Somkiat Anuras, vice-chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) said that Brazil along with other Latin American countries offered Thailand great potential, its vast population and resources as well as high purchasing power. Anuras who travelled with a trade delegation led by Thailand Trade Representative Vachara Panchet last month to Brazil and Panama added that most Thai exporters still remained reluctant to tap into the region despite immense opportunities.

The chamber has recently modified it projections on Thai exports to the Latin America region by $7.5bn for this year from $5bn. While the earlier forecast between this year and 2015 was $10bn but latest release says those figures could go up to $15bn per annum in the coming years.

The TCC vice chairman said as the world was eager to trade with Brazil owing to its growing economic status, the chamber was not far behind to take stock of the situation. While Brazil, South America’s biggest economy and the world’s eighth largest, commences work on 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, the chamber regards that it may provide opportunities for Thai contractors and souvenir producers.

Anuras opines that the Thai investors must forge joint ventures with the Brazilian infrastructure developers to derive infrastructure building opportunities which will be surfacing with the preparation of two mega sporting events. Brazil is expected to spend billions of dollars for add on construction of basic infrastructure, buildings, offices and residences as well as sports arenas, hospitals, hotels and shopping complexes.

Last year, Thailand exported chiefly, automobiles and parts, rubber and machinery to Brazil US$1.22bn worth goods. Although the bilateral trade accrued a trade deficit of $880mn against Thailand due to imports totaling $2.1bn, Brazil still remains the largest trade partner of Thailand in the region.

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Iran’s Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi met the Chinese vice Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing last week, and agreed on enhancing relations between the two nations, especially in the oil and gas sector. Li Keqiang is reported to have told the visiting Iranian oil minister that Beijing would maintain co-operation with Tehran on existing projects.

It should be recalled that last month, the Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Noghrekar Shirazi told the state-run Mehr news agency the Chinese companies were already involved in energy exploration and production projects in Iran worth about $29bn, and in refining and related activities at about $10bn.

Interestingly, some reports say that even Russia is not far behind China in cashing in on Iran embargo. Rajab Safarov, head of the Iran Commission of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry informed Russian companies were discussing “serious deliveries” to Iran in late August or September.

The US and the EU had made repeated requests to China and Russia to comprehensively honor sanctions against Iran. However, despite approval to sanctions both countries have differences on the scale of punitive measures slapped on nuclear interests of Iran.

“Sanctions are not considered an effective tool… and they will only complicate the situation” was the reaction from foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast last month as quoted by the state news agency IRNA. Likewise, Mirkazemi has also told at that point “European oil companies has no presence (in Iran’s energy sector) and so they cannot have any impact on us”, in a response to the EU’s recent oil sanctions.

If China and Russia continue trade with Iran, sanctions not only become meaningless but also jeopardize business prospects of other countries, including that of India which has massive ongoing and some in the pipeline oil trade deals with Iran. Bloomberg reported sanctions were forcing refiners such as India’s Reliance Industries to pay higher costs to ship gasoline to more distant markets. According to Simpson, Spence & Young Ltd., the world’s second-largest shipbroker, India to the US shipping costs, at $1.9mn, are almost five times higher than those to the Persian Gulf.

“It’s boom time for Russian and Chinese oil traders,” said Michael Swangard, a London-based international trade lawyer at Clyde & Co., which counts BP and Lloyds of London among its clients. It’s “practically impossible” for Europeans to buy Iran’s oil or sell it, he said.

According to Chinese customs data, in the first half of 2010, Iran held its place as China’s third biggest supplier of crude with shipments of 9mn tons of oil, putting it behind Saudi Arabia and Angola.

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Many players have likened the Jabulani to a ‘supermarket ball’, saying it is too unpredictable and flies through the air too easily. Goalkeepers have often expressed dissatisfaction about footballs at most mega events of late, but this is the first time even field players and coaches joining the chorus.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon went on to say “I don’t see why we can’t just go back to the old black-and-white checkered version we all played with as kids.” Statistics show scoring was down by 16 goals in the first round as compared to last World Cup’s 117-101, and scoring from set pieces has also witnessed significant dip.

