GHY Tradelines

span style=”font-size:85%;”(Food Ingredients First)/spanbr /br /In October 2008 the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) adopted a trade requirement on how the word “extract” may be used in labeling of herbal ingredients, and established at that time a restriction against the use of the word extract to describe dehydrated plant materials that have not been subject to additional processing other than size reduction, such as cutting or milling. This initial policy was adopted in response to reports of dehydrated but otherwise unprocessed herbs, such as hoodia stem (Hoodia gordonii), being marketed for example as “Hoodia gordonii extract 20:1.”br /br /The AHPA Board of Trustees voted March 11 to revise this original trade requirement to also address the use of extract ratios (such as “20:1” in the above example). The new policy therefore also prohibits the use of such ratios on herbal ingredients that are not processed by one or another extraction process. Click a href=”http://www.npicenter.com/anm/templates/newsATemp.aspx?articleid=26738amp;zoneid=2″here/a to read the new rules recommended by the APHA.

span style=”font-size:85%;”(World Trade Interactive)/spanbr /br /The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule that, effective May 5, will enable it to eliminate the paper versions of most export and re-export licenses, notices of denial of license applications, notices of return of a license application without action, notices of results of classification requests, license exception AGR notification results, and encryption review request results. This rule also changes certain recordkeeping requirements associated with the elimination of paper documents.

span style=”font-size:85%;”(WTO – Frank van Tongeren et al., OECD)/spanbr /br /a href=”http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/wtr10_oecd2_e.pdf” target=”_blank”This paper/a examines the presence and impact on trade and global supply of export restrictions applied to selected metals and minerals. The strategic metals and minerals selected for this study have a number of shared characteristics which in turn determine their impact. Their exploitable mineral reserves are generally found in one or a few geographical regions of the world implying that their potential mining and export are concentrated in a few countries. For most of these strategic raw materials, the top three producing countries account for over half of world production. In some cases, production is so concentrated that over half of world production occurs in a single country. This in turn leads to a dependence on such imports by countries that consume these materials or the finished goods produced from them. It also suggests that countries producing these raw materials may influence their prices and quantities made available on world markets.br /br /The metals and minerals in this study are generally used as inputs into high-technology or strategic sectors. Although often needed only in small quantities, these metals are increasingly essential to the development of technologically sophisticated products. They play a critical role in the development of innovative “environmental technologies” to boost energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen-fuel based cars, for example, require platinum-based catalysts; electric-hybrid cars need lithium batteries; and rhenium super alloys are an indispensable input for modern aircraft production. In addition, there are few substitutes available in the short-term for these raw materials. Read more a href=”http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/wtr10_oecd2_e.htm”here/a.

span style=”font-size:85%;”(RTT News)/spanbr /br /India and the United States have launched a bilateral economic and financial partnership that largely focuses on micro-finance, infrastructure and financial sector reforms. The partnership, launched by visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi on Tuesday, aims at increasing trade and investment and create more job opportunities in both countries.br /br /India asked U.S. investors to participate in its $600 billion infrastructure program in the next five years, while America sought greater financial cooperation with India for bringing about global economic stability.br /br /U.S. argues that more open Indian markets would help make it easier and cheaper for India to access capital, which in turn could help finance the country’s growing infrastructure needs. Read more a href=”http://rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1261490″here/a.

span style=”font-size:85%;”(International Freighting Weekly – Mike King)/spanbr /br /strongRetailers stock up as consumer spending gets back on course/strongbr /br /U.S. retailers will continue to import containers at significantly higher volume levels than last year until at least late summer, according to leading forecasters. One Asia-based analyst said: “U.S. retail stocks are growing, which is a good indicator for container markets. U.S. retail spending is clearly increasing and we’re expecting 14-16% year-on-year growth into the US this quarter.”br /br /February was the third successive month to show year-on-year volume gains at U.S. container ports, following 28 months of continuous decline, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report produced for the U.S. National Retail Federation (NRF) by consultancy Hackett Associates. Jonathan Gold, NRF VP for supply chain and customs policy, said: “We expect these numbers to continue to climb as merchants and their customers move away from recession and back toward normal shopping habits.”br /br /Member shipping lines of the Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement are understood to have been successful in introducing general rate increases in both directions on lanes between Asia and the U.S. Read more a href=”http://www.ifw-net.com/freightpubs/ifw/index/us-import-boom-will-continue-into-summer/20017764944.htm;jsessionid=09F287B99CC5EE80F0FB9FDC3944EB47.5d25bd3d240cca6cbbee6afc8c3b5655190f397f”here/a.

span style=”font-size:85%;”(CBC News)/spanbr /br /Canada imported more than it exported in 2009, the first time the country has posted an annual trade deficit since 1975. Statistics Canada reported Tuesday the country exported $369.7 billion worth of merchandise to the world in 2009, down 24.5% from 2008.br /br /At the same time, imports fell 15.5% to $374.2 billion during the same period, giving Canada a trade deficit of $4.5 billion for the calendar year. That was the first annual trade deficit for Canada’s export-dependent economy since 1975, though the size of the former trade surplus has been on a downward trend since 2004. In 2008, Canada posted a $46.9 billion trade surplus.br /br /The widespread slowdown of the global economy significantly affected the market for Canadian goods, especially in the first half of the year, the data agency said.br /br /Canada maintained its trade surplus with the United States, though it narrowed to $34.8 billion in 2009 from $89.1 billion in 2008. The surplus to the United States alone hit its lowest level since 1997. The trade deficit with countries other than the United States narrowed to $39.3 billion in 2009 from $42.2 billion in 2008.br /br /In 2009, the United States represented 63% of Canada’s total merchandise trade (exports and imports combined), down from 65.7% in 2008 and 71.1% in 2005.br /br /For the first time, countries other than the United States accounted for a quarter of Canada’s exports, up from 16.2% in 2005. China replaced Japan as Canada’s third largest trading partner, behind the United States and the United Kingdom. Exports to China, which have been growing for the past seven years, increased 6.6% to $11.2 billion. Canada’s major exports to China include crops such as canola and commodities such as iron ore, coal and other fuel products. Canada imported $39.7 billion worth of merchandise from China, down seven percent from 2008.br /br /Read more a href=”http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/06/international-trade-deficit-2009.html”here/a. Summary statistics and links to the data files are on the a href=”http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/100406/dq100406a-eng.htm” target=”_blank”Statistics Canada website/a

span style=”font-size:85%;”(CIFFA eBulletin)/spanbr /br /The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has published the handbook of export and import commodity codes for 2010. A list of chapters with changes since 2009 is included. To download the document click a href=”http://www.international.gc.ca/controls-controles/report-rapports/list_liste/handbook-manuel/index.aspx” target=”_blank”here/a.

span style=”font-size:85%;”(AP/The Canadian Press)/spanbr /br /Oil prices hovered near 18-month highs above US$86 a barrel Tuesday as traders considered whether a recovering U.S. economy warranted further gains. By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for May delivery was up four cents to $86.66 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.75 to settle at $86.62 on Monday, the highest since October 2008.br /br /Oil has jumped 24% since early February. Crude had traded between $69 and $84 for about nine months before breaking out last week amid investor optimism that an improving U.S. economy will eventually boost crude demand. On Monday, reports showed strong improvements in demand at services businesses and in the housing market.br /br /“We have a general sense that the economy is improving, and investors are now able to see a possible outlook for greater driving demand,” Cameron Hanover said in a report. “There may be a lull as we await this week’s supply and demand statistics.” Read more a href=”http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/06042010/2/biz-finance-oil-above-86-near-18-month-high-rallying.html”here/a.

span style=”font-size:85%;”(Metal Miner)/spanbr /br /Fine words were espoused from all quarters during the economic crisis that countries would not adopt protectionist measures, but one year on and we can see that few have held to that line. The U.S. and Canadian authorities’ action over steel tubes and fasteners from China is one that naturally hit the headlines but to be fair the North Americans are far from alone.br /br /Of course countries do not even have to apply a duty, just the threat of a case being under investigation is enough to choke off imports as the supply chain does not want to be caught holding material if a levy is applied. So when thebr /br /Russian government extended its year-long anti-dumping investigation into imports of nickel-bearing flat stainless steel products from China, Korea, Brazil and South Africa they were in effect extending a protectionist move without needing to actually apply a rate. The investigation, which commenced on 27 March 2009, will go on for another three months, the Russian ministry of industry and trade said. Meanwhile the €840/metric ton (US$1180/metric ton) import duty on stainless with nickel content of 2.5% or higher from the European Union expired on 20 March and although there is currently no sign of a new investigation into European stainless, “… producers will have to make some effort in order to reinstate their presence on Russian market,” iSteel Business Briefing/i reported a Russian special steel association spokesman as ominously saying. […]br /br /China was targeted in 116 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases last year, with more than US$12 billion involved…br /br /Good work for the lawyers. Will all this legal wrangling ease as markets come out of recession and gradually return to strong growth, probably not. Whatever lawmakers say, anti-dumping and similar trade disputes have become a course of action favored as first resort by domestic metals producers and unions the world over. A sophisticated network of agencies has grown up on the back of it, lawyers, analysts and lobbyists, which can be swung into action if a case looks sufficiently promising. We are not saying many of the cases are not justified; currency manipulation is clearly a major cause of the problems with China; for example, if the Yuan was free floating the U.S. and Europe would have a lot less to complain about. But there are also a large number of cases where the process is used as blatant protectionism. Read more a href=”http://agmetalminer.com/2010/04/05/anti-dumping-cases-increase-as-the-technique-becomes-more-widely-adopted/”here/a.