http://mistertrade.com The Skinny On World Trade Tue, 10 Oct 2006 13:01:57 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Here's the first paragraph from a story in eCargonewsAsia: Shipper apprehension over possible congestion at major U.S. seaports has been assuaged by a recent trade report. "The system is handling volumes that have never been seen before, thanks mainly to continued growth in the demand for Asian imports," Global Insight economist ... http://mistertrade.com/2006/10/10/smooth-sailing-for-christmas/ 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. More http://mistertrade.com/2006/10/02/the-fightings-tough-but-afghan-trade-is-way-up/ 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 ... http://mistertrade.com/2006/09/25/chinas-flower-industry/ Here is from New York Times columnist Thomas "The World is Flat" Friedman's column: Thanks to pressure from Midwest farmers and agribusinesses, who want to protect the U.S. corn ethanol industry from competition from Brazilian sugar ethanol, we have imposed a stiff tariff to keep it out. "We do this even though ... http://mistertrade.com/2006/09/22/ethanol-and-oil-where-us-terrorism-policy-falls-down/ According to a story in the Washington Post, more than 1,100 laptop computers have vanished from the Department of Commerce since 2001, including nearly 250 from the Census Bureau containing such personal information as names, incomes and Social Security numbers. Check it out. Most of the laptop computers in this country ... http://mistertrade.com/2006/09/22/good-for-global-trade-perhaps-but/ The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has produced an interesting report about the benefits of international trade to the U.S. business and consumer -- everything from price reductions on goods we buy to job creation from increased imports. "The facts will show," the chamber's president and CEO Thomas Donohue writes in an introduction, "that ... http://mistertrade.com/2006/09/05/us-chamber-weighs-in-on-benefits-of-free-trade/ 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 ... http://mistertrade.com/2006/09/03/panama-canal-to-widen-or-not-to-widen/ Brazilian biofuel company, Tecbio, is working with NASA and Boeing on a biokerosene aviation fuel, according to a report from Mercopress.com.  Tecbio created a vegetable-oil-based fuel to power airplanes in 1980, flight-tested it in 1984 but then abandoned it. Interest has arisen again, thanks to high oil prices.    http://mistertrade.com/2006/09/02/nasa-looks-to-brazil-for-biofuel/ Traffic is up at nation's seaports for a host of reasons but one, apparently, is because the Christmas holiday season is starting a couple of months earlier, at least for the Asian manufacturers, shipping lines and U.S. seaports. That's one of a number of responses to avoid strains on the system like those that surfaced ... http://mistertrade.com/2006/09/02/its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas/ UPS, like FedEx, appears to be putting contentious negotiations with pilots behind it. Pilots at both airlines are apparently getting nice bumps in pay and total benefits, particularly when compared to their brethren who fly people for a living. According to a Financial Times story, average pay for UPS pilots, who ... http://mistertrade.com/2006/09/01/people-are-precious-but-cargo-is-too/