According to an APP report, Pakistan has exported around 3.5mn footballs worth $5.2mn for the ongoing FIFA World Cup grabbing only 30 percent of the total orders floated globally. The penetration of machine-made footballs in the international market has caused a serious dent to Pakistan’s hand-stitched soccer ball industry.

Footballs and other sports goods are manufactured in Sialkot, a Pakistani province which boasts of building an international airport with exporters’ fortune. Though Sialkot was producing footballs since a century ago, it gained international celebrity status when it produced the “Tango” ball for the 1982 World Cup in Spain, kicking off a lucrative industry.

The footballs from Sialkot are subjected to daily tests of quality in laboratories to supervise pressure, bounce, impermeability and shape. The making of footballs include professional automatons cutting sheets of synthetic leather in hexagons or pentagons, marking, drying the paint, dividing the pieces and sewing with needles, thread and thimbles.

Only a few years ago around 70 percent of world soccer balls were prepared in Sialkot and the country on average was exporting 40mn balls worth $210mn produced annually by some 60,000 highly skilled labourers. Pakistan’s soccer ball industry is awaiting a huge favourable decision from the FIFA for them to regain its coveted football exports share in the global market.

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This development has given rise to the market forces to flex its muscles in pushing up wages, and eventually eating up the profit margins. In addition, the narrowing of gap on the outlay of wages with other competing markets has also reflected up on the product prices, which have become higher as compared to other markets.

Surprisingly, though the total labour force of China is about 800mn, very few workers have the required qualifications. It should be recalled, C.P. Lee, Asia-Pacific human resources chief at Motorola Inc. had observed “The skills base does not meet the demands of a rapidly growing (Chinese) market.”

In a rising wages scenario, the Chinese Companies cannot survive in the global market without providing cheap products to its clients, which was the core competency of most Chinese manufacturers hitherto. With that, majority of the Chinese firms will be compelled to shift from the earlier strategy of producing cheap products to quality ones as the market for the cheap products may not exist in future. The absence of cheap goods market will leave the Chinese companies with only one option of leveraging through tapping the available ‘quality’ over a quantity product market.

Hence, to grab new buyers whom seek quality products, the manufacturing companies while dishing out higher wages will also be forced to retain or recruit competent labour force to produce superior quality products. The higher wages which trigger job losses will equip the existing companies the liberty to choose the best from the competitive labour market to cater to the new quality-preferred clientele.

Incidentally, it goes without saying cheap labour often adversely affects the efficiency of the workforce, and the China growth story is an example to that premise. China’s strategy to garner market share was always been associated with manufacturing more quantity while often blowing to the wind the standards of quality.

So as former chief Asia economist at Citigroup Inc., Huang Yiping’s contention, China may be heading for the so-called Lewis turning point, but the silver lining would be that the country would also be in the process of becoming a “quality global factory”. Huang was referring to the economic theory by the late Nobel Prize-winning economist W. Arthur Lewis where manufacturing competitiveness and the pace of growth begin to turn down as labour costs rise.

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Agriculture Minister of India Sharad Pawar is reported to have informed his Russian counterpart Yelena Skrynnik that his country had the capability to meet those demands as and when they emerged. While both ministers met at the sidelines of the BRIC Agriculture Ministerial Meet, Skrynnik told that though abundant stocks of poultry products were available at the moment, we would turn to India whenever a requirement sprang up.

A sudden demand for poultry in Russia has resulted due to the ban imposed on the US and Brazilian poultry as imports from these countries did not meet Russian poultry standards. According to sources, Russian sanitary standards are quite stringent than internationally accepted ones. The Russian poultry imports from the US at some point of time had even risen up to 80 percent in the past but the new sanitary requirements enforced since Jan 1 have completely stopped all imports from the US.

It should be recalled that India too faced several import bans including the existing one from Russia on its meat and poultry products. Nevertheless, a Russian expert group is expected to visit India shortly to review this long-standing export ban.

Pawar said India was exporting bovine meat and poultry products to 60 countries, including Europe, and there was “enormous potential” for exports to Russia as well. Likewise, Skrynnik apprised that Russia last year had imported 600,000 tonnes of poultry and one million tonnes of meat.

However, it is not known that the good news to the poultry and meat industry of India would turn sour to domestic consumers like that of Turkey as it has been feared in Turkey that the export approval for 500,000 tonnes of white meat to Russia could jack up domestic poultry prices significantly. Besides, the Turkish consumers are worried that the new orders from Russia would even cause severe poultry shortage in the country even though Turkish Agriculture Minister, Mehdi Eker argues that production for exports and domestic needs are met separately.

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It has been reported that a large number of torture instruments including fixed wall restraints, metal ‘thumb cuffs’, and electroshock ‘sleeves’ and ‘cuffs’ which could deliver 50,000V shocks were widely traded with the tacit or explicit backing from some governments of the EU. Furthermore, these commercial exchanges have violated the 2006 Act of a global ban on the international trade of policing and security equipment designed for torture and ill-treatment.

According to the Amnesty International’s press release, the organization along with its research partner would be informing the EU administration to insulate legislative loopholes highlighted in the report, and the EU member states to adequately implement and enforce the regulation. Amnesty International’s UK arms program director Oliver Sprague lambasted the EU for condoning the sales of inhumane torture equipment, and also for using double standards in trade deals.

Interestingly, the accomplices in this illegal trade have flouted with impunity the Regulation that has been introduced after a decade of campaigning by human rights organizations. Nicolas Beger, Director of Amnesty International’s EU office blamed the EU for the failure of proper implementation or enforcement of the four year old legislation.

As per the report, between 2006 and 2009, the Czech Republic issued export licenses covering shackles, electric shock weapons and chemical sprays to six countries where police and security forces had a history of using such equipment for torture and other ill-treatment. Likewise, Germany issued similar licenses to three such countries for exports of foot-chains and chemical sprays.

Besides, law enforcement equipment suppliers in Italy and Spain are found to have encouraged the sale 50,000V electric shock ‘cuffs’ or ‘sleeves’ for use on prisoners by exploiting a legal loophole. In 2005 one of the EU member states, Hungary declared its intention to introduce electric ‘stun belts’ into its own prisons and police stations, despite a trade ban on such belts which inherently constituted torture or ill-treatment.

Surprisingly, five EU member states have expressed that they were unaware of any producers (Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Finland and Malta) or exporters (Belgium, Cyprus, Italy) of equipment covered under the Regulation. However, it is interesting to note that companies from three of these five countries (Finland, Italy and Belgium) have stated openly in media interviews or on their websites that they supplied items which were covered by the Regulation, often manufactured in third countries.

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The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) stated in its annual report that the global arms race had accelerated, most dramatically in South America and South-east Asia, despite the economic meltdown. The Swedish institute, which conducts independent research on arms trade and its implications, said global defence transfers in the last five years had risen by 22 percent, with Asia and Oceania the biggest recipients with 41 percent of the total.

According to the head of the report, Paul Holtom, resource-rich countries were setting the trend by using their earnings to build out their combat aircraft fleets, and neighbouring rivals had reacted to these acquisitions with orders of their own. Furthermore, he questioned the rationale of these countries’ defence procurement policy in the allocation of resources in regions with high levels of poverty.

The study pointed out that it was able to witness a significant demand for combat aircrafts, and warned that deliveries of combat aircraft could fuel an arms race in the Middle East, north Africa, South America and south Asia. It said combat aircrafts accounted for 39 percent of major US weapons sales over the past five years, and about 40 percent of Russian arms exports.

Without any surprise, the US continued to top the chart with 30 percent of the total arms exports, followed by Russia at 23 percent, Germany (11%), and France (8%). It should be recalled that the study period was inclusive of more than two years of global economic contraction. However, the report was not in a position to provide the cost of the arms trade as most governments no longer released the figures.

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The president of the Washington Apple Commission (WAC) Todd Fryhover said Iraq and Iran could be future expansion points for the otherwise stable but highly competitive Middle East market for Washington apples. Likewise, he informed apple exports to China and India from Washington were likely to double as these countries had large populations with increasing purchasing power.

