WadeTradeNews

Welcome to the February edition of Wade Trade News - Wade World Trade's own free bulletin bringing you news and opportunities in international trade that can make you money. Read on now for information and hot tips for trading with China, Norway, Thailand, India and Iran .... and two more websites you'll find very handy.

According to Hangzhou Customs, Wenzhou City is one of the biggest shoe export centres in the world. It exported an impressive 48 million pairs of shoes in 2006 - worth US$1.965 billion - up 10% and 26% respectively over the previous two years. Officials suggest that the figures may fall slightly over the next year, due to export quotas and tariffs imposed by the EU countries and several other nations. But, that's still at awful lot of shoes to trade!

One of the manufacturers and exporters there, Wenzhou Sinshcome, has a handy site in English: www.sinshcome.com. The People's Daily Online is good for China (and world) news. Visit: english.peopledaily.com.cn.

Norwegian furniture worth NOK3 billion was exported in 2006 - a new record and up 15% from 2005, according to new figures from the Norwegian Furniture Industry Council. Furniture for the TV room and for the 'comfort zone' are the main export articles. Modern easy chairs account for nearly 40% of total Norwegian furniture exports, says Information Director Knut Skoe. Germany is the most important single market and buys 15% of Norwegian furniture exports.

Although often in the news for more controversial reason Iran is becoming a significant exporter, with electrical appliances one of the latest success stories. Export of home appliances increased 23.6% in the first nine months of the current Iranian year (starting March 21, 2006) compared to the figure for the same period last year, IRNA reported. According to Iran's Customs Administration, over the same period, some US$70.366 million of electrical goods and home appliances were exported.

Iraq, in importing US$1.976 million worth of goods, is the largest single importer of Iran's electrical appliances. Iraq was followed by Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and the Azerbaijan Republic as major buyers for Iranian electrical appliances.

The Thai Export Promotion Department is set to adjust its strategy to expand export markets by focusing on joint ventures overseas. Speaking at a seminar on 'Encouraging Thai Entrepreneurs to Run Business Overseas' Rachane Potjanasuntorn, the department's Director-General, said the department planned to adjust the export promotion scheme for this year because global economic volatility and many external risk factors might otherwise cause difficulties to the country's exports.

Mr. Rachane said he had discussed the plan with exporters and 58 commercial counsellor offices worldwide. He said that the Commerce Ministry wanted to see Thai companies open more branch offices overseas. At present, there are 680 Thai firms operating abroad in the form of representatives and joint ventures through 1,332 offices. The department has set a target to increase the number of offices to 3,000 worldwide in the next five years.

Here's a good site we found for Thai trade and business news : The Nation at www.nationmultimedia.com. A good site with trade leads to browse is www.thailand.com.

According to government sources, India's petroleum product exports have increased to US$10 billion in the first six months of the present financial year - and are expected to reach US$20 billion during the whole year.

At a meeting organised by Indian Oil Corporation, to discuss expansion at the major Panipat refinery, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said that the petroleum sector in India has emerged as a top exporter and has exceeded the traditional gems and jewellery exports sector. In 2006 a total of new 31 oil reserves were discovered by companies like ONGC, RIL and Cairns Energy. This has added 16.5 million tonnes refining capacity in the country, raising the combined capacity of the 19 refineries to 149 million tons annually.

Here at Wade we visit hundreds of new online trading websites each year .... bringing only the best and most useful ones to you. It's true to say many trading sites don't live up to the claims they make. But here's one we think is worth recommending : EC21 at www.ec21.com. EC21 has been established for over 10 years now and has grown steadily ever since, so that it now has over 700,000 products listed and around 540,000 registered users in 220 countries. Buyers can locate and contact suppliers, and can post offers to buy. Sellers can easily create their own homepage to showcase products online, locate and contact global buyers, and post trade offers to sell. Another good reason for recommending EC21 is that it is regularly monitored for fraudulent postings.

Language barriers can easily stop you taking advantage of great trading opportunities. And being able to buy or sell in another language you can maximise your opportunities in almost every country of the world. If you don't really want to learn another language yourself then hiring a translator is a good way round the problem, and here's how to find one: Translation Zone is a database of thousands of expert translators around the world. All you need to do is specify the language you work in (your source language), the language you wish to translate to (your target language), the location of the translator, if they must be a native speaker or not and even their speciality (eg. science, law etc.). In seconds, you'll receive a list of suitable translators who can help you out.

We really do hope you find this free monthly bulletin useful - but don't forget that the trade leads you receive here are just a very, very small selection of what Wade World Trade can do for you. Our products and services include professional self-study courses, manuals, advice, information, online resources and worldwide trade and business contacts - more or less everything you need to start up or expand your import-export business. To find out more, visit us at our website at www.wadetrade.com - we're open 24/7.