U.S. and China in a snowballing trade fight

BEIJING -- Trade disputes between Beijing and Washington over exports of tires, chickens, steel, nylon, autos, paper and salt are multiplying and further damaging the already tense relationship between the two economic powers.

The Obama administration says it only aims to protect the country's rights, but the Chinese counter that the United States started the whole thing by launching an unprovoked attack.
The current tensions began in September, when the United States imposed a staggering 35 percent import fee on tires from China.

Economically speaking, the tariff was minor; it only applied to a couple of billion dollars in annual imports, less than 1 percent of the total annual trade volume between the two countries. But it infuriated the Chinese, who felt it was a political concession to U.S. labor unions rather than a legitimate punishment for something they did wrong.

The feeling was that "China should not just sit there and do nothing," said Lu Bo, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a think tank under the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

China fired back at the United States with a full arsenal of its own trade complaints.
As the world begins to emerge from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, there is growing concern that a rising tide of tit-for-tat protectionism is slowing the recovery.

Despite world leaders' repeated promises to minimize trade barriers, protectionist measures have spiked, according to a recent study by Global Trade Alert.

At least 130 protectionist measures such as state funds, higher tariffs, immigration restrictions and export subsidies are being planned by governments around the world, the trade analysts found. The World Trade Organization, in a report released in September, noted that many members largely had avoided the protectionist measures that exacerbated previous economic crises, but it still pointed to some "slippage." The WTO estimated that "anti-dumping" disputes (which involve accusations of predatory pricing by selling goods abroad below the price in one's home country or below the cost of production) will reach 437 this year -- more than double from 2008.

The European Union, for instance, may extend duties on leather-capped shoes from Vietnam and China for another 15 months. India banned toy imports from China for six months last year and recently levied duties on Chinese telecom gear. China last month imposed provisional duties on some Russian and U.S. steel products.

Extract from http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2010-01-04/world/36768176_1_protectionist-measures-world-trade-organization-trade-disputes

Entering Trans-Pacific Partnership would boost exports by $15.7B

VANCOUVER—Canadian exports could grow by as much as $15.7-billion if the federal government pulls the trigger on entering into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), according to the Fraser Institute.

According to a new study from the public policy think-tank, joining the TPP would provide a huge boost to the national economy and help move Canada away from its dependence on the United States as a trading partner.

“With the Conservative government signalling that international trade is a top priority, the TPP offers a chance for Canada to gain a foothold in the prosperous and growing Asian markets and move the country away from trade dependence on the United States,” international trade specialist and study co-author Laura Dawson said in a statement.

“Participating in the TPP is also important to safeguard Canada’s current trade agreements, particularly (the North American Free Trade Agreement) NAFTA.”
While Dawson calculates that the TPP could provide a $9.9-billion increase in Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP), she said the agreement could be equally as important in shaping the rules of future trade agreements and ensuring gains already made, such as NAFTA, are protected so Canada does not have to undertake costly reforms to adapt to a new system.

“The era of easy trade policy gains may be over but the disciplines imposed by the TPP on investment, regulatory alignment, rules of origin and market access will, in the longer term, help increase certainty, reduce risk, and lower costs for Canadian exporters and investors in emerging markets,” Dawson said.

Entering the TPP trade agreement would secure a trade alliance between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore the U.S. and Vietnam, representing a combined economy of more than $27-trillion and about one third of global trade.

Additionally, the TPP has the potential to expand to include all Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries, providing for greater market-access gains in the future, the study.
“A significant attraction of the TPP is engaging China,” Dawson continued. “If China were to join, the TPP would become the first regional agreement to include the world’s three largest economies: the United States, China and Japan.”

The study also notes that when Canada negotiated the NAFTA and World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements in the early 1990s, issues such as electronic commerce, digital media and third-party logistics had not yet entered the commercial mainstream.

The TPP agreement provides a platform for discussing and resolving these and other emerging issues.
“If Ottawa is serious about diversifying Canada’s trade relationships, then TPP membership is a golden opportunity to do so,” Dawson said.

Souce: www.canadianmanufacturing.com

Carton board challenges wood as the base for transport packaging

PRESS RELEASE

Aug 5, 2013

Industries in all parts of the world are now thinking of replacing traditional transport packaging solutions made of wood and plywood with almost equal products made of substantially lighter and easily recyclable paper board. 
The spearhead developer and manufacturer of pallets and transport boxes as well as other transport packaging solutions based on paper board, is the Finnish Eltete Group. The company has its own factories in 15 countries and a sales network reaching in excess over 60 countries.

“But since we can’t keep pace with the growing demand alone, we are also offering turnkey production lines for the open market”, says Marko Virtanen, Eltete’s sales director of technology. “The beauty of our products is that they form a modular system that can be combined into different lightweight transportation solutions. Dimensions and other specifications are easily adaptable according to the customers' demands.”

