WADE TRADE NEWS
Volume 5, Issue 6 : June 2006

Dear Subscriber

Welcome to the June edition of Wade Trade News - Wade World Trade's own monthly bulletin bringing you news on developments and opportunities in international trade that are worthy of your attention. Read on now for really useful information and sites for trading with Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam (again) and Thailand - and opportunities to import-export, of all things, water, shea butter and drugs!

Slovenia Not Slow To Grow
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Unlike other countries in central/eastern Europe Slovenia doesn't make the news very often. It's a relatively small former-Yugoslav nation of just two million people between the Alps and the Adriatic. But that doesn't mean that it isn't a lucrative trading partner. Slovenia has a solid economy and is taking full advantage of EU membership (it joined in 2004). Slovenia is officially a high income nation with a GDP of US$20,900 - 31st in world rankings. The economy grew by 3.9% in 2005 and it has a well developed industrial base comprising service and modern manufacturing industries.

The official government portal e-uprava is a good first point of contact in English - www.e-uprava.gov.si. Or you can go direct to TIPO - the Slovenian Trade and Investment Promotion Office - at www.investslovenia.org.

Opportunities To Trade Lucrative Shea Butter
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Over two thousand members of the Northern Uganda Shea Processors Association (NUSPA) are preparing for a certification process that will see their products access the lucrative shea butter market in the US, Europe and Japan. Odourless organic shea butter is a vital ingredient in the production of cosmetics and chocolate. Eliot Masters, the project coordinator, said 'This exercise will secure the much-needed market for high quality shea butter from Uganda to all over the world. If all requirements are met, they should be able to get a recommendation from the Certification of Environment Standards (CERES) by July.' CERES is one of the world's most respected organic certification bodies based in Germany.
 
It's difficult to get good news on Uganda but New Vision at www.newvision.co.ug - which describes itself as Uganda's leading website - is great for news and information.

Sri Lanka Growing More Flowers For Export
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Sri Lanka's Investment Promotion and Enterprise Development Minister Rohitha Bogollagama has announced plans to help exotic flower growers export more flowers. The Minister said that, in the future, flowers may become a major foreign income earner for Sri Lanka. But at present, although overseas buyers have made numerous orders, local flower growers cannot always accommodate the demand. The plans will include joint ventures between land owners and flower growers to grow more flowers. Other proposals include providing finance and introducing new technology to expand the industry. Mr. Athula Liyanapathirana, Chairman of Anthurium Growers Association, said their vision is to increase their income and bring more foreign earnings to the country.

The Sri Lanka Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Marketing Development has a fairly good site at www.commerce.gov.lk. If you want to export to Sri Lanka rather than import take a look at the Lanka General Trading Company site at www.stcgeneral.com. STC is a government-owned company and one of the leading trading organisations in Sri Lanka.

Vietnam Fruit Growers Reaping Export Harvest
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Vietnam's fruit industry has set a target to harvest an annual 9 million tonnes of fresh fruit and post export revenue of US$350 million by 2010, according to Vo Mai, chairwoman of the Vietnam Fruit Association (Vinafruit).

Mai quoted statistics from the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation indicating shortages in the world's supply of fresh fruit, with average annual fruit consumption growing by an estimated 3.6% while production grows at just 2.8%. She said this represents a major opportunity for Vietnamese fruit exporters to increase the nation's export turnover.

To reach the goal, the industry is to upgrade post-harvest technology to improve product quality, reduce post-harvest losses, reduce prices, develop trademarks, build a new export market development strategy and step up trade promotion programmes. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development recently approved a five year export development programme for the Mekong Delta. Key exports include pineapple, banana, orange, grapefruit, mango, durian, rambutan, dragon fruit, litchi and longan.
 
VNA Net is good for Vietnam news - visit www.vnanet.vn, or you can go direct to the
Vinafruit site at www.vinafruit.com.

Thai Food Export Industry Feeding Growth
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The value of Thai food exports is expected to grow again this year,  although volume will fall slightly, according to the National Food Institute. The NFI's new figures put the total volume for the year at 23.1 million tonnes, down 0.6% on last year, but value at 561 billion baht, up 8% on 2005.

Panithan Vajaranant, executive director of the institute, said the global rise in oil prices and the appreciation of the baht were problematic. But, he said export value would continue to increase if Thailand focussed more on processed foods, rather than commodities. Among products tipped to increase in export volume and value this year are canned and processed tuna, processed chicken, frozen and processed shrimp, canned pineapple, processed fruit and seasonings.

The Thai government is running a programme to increase awareness levels of Thai cuisine and promote Thailand as the 'Kitchen to the World'. As part of this the NFI is in discussion with worldwide fast food chain KFC about the possibility of putting Thai-inspired meals on its menus.

Here's a good site we found for Thai trade and business news : The Nation at www.nationmultimedia.com. Two sites with trade leads to try include www.thaitrade.com and www.thailand.com.

Why Not Export Water ?
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Water isn't one of the most obvious import-export commodities - but with many countries suffering from worsening water shortages it could have a lot of potential. Now a Tasmania, Australia, company wants to export billions of litres of water by sea, towed to Perth in giant bags! The company, Solar Sailor, says the fresh water market could be worth A$300 million a year to Tasmania alone. The special Medusa bags proposed could carry up to 1.5 gigalitres (1.5 billion litres) of fresh water. If the project is successful it's likely that many other countries could be in the market for water exported by this method. 
 
EU Companies Can Export More Drugs
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The European Union has introduced legislation that will allow companies to produce copies of patented medicines under licence for export to developing countries. The measures will allow poor nations that lack or have insufficient drug manufacturing capacity to import safe and effective generic medicines. The move follows a decision by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to make permanent an earlier provisional waiver to the trade related aspects of the intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement. As well as tackling serious world health problems it should also open up many more trade opportunities.

The International Federation Of  Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) website at www.ifpma.org is good for news on the drugs and pharmaceuticals industry. Then you could find trading partners through your usual, favourite trade lead sites.

Take Advantage Of All That Wade Can Offer
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We like to send you this free monthly newsletter with our compliments - but don't forget that the trade leads you receive here are just a 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 - it's open 24/7.

Best Regards

Mark Hempshell
Editor