The WAC identifies that direct access to these markets are key to increase sales. Washington shipped 1.9mn boxes of apples into Hong Kong and China in the 2008-09 sales season and that could double if “we had full varietal access,” Fryhover said. Under the prevailing agreements, Washington can export Red and Golden Delicious apples directly into China, but Gala, Granny Smith and any other varieties are not allowed. And these varieties reach China through the grey market route of Hong Kong.

According to the WAC figures, India’s appetite in the last five years increased significantly to 1.75mn boxes of Washington apples in the 2008-09 sales season. Higher buying power and lower quality of domestically sourced apples were the major factors cited as the reasons for tremendous acceptance of Washington apples in India despite very high customs duty.

Fryhover said Iraq already receives some Washington apples through Dubai, re-exporting centre of the UAE and Kuwait, but Iran did not have any such source. Iran being the second largest populated country of the Middle East after Egypt, which has two to three times more buying power than the Egyptians hold potential provided the Washington apples get direct access. Similarly, the changing trends in Iraq also will be explored through its efforts in the Middle East.

Last July, the WAC has tied up with the Arab Marketing Financing International (AMFI) to boost its presence in the Middle East. The AMFI, a Beirut-based company, with promotional representatives in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, takes up the responsibility of marketing of the apples through retail displays and consumer awareness about the Washington variety.

Currently, Dubai is the re-exporting portal for Washington apples into Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sudan, Qatar, Oman, Yemen and Jordan. And about 1.8mn boxes of Washington apples were sold to Dubai in the 2008-09 sales season.

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Sicily Kariuki, the MD of Tea Board of Kenya said at a recent Kenya-UAE Trade Symposium held in Nairobi that her country had dislodged Sri Lanka as the leading tea exporter last year and hoped it would continue maintaining the same position in the coming years. She also informed Kenya weathered in the global tea market despite severe drought and oversupply price pressure owing to country’s efforts in research and development which produced 50 varieties of tea suitable to be grown in the seven growing regions.

On the contrary, last season’s tea production in Sri Lanka was badly affected by parched weather that damaged crop and wage dispute. However, Sri Lankan Tea Board is reported to be positive about this year’s yield and exports as the climate is forecasted to be conducive for tea plantations across the country.

Though India produces more tea than Kenya, the former is most unlikely to beat the latter in exports as its domestic needs are quite higher than what is available for external supplies, just about 25 percent of the total. The Kenyan tea has been exported to the UK, Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan apart from other 43 countries.

Tea which has attained the new image in Kenya as the highest revenue earner is believed to be attracting many into this field. About 150,000 hectares of land are currently under the crop yielding, and produces an average of 11,000 kg of green leaf per hectare. At the meet, Kariuki apprised that out of the 40 percent of all global tea bags used in making the popular beverage, at least 10 percent of its content came from Kenya.

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The ITC is the technical cooperation agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It largely helps businesses across the world to interpret the WTO rules and also to develop strategies for businesses to enhance trade.

The online guide is a reference source that contains pragmatic and operational information on the international cotton market. The objective is to provide all those engaged in producing and exporting cotton to be knowledgeable about the nuances of the international cotton trade.

Ms. Patricia R. Francis, ITC’s Executive Director said, “Our aim is to reach out to cotton stakeholders around the world and stimulate cotton trade, especially in the poorest African countries.” While Matthias Knappe, ITC’s Program Manager for Cotton, Textiles and Clothing remarked the completion of the online version of the Cotton Exporter’s Guide was an important step in further enhancing its capacity-building activities in cotton trading and marketing.

The development of the Cotton Exporter’s Guide, including its on-line version, was funded by the
Government of Denmark. It is available in English, French and Spanish at these web addresses:
http://www.cottonguide.org/ http://www.guidedecoton.org/ http://www.guiadealgodon.org/

As per the guide, it is targeting all cotton producers, ginners, exporters and traders in cotton producing developing countries, particularly in Africa. It also offers an overview on the world cotton market (production, consumption and trade), analysis of factors influencing supply and demand, market trends and major issues affecting the industry, including trade policy and the WTO issues.

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Mark Maslyn, the Executive Director, Public Policy at AFBF apprised there would be over 600 trade deals worldwide this year, including a possible Australia-Korea deal, whereas the US would have just 20. The US agriculture which has largely benefitted from the FTAs with Australia and other countries are lately facing stiff competition from the Asian and the Latin American countries.

While Australia has struck an FTA with the ASEAN, the US bilateral deals have been delayed due to political quagmire. The farmers feel betrayed by the inactivity of the government on trade deals as it is difficult to assess the damage that could be caused by such delays to the agricultural industry.

The Obama administration refused so far, to send key trade deals to the Congress to be ratified. According to an ABC report, Maslyn observes, “Our competitors are striking deals with the same countries that we’re striking deals with and we can’t get ours through Congress.”
He also blamed the US labor unions for thwarting the deals, while the unions blamed ‘bad’ trade deals for sending the US jobs overseas.

As per the official website of AFBF, the climate change legislation, livestock care issues and social media tools will be at the forefront of topics to be discussed during the annual meet. Interestingly, some climate scientists have sent a letter requesting a meeting with the AFBF President Bob Stallman to discuss his federation’s “inaccurate and marginalized” position on global warming, claimed to be a larger issue than striking trade deals.

The Farm Bureau maintains that “there is no generally agreed upon scientific assessment on…carbon emissions from human activities, their impact on past decades of warming, or how they will affect future climate changes.” According to the letter, the federation’s stance completely ignores the overwhelming scientific evidence of climate change, a problem that puts Farm Bureau members at risk. The scientists’ letter stands in stark contrast to the opinions of climate change denier Christopher Horner, who will be the only scheduled speaker addressing climate at the federation’s annual meeting.

The AFBF or the Farm Bureau is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting, protecting, and representing the interests of farmers and ranchers in the US. It has about 2800, county farm organizations which in turn elect representatives to state farm bureaus.

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The EMP is a market access program that provides funding for technical assistance activities intended to promote exports of the US agricultural commodities and products to emerging markets in all geographic regions, consistent with the US foreign policy. According to the USDA, the EMP is a generic program, and projects that endorse or promote branded products are not eligible for this program.

The EMP, administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service, assists private and public organizations in improving market opportunities for the US agricultural products in low to middle-income countries with viable market potential. One of the emerging market criteria is that the per capita income should be less than $11,455, the current ceiling on upper middle income economies as determined by the World Bank.

The projects will be conducted in Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Particularly in countries that falls under the other criterion to emerging markets of population greater than 1mn.

The total budget for the program can be used for technical assistance, such as activities that focus on building trade capacity, or addressing technical barriers to trade. The USDA informed that this year’s recipients of the funds included universities, state and federal agencies, trade groups, and non-profit organizations.

All applications to the program are subjected to a competitive review process that evaluates the quality of the proposal, its likelihood to succeed, and the applicant’s knowledge of the market in the region. The USDA has also funded 32 other projects totaling $831,474 during the same period, under the EMP’s Technical Issues Resolution Fund (TIRF).

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By fulfilling the stringent SPS norms of the EU are likely to give a fillip to Mexico’s exports, and make it one of the few countries which satisfy the new standardization process. The traceability protocol reveals all the stages and processes by which primary products are processed, precisely as demanded by the markets that conform to the EU. According to a recent WTO proposal, the SPS certification is understood to become a basic criterion for all future shipments of seafood and agricultural products to be accepted by most countries.

Under SPS, SENASICA need to protect the plant, fish, and animal resources in the country from pests and diseases through actions of surveillance, inspection and certification. Besides, it should ensure food safety by implementing the practice of producing and consuming food free from contamination at every level of production, industrialization and commercialization.

The head of SENASICA, Enrique Sanchez Cruz underscored the work carried out within the protocol of understanding to activate the harmonization of SPS between Mexico and countries that integrate to the EU. He said this after the finalization of the Facilitation Project of the Mexico and European Union Free Trade Treaty (PROTLCUEM) meet.

The EU recognition will largely benefit shrimp exports of Mexico as it is one of the major seafood which is in high demand among the EU member-states. The agreements reached within the framework of the FTA between Mexico and the EU is believed to enhance the sales of tuna, shrimp and bivalve molluscs to the union’s market.

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