WadeTradeNews

Welcome to the March 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 Malaysia, Taiwan, China, South Africa and New Zealand - plus a recommended site for exhibition links and a very handy guide to help you get started trading with different cultures.

Malaysia's export growth will continue this year, boosted by demand for electronic goods, after increasing 10.3% in 2006, Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said recently.

Malaysia's overseas sales rose to 588.9 billion ringgit (US$169 billion) last year as the country sold more manufactured goods, fuel and agriculture products, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said. Manufactured exports grew 9.3% to 451.7 billion ringgit last year, while agricultural exports increased 12.7% to 46.4 billion ringgit, Rafidah said in a speech in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia, is Southeast Asia's second-largest oil and gas producer and the world's largest palm oil exporter, benefiting from record oil prices last year. Global demand for semiconductors for digital music players and mobile phones also contributed to the export growth. Electronic goods overall comprised 62% of Malaysia's manufactured exports in 2006.

Trade fairs and exhibitions are one of the best ways to find new trade leads - and the UK is one of the main world nations for trade fairs .... holding thousands of events each year. The Trade Fairs & Exhibitions UK website at www.exhibitions.co.uk is one of our favourite websites. It allows you to easily find trade fairs and exhibitions which can help you build more contacts. You can search the site by type of event, date, organiser or venue and information is available in several major world languages not just English. Even if you're not in or planning to visit the UK this site can still help you, as there are useful trade leads, contacts and weblinks you can follow up on the Internet.

Taiwan's import and export sales showed double-figure increases in January - up 17.9% and 23.8% respectively from the same period last year - to record levels of US$19.85 billion (NT$655.6 billion) and US$17.96 billion - an official from the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said recently. This gave Taiwan a trade surplus of US$1.89 billion, Lee Li-shu chief statistician at the MOF said. January's export value was the second highest single-month value after last September's US$20.1 billion, while the import value was the third highest. In addition, the import of consumer goods reached a new high for a single month at US$1.52 billion - a strong contrast with the -2.3% growth rate for all of 2006.

According to MOF officials, January saw a high rise in the number of motor vehicles imported. There was also strong growth in the import of medicine, tobacco, liquor and cosmetics. Officials said that a reduction in import duties and commodity taxes might have encouraged more people to buy cars this year.

Trading with Muslim countries can present special cultural challenges. However, a new site now makes it easier than ever before to understand the differences and find successful trading links. The Trade Guide for Muslim Countries at www.muslimtrade.net/tradeguideline from the Muslim Trade Network provides you with country profiles, information about each country's imports and exports, trading partners, trade regulations, banking system, taxes and duties, ports, distribution networks etc. There are also links for posting buy and sell offers for Muslim countries in North Africa, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

New fruit trading opportunities are presenting themselves as South African producers will soon be able to export table grapes and tobacco leaf to Chinese markets, according to a pact signed between the two countries last week. And, according to an official in the South Africa Department of Agriculture, it will soon be possible to export fruit grown in China to South Africa.

Graham Retief, chairman of SA Table Grape Industry (www.satgi.co.za), said the Chinese market opened huge opportunities for South Africa, but he warned growers and exporters to comply with the protocol. Welcoming the changes he said 'This is a unique opportunity to diversify our markets and lessen our dependence on the UK and western Europe. Last year, we sold around 80% of our grapes in the UK and Europe, and we can simply not go on doing that.'

The record 2006 New Zealand vintage and a strong export drive have pushed New Zealand wine exports up to NZ$611 million for the first time - New Zealand Winegrowers announced recently. Total wine export earnings rose by 30% over the previous year with major markets performing well. Exports to the United States were up 25%, the UK was up 22% and Australia up by an impressive 47%. Together these markets accounted for 83% of exports by value in the past year. By comparison, just two and a half years ago, New Zealand wine exports earned NZ$300 million.

New Zealand Winegrowers Global Marketing Director Chris Yorke said the results for 2006 were extremely positive - 'There has been continued growth in our core markets of the UK, US and Australia, but there has also been very encouraging increases in our secondary markets: Canada is up 60% over the previous year, Denmark is up 51% and Ireland up 41% in value.'

China isn't normally though of as a country from which to import alcoholic beverages - but opportunities are increasing fast. China's liquor makers saw sales grow by 31.08% to 97.03 billion yuan last year (about US$12.6 billion). As a result of modernisation in the industry the number of spirit enterprises dropped from 37,000 in 1989 to 18,000 at the end of 2006 - said Wang Yancai, head of the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association (www.winechina.com). The prices of spirits rose due to the rising cost of raw materials and increased consumption tax. Maotai, a prestigious liquor maker in southwest China's Guizhou Province, reported 5.3 billion yuan (about US$688.3 million) of sales volume last year, compared with about 4.2 billion yuan (about US$538.46 million) in the previous year.

The aim of this free bulletin is just to bring you a few selected trade tips each month. They 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.