Welcome to the July 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 links for trading with Vietnam (yet again!), Paraguay, India, China, Mexico and the EU - plus leads for trading shoes and cars.
Vietnam WTO Membership Imminent ?
**********************************The United States and Vietnam have now officially signed a bilateral market access agreement - paving the way for Vietnam's bid to join the WTO before the APEC Summit in Hanoi in November. The signing ceremony was held at the Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Prior to that the United States and Vietnam reached an agreement in principle on a bilateral market access agreement that will lower trade barriers to a wide range of US industrial and agricultural products and services and help clear the way for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
You can keep up to date with WTO news at
www.wto.org. And here's a handy site we found for Vietnam trade info. -
www.usvtc.org. The US-Vietnam Trade Council (USVTC) has played a leading role in rebuilding a relationship between the US and Vietnam, contributing to normalisation of relations and improving the bilateral trade and investment environment. USVTC played a key role in the negotiation of the US-Vietnam bilateral trade agreement and has been working closely with Vietnam on its next major step in economic integration with the world - WTO membership.
Paraguay Shoe Export Opportunities
********************************The small South American nation of Paraguay is moving into a new export product area with the news that shoe manufacturer Forces has become the first company to export shoes - sending 15,000 pairs to Spain. President of the Paraguayan Footwear Chamber Carlos Fleitas said that the deal 'Will usher in a new era, and other shoe manufacturers will soon join the rally.' However, Fleitas also criticised the role of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in not preventing the shipment of fake brands of footwear, that could cause harm to the domestic industry.
As ever South American trade sites in English are hard to find. But the Paraguay Embassy in Washington has a decent site -
www.embaparusa.gov.py - with lots of info. about the country and links to government sites, some of which have small English sections. You can also listen to some traditional Paraguayan music there!
India Textiles Industry Booming
****************************The clampdown on Chinese textile imports by the US and EU last year has caused a boom in Indian textile exports. Not only did Indian textile exports to the American and European markets show record growth during 2004-06, they also made impressive progress into the markets in Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and Australia. India's share of the global textiles market is only around 4% against China's 17%. But the Indian apparel sector alone has more than 27,000 manufacturers, 48,000 fabricators and around 1,000 manufacturers/exporters and India is planning to achieve export revenue of US$440 billion by 2010. The Government of India has given the go-ahead for the setting up of four textile parks in Gujarat, Kolhapur, Cuddalore and Jaipur. The Indian Apparel Portal at apparel.indiamart.com and Trade India at
www.trade-india.com are good for trading links.
EU Not As United As EU Might Think
*********************************Although the European Union (EU) likes to promote itself as a single market there are still large disparities in terms of wealth among the 25 member states - according to data recently released by EU statistical office Eurostat. According to Eurostat's figures showing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per inhabitant in 2005 Luxembourg was by far the richest member state with purchasing power of 248, based on an EU average of 100. This was five times that of Latvia with GDP per inhabitant at 47% of the EU average. Ireland was the second richest country in the EU (137), followed by Denmark (124), the Netherlands (123), Austria (123) and Belgium (118). Britain and Sweden were 15% above the EU average, while Finland, Germany and France about 10% above average. Italy and Spain were around the EU average. Cyprus and Slovenia were about 20% below average, while the Czech Republic and Malta were around 30% below, Hungary and Estonia 40% below and Slovakia, Lithuania and Poland 50% below.
If you need EU statistics to choose and research a new market you can obtain them from Eurostat : epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu.
China Car Market Receives A Boost
*******************************Opportunities to export cars into the potentially massive Chinese market could increase with the news that China reduced the car import tariff from 28% to 25% from July 1. This follows a previous decