We just filed this story on our web site:
As U.S. troops continue fighting in Afghanistan in an attempt to beat back a resurgent Taliban and track down Osama bin Laden, the Central Asian nation’s appetite for U.S. exports is nevertheless at an all-time high.
The fresh-cut rose importing business has long been a Miami story, with Colombia and Ecuador being the providers.
Recently, our company, WorldCity, focused one of its monthly Connections events on Africa, and learned of Africa’s increased interest in the fresh-cut flower business, something that we had written about in an earlier issue of WorldCity. Now, according to a New York Times story, China wants in on the act as well. (We had also reported on China’s nascent flower industry in that same article.)
Here’s a link to the New York Times story.
The basic points were that the industry, being developed in impoverished southwestern China, was being supported heavily from Beijing, with loans and infrastructure imporovements, and that China, not suprisingly, can undercut the cost on the global market significantly. In addition, the area where the industry is being developed is an entry point for heroin from Myanmar, and there is fear of Islamic fundamentalists becoming influential there as well.
Roses fly better than most flowers — carnations cannot be packed as tightly, for example — but do have a limited life. The most likely entry point is Los Angeles.
“Our plan is to become the biggest flower producer and exporter in Asia in 10 to 15 years,” and possibly the world’s largest after the Netherlands, the deputy chief of the Flower Association, a provincial government agency, told the New York Times.
If you’re interested in the Panama Cancel, there’s a story worth reading in the New York Times this morning on the proposed widening of the canal, which goes before a referendum next month.
If that referendum fails to pass, the implications are signficant for the global economy. The problem, of course, is that the newer ships — so called post-Panamax — can’t make it through. And bigger ships are on the way.
The Suez Canal is a widely used option for east-west trade but why I am slightly less than comfortable relying on a canal in the Middle East?
Some little nuggets for your consideration …1. Deficit, deficit, deficit. It’s all you hear. But while the the United States had trade deficits with 118 nations in 2005, it had trade surpluses with 112.
2. Of course, that’s not the whole story. The record $201 billion U.S. deficit with China in 2005 was more than three times greater than the total of all those surpluses combined.
3. Canada is overwhelmingly the nation’s leading trade partner and is on course to surpass one half trillion dollars in trade in 2006, the first nation to cross the $500 billion mark.
4. The U.S. could surpass $100 billion in exports to the world in 2006, surpassing that milestone for the first time, when annual figures are released.
5. Only one of the nation’s leading Customs districts has had a trade surplus every year the last decade: Miami.
6. Los Angeles has the nation’s biggest trade deficit.
7. Many U.S. airports have trade surpluses while most seaports have deficits. That is due to the nature of their trade.
8. Houston has been the nation’s fastest-growing Customs district, in dollar terms, the last couple of years because of one thing – the rising price of oil.
9. Detroit leads the nation in exports, and surpassed $105 billion in 2005, the first Customs district to ever pass $100 billion. Detroit is the nation’s third-ranked Customs district overall, behind Los Angeles and New York.
10. China, which only recently Japan to become the United States’ No. 3 ranked trade partner, is likely to surpass Mexico and become the nation’s No. 2 trade partner when 2006 figures are released.
11. The Savannah Customs district, which includes Atlanta and the rest of Georgia, is likely to surpass Buffalo and leap into the Top 10 in 2006.
12. The United States’ second-largest trade deficit is with Canada followed by Mexico.
I am hooked on globalization, international trade, multinationals and the way new communication forms like this one can tie it all together.
I believe in their power to improve the lives of people all over the globe. Not a perfect system, not always, not ever, but nothing else is really in second place.
I believe I need to hear from you — your thoughts, where you agree and disagree, what insights you can add.
My name is Ken Roberts, the president and CEO of a Miami-based media company called WorldCity Inc. I founded it in the 20th Century. OK, 1998.
To give you a sense of the changes wrought in the last handful of years, when we first printed our business cards, people were still reluctant to include their email addresses on them. That’s how far we have come and how fast. It is safe to say the word blog was not part of the lexicon.
We started as a newspaper. Now we call ourselves a media company. We publish what has evolved into a magazine for the Miami area, host a couple of dozen monthly events per year, produce a couple of annual import-export publications, and compile a multinational directory.In addition, we are producing TradeNumbers publications in and Web content for Houston, New York, Los Angeles, Boston and for Georgia (Atlanta and Savannah).
In Atlanta and Houston, we have already hosted events to launch the publications; New York’s event is Oct. 19, Los Angeles is in November. We are also doing a November event in Atlanta for the launch of our fourth annual TradeAmericas publication, which looks at U.S. trade within the hemisphere. And now I am behind a blog.I plan to write about things related to international trade, to offer my thoughts on global and globalization issues, and to post interesting links to articles available on the web the world over.
Five quick opinions to give you a sense of where we stand:
1. Dubai Ports World. Traditional U.S. media, particularly U.S. television media, and U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle showed an alarming lack of understanding of international trade and a glaring anti-Arab sentiment. The United States’ fastest-growing trade surplus last year was with the United Arab Emirates, home to Dubai. The reason? the number of U.S. made Boeing jets being sent there. It is a remarkably moderate and pro-globalization country. And it wasn’t “taking over our ports,” merely taking over the operations of terminals at those ports from another “foreign” company, P&O Ports. Finally, terminal operators are not responsible for security.
2. Free Trade Area of the Americas. The FTAA would come to fruition in a snap if the United States quit protecting sugar and citrus against competition from Brazil. the only nation needed to get FTAA to fruition.
3. Speaking generally and not specifically, ditto for the World Trade Organization. The Europeans are perhaps the bigger villains but the United States can and should lead the way. Quit protecting agriculture.
4. International trade is good because it lowers prices and offers consumers greater choice, because it is a net creator of jobs, and because it is ultimately good for global stability.
5. The countries, companies and people that will lead the way in the rest of the 21st Century will do so not by protecting their past but by forging into the future. That means biotechnology, alternative energies, pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology. And blogging! Your turn. What’s burning you up? What are some great articles you might have read? What are we failing to see when it comes to international issues?
Ken, aka Mister Trade