Long track record

Eltete has been on the market for almost 40 years. The company started by producing edge boards to protect and support products and is now conquering the world with automatic lines producing paper board pallets at a pace of 10 or more pallets a minute.

Virtanen says: “When you combine a pallet with a transport box that both are made of carton and can take several tons, you can really talk about an environmentally friendly transport packaging solution.”

The package as a whole consists of honeycomb boards, stabilizing edge boards with a couple of different profiles, glue and paper cores to stabilize the feet.

“It may sound easy, but in practice it is impossible to make similar products with the same quality and low price per unit without using our technology”, Virtanen states.

New business opportunities

As an example of the possibilities to save time and money by using paper pallets, Virtanen mentions that IKEA has reported that the company reduced its transportation costs by tens of millions of euros per annum by switching to thin and light paper pallets that let them load significantly more goods into trucks and containers.

““We have not contributed to IKEA’s solution, but we can help other companies to make the same difference in their businesses”, Virtanen says” We can either supplement the products or the production lines and raw material knowledge. The investments’ payback time can be calculated accurately.”

In the beginning of June Eltete shipped an automatic production line for producing paper pallets to a Japanese paper roll core manufacturer that is broadening the line of business into logistics.

“We have had a business relation with the company regarding other products for a decade, but the new plant will be a totally new line of business for them”, Virtanen says. ”With relatively small additions to the pallet production line it possible for them to manufacture for example boxes, since they will already have many of the production modules ready at hand.”

Source: www.joc.com

Trade protectionism still on rise across the world

Brussels, 09/02/2013
Global efforts to battle trade protectionism need to be reinforced to help shield the fragile economic recovery across the world. In a report released today, the European Commission identified about 150 new trade restrictions introduced over the last year, whereas only 18 existing measures have been dismantled. A total of almost 700 new measures have been identified since October 2008, when the European Commission started monitoring global protectionist trends.
Although the trend is slower than it was in 2011 and 2012 and despite signs of a recovery in the global economy, there has been a worrying increase in the adoption of certain highly trade-disruptive measures.

"All of us need to stick to our pledge to fight back against protectionism. It is worrisome to see so many restrictive measures still being adopted and virtually none abolished," said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. “The G20 agreed a long time ago to avoid protectionist tendencies because we all know these only hurt the global recovery in the long run."
Trade protectionism is an important point on the agenda of the G20 Summit taking place in Saint Petersburg on 5 and 6 September 2013.
Main conclusions of the Report

• There has been a sharp increase in the use of measures applied directly at the border, especially in the form of import duty hikes. Brazil, Argentina, Russia and Ukraine stand out for having applied the heaviest tariff increases.
• Measures forcing the use of domestic goods and relocation of businesses have continued to spread, especially in government procurement markets. Brazil accounted for more than one-third of restrictions related to government procurement, followed by Argentina and India.
• The EU's partners have also continued applying stimulus measures, in particular supporting exports. Some of them took form of comprehensive, long-term and highly competition-distorting policy packages.
• Some countries continue to shield some of their domestic industries from foreign competition to the disadvantage of their consumers and other industry sectors. Brazil and Indonesia provide the most striking examples of this approach.

Background

The 10th “EU Report on Potentially Trade-Restrictive Measures" provides the latest state of play regarding potentially trade-disrupting measures implemented by the EU's main trading partners between 1 May 2012 and 31 May 2013. The European Commission's Directorate General for Trade prepared the Report with the support and approval of the EU Member States. Reporting activities started in October 2008 after the outbreak of the economic and financial crisis. Their objective is to take regular stock of the extent to which G20 countries comply with their commitment – made initially at the G20 Summit in November 2008 in Washington DC – not to resort to trade restrictive measures and to remove those in place without delay. The EU is firmly committed to this pledge. Its own current report complements and confirms findings of the monitoring report issued by the WTO in cooperation with UNCTAD and the OECD on 17 June 2013.

The report covers 31 of the EU's main trading partners, including the G20 countries. These are: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, and Vietnam.

Source: www.internationaltradenews.com

Business Secretary suspends 49 export licences to Egypt

By Daniel Hunter

On 21 August 2013, in response to the increasing levels of violence in Egypt, the member states of the European Union agreed to suspend all export licensing for equipment which might be used for internal repression. Following advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has suspended 49 extant licences.

This suspension applies to licences for the Egyptian Army, Air Force and internal security forces or Ministry of the Interior. It applies to applications for new licences as well as extant licences and will continue until further notice.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

The UK position is clear: we will not grant export licences where there is a clear risk that goods might be used for internal repression. The government takes its export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most rigorous arms export control regimes in the world.

We have already taken action to restrict exports to Egypt. As a result of the developing situation in Egypt, we have agreed with EU partners in this instance to go further and suspend all export licences for goods which might be used for internal repression. By acting together, we want to send a clear signal that we condemn all violence in Egypt.

This suspension will be kept under review until such time as conditions in Egypt indicate that it is appropriate to lift these restrictions.

In July 2013, five licences were revoked to Egypt after the government assessed that they were inconsistent with internationally recognised criteria used to assess export licences - specifically concerns about the potential for exports to be used for internal repression. The licences were for small arms/firearms components, armoured vehicle components and communications equipment.

The 49 licences now suspended cover a wide range of equipment, including spares for helicopters and aircraft, specialist software and communications equipment.

Source: www.internationaltrade.co.uk

10 Good Things About Obamacare

Key elements of the Affordable Care Ac have been delayed, most notably the mandate that employers with more than 50 employees must offer health insurance in 2014. In the case of the law's ill-formed, long-term care program, the provision wound up being abandoned. And when it comes to state decisions to expand Medicaid, the law's provisions have been denied in many states.

Opponents say these steps prove the entire law was misguided and should be tossed out. Supporters argue that such a sweeping set of changes is bound to encounter obstacles, and smart, well-intentioned people should adjust and put the beneficial provisions of the law into practice.

usnews.com

With Congress unlikely to agree on any meaningful changes to Obamacare, here is a look back at the many health care changes that have been triggered by the 2010 law. Here are 10 that Americans should be happy are in place:

1. Goodbye doughnut hole. Medicare drug plans (Part D of Medicare) stop providing insurance to people after their claims for covered drugs hit a certain level ($2,970 in 2013), and coverage doesn't resume until spending hits another level ($4,750 in 2013). Health care reform is closing this doughnut hole in annual stages, and it will be totally closed by 2020. Savings to Medicare beneficiaries will be in the tens of billions of dollars.

2. Free Medicare preventive services. Health care reform greatly expanded the menu of free preventive services to Medicare consumers.

3. Free preventive services to all women. Health insurance plans have added eight women's health benefits because of the law, in areas including breastfeeding, contraception, domestic violence, gestational diabetes, HIV screening and counseling, sexual diseases and wellness visits. These benefits are free, meaning they involve no co-payment or co-insurance, and women don't need to meet their plan deductibles to use these free services.

4. Pre-existing conditions. Beginning in 2014, no one can be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing medical condition.

5. Premium equity. Insurers can't gouge people with pre-existing conditions by forcing them to pay unreasonably high premiums. The law also limits insurers' ability to impose age-related premium increases for private coverage.

6. End of pre-existing restrictions on children's access to health insurance. The law has ended insurance denials based on pre-existing conditions for the roughly 20 million children under age 19.

7. Adult dependent insurance coverage. Adult children up to age 26 can now continue to get health insurance on their parent's policies.

8. Insurance payout limits. The law will end lifetime limits on insurance payouts. It also has been phasing out annual coverage limits, and these will be completely outlawed for insurance plans taking effect next year.

9. Minimum medical loss ratio for insurers. Health insurers must spend at least 85 percent of their premium dollars on health care (80 percent for smaller group plans) or rebate shortfalls to consumers.

10. New consumer health coverage reports. Consumers have begun receiving a standardized report explaining their health insurance. This seemingly modest accomplishment is actually a big deal. For the first time, different health insurance plans have to present their coverage details in the same format, using the same language. Consumers can now accurately compare different health insurance plans.}

Twitter: @PhilMoeller

Source: usnews.com

Spices exports up 22% in FY'13 to 7 lakh tonnes

The nutrition post

NEW DELHI: Spices exports rose by 22 per cent to 6,99,170 tonnes during 2012-13 on account of sharp jump in garlic shipments.

Total exports stood at 5,75,270 tonnes in the previous fiscal, as per the data of Spice Board of India.

In terms of value, spices exports increased by 14 per cent to Rs 11,171.16 crore during last fiscal from Rs 9,783.42 crore in 2011-12.

The exports, in terms of both quantity and value, were higher than the target. The board had fixed the spices exports target at 5,66,000 tonnes and Rs 8,200 crore for 2012-13.

According to the data, there was almost ten-fold jump in the exports of garlic to 24,000 tonnes in 2012-13 from 2,200 tonnes in 2011-12. In terms of value, garlic exports jumped more than four times to Rs 74.49 crore in the current fiscal from Rs 14.15 crore a year ago.

Exports of chili, which is the biggest contributor to the total exports of spices in terms of quantity, rose by 17 per cent to 2,81,000 tonnes during 2012-13 from 2,40,000 tonnes in the previous fiscal.

Besides garlic, fennel and cumin also recorded increase in the exports during 2012-13.

Shipments of fennel increased by 80 per cent to 14,575 tonnes in 2012-13 from 8,100 tonnes a year ago valued at Rs 114.02 crore.

Cumin exports increased by 76 per cent to 79,900 tonnes in 2012-13 from 45,500 tonnes previous year valued at Rs 1093.17 crore.

However, exports of pepper and cardamom registered a decline of 40 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively, in 2012-13 as compared to the previous fiscal.

India is the world's leading spice producer, exporter and consumer.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com