consecutive time in January.

Buoyed by the positive situation on the labor market, German consumers are expecting their income to increase in the near future. The perceived job security is giving consumers the necessary planning security for making major purchases. At the same time, savings and loan interest rates are at a record low. This is above all benefiting the real estate sector, which is proving to be a safe haven in which consumers can invest their savings. According to an estimate from the Ifo Institute, the number of completed homes increased by around 17 percent last year. GfK data attests to an increase of around 7 percent in spending on renovation. Concern about the future of the euro is also enhancing this trend. The former German ‘fear-driven savers’ have now in part developed into ‘fear-driven consumers’.

|Fragment of International Trade News|

Irish exports look to meet European demands

A recent event in Poland has highlighted the strength of Irish food and drink products.

The ‘Flavours of Ireland’ dinner in Warsaw, organised by the Irish Chamber of Commerce in Poland, the Ireland Poland Business Association, the Polish Embassy in Dublin, and the Irish Embassy in Warsaw, saw further Irish sellers meet Polish buyers.

“Working from behind a desk in Ireland, you just can’t get close enough to overseas buyers,” said Tony Mackey, managing director of Irish Food and Beverage Exports Ltd, who had made the journey to Warsaw in the hope of meeting Polish supermarket buyers.

Irish producers, such as Irish Food and Beverage Exports Ltd, are supplying goods to companies in Poland, as well as Belgium, Romania, and a select number of ex-pat delicatessens in the United Arab Emirates.

“We’re exporting pallet loads at the moment, but it’s frequent pallet loads to Belgium,” said Mackey, who established the firm in 2009 with two former senior executives with the Irish Dairy Board, Noel O’Meara and John McQueirns.

11/02/2013 By Daniel Hunter |internationaltrade.co.uk|

Indian IT exports to grow by up to 14%

 
Nasscom have said that India's information technology and IT-enabled services sectors are expected to grow 12-14% and clock export revenues of $84-87 billion in the next fiscal year.

“Increase in global technology spending and opportunities created through adoption of disruptive technologies are expected to propel growth," the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said in a statement.

“Nasscom expects the industry to clock export revenues of $84-87 billion maintaining a growth rate of 12-14 per cent.

“The Indian IT-BPM industry has demonstrated resilience and agility in the past year. Technology has today become an integral enabler for growth across all sectors and the industry is continuously evolving and innovating to emerge as a strategic partner to its customers.”

Exports from the industry, which counts the US and Europe as its biggest markets, were estimated to have grown 10.2% to $75.8 billion.

Given the economic uncertainty, Nasscom had predicted growth in the sector to be between 11-14% and later said only the lower end of the target would be met.

12/02/2013 By Daniel Hunter |internationaltrade.co.uk|

Emerging markets growth gains momentum in January

The HSBC Emerging Markets Index (EMI), a monthly indicator, rose from 53.0 in December to 53.9 in January. That was the highest figure since February 2012, and only slightly lower than the seven-year long-run average of 54.2.

Data broken down by broad sector showed that growth was broad-based across service providers and manufacturers, as the latter posted a third successive month of expansion and the fastest pace of growth since May 2011. Meanwhile the service sector registered the strongest growth in four months.

New business growth in emerging markets accelerated to a 22-month high in January. Manufacturing new orders rose at the fastest rate since April 2011, and across a broad base of economies. Only Egypt, South Korea, the Czech Republic and Poland posted declines in January.

Cost pressures in emerging markets were at their strongest in three months in January. The rate of input price inflation at service providers eased slightly, while manufacturing input cost inflation hit a 15-month high.

Employment growth was maintained in January, continuing the trend shown since August 2009. Manufacturers raised headcounts for the second month running, the first back-to-back increase in 17 months.

“After a difficult 2012, economic conditions in the emerging markets are continuing the improvement which began last August. Both manufacturing and service readings suggest economic activity is not just being supported by resilient domestic conditions, but also now by a pick up in new export orders. Export order PMIs were above the critical 50 level in 11 of the 16 economies surveyed, a level not seen since last April," Pablo Goldberg, Global Head of Emerging Markets Research, said.

“While the strongest readings continue to come from the services sector, which has proved to be quite resilient to a more challenging external backdrop, the good news is the pick up in manufacturing activity. Furthermore, the recovery in the manufacturing sector appears to have legs, as business expectations for a year out are also at their highest level for nine months. Central to this is the turnaround in the outlook for China, which is slowly pulling the rest of Asia with it. Countries closer to the ailing eurozone are still struggling, however.

“The recovery is not without risks. January PMIs show a pick-up in input prices across the board, which need to be carefully monitored, given the recent rally in oil prices. Yet this pressure does not appear to be being passed onto the consumer. Output prices remain contained which should allow emerging market central banks to retain a loose stance for now."

By: Daniel Hunter 06/02/2013 |internationaltrade.co.uk|

Chinese Knockoff Sombrero Drags Colombian Tribe Into Trade Fight

In the Caribbean village of Tuchin, Colombian families who’ve woven straw hats for generations are seeing their livelihoods threatened by competition that shows China’s double-edged impact in Latin America.

Chinese-made imitations of the black-and-white sombrero vueltiao, as the hat is known, sell for half the $20 price of the least expensive originals. In response to plunging sales by artisans who spend up to 15 days cutting, sun-drying and braiding cane leaves to make a single hat, the government is rushing to protect one of the nation’s symbols and ban plastic, machine-made rip-offs.

“The Chinese are stealing our culture like the Spaniards did 500 years ago,” said Eligio Pestana, mayor of Tuchin, where 90 percent of the 34,000 residents, descendants of Zenu Indians, depend on the handicraft trade.

An anti-China backlash is on the rise throughout South America as businesses, from automakers in Brazil to shoemakers in Argentina, demand protection from foreign competition. The trade tension highlights the downside of the continent’s increasing economic ties with the world’s most populous nation, fueled by China’s appetite for commodities from copper to soybeans.

 

“There’s high sensitivity to China throughout the region,” Colombian Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas said in a Jan. 15 interview in Bogota. “While we’re all happy with one side of the story, enjoying the high price for our commodity exports, the economic impact on the currency and manufacturers can be very negative.”

 

Resource Exports

China’s global hunt for natural resources has expanded Latin America’s annual exports to the Asian nation more than 20- fold, to $86 billion in 2011 from $3.9 billion in 2000, according to calculations by the Inter-American Development Bank.

The gains have come at a cost to South American industries. Dollar inflows generated by the export boom have driven the region’s currencies higher, making imports cheaper and leaving local manufacturers hard-pressed to compete.

 

Brazil’s real, Colombia’s peso and Chile’s peso were the three best-performing emerging-market currencies over the past decade, each surging more than 55 percent on demand for the countries’ iron ore, oil and copper. They’ve continued to climb the past two months, as the U.S. Congress averted a fiscal crisis and China’s economy rebounds, renewing calls among policy makers for action to curb dollar inflows.

 

|Bloomberg|

Rice exports to fall this year as rivals sell cheap

NEW DELHI: Rice exports look likely to fall about a quarter this year as it faces one-off cost spikes and rivals such as Vietnam, Pakistan and Myanmar sell at a discount of $35 to $50 a tonne, traders said.

India, the world's biggest rice producer after China, exported a record volume, including aromatic basmati, in the year to March 31, 2012, and may in future resume such volumes, which saw it dislodge Thailand as the world's biggest seller.

But traders are now finding it difficult to repeat that feat, largely because of factors ranging from higher costs to a stronger rupee currency.

"Our exports are getting increasingly expensive and at the same time Pakistan and Vietnam are selling cheaper," Prem Garg, managing director of the Lal Mahal group, a leading New Delhi-based exporter, told Reuters.

Myanmar, a relatively small player, has also stepped up its exports to cash in on falling supplies from India, said another senior official at tha Lal Mahal group, one of India's top three non-basmati rice exporters in 2011/12.

FACTBOX ON WORLD'S TOP 10 RICE EXPORTERS

"Until a few weeks ago, most deals were done at $350 to $500 a tonne but now our prices have gone up to $370 to $550 a tonne, while our rivals are selling at $335 to $500 a tonne," Garg said.

Rich biodiversity helps Indian farmers produce a wide variety of rice, a staple in most Asian nations, reflecting a wide price band for exports.

All three rivals are snatching India's share in its traditional markets of the West Africa and East Africa, said Anil K. Mittal, chairman and managing director at New Delhi-based KRBL LtdBSE -1.31 %, another leading exporter.

Buyers in Africa are buying almost the same variety of rice but more cheaply from Pakistan, Vietnam and Myanmar, said Sanjeev Garg, a trader at CommCorp International, a New Delhi-based trading company.

|economictimes.indiatimes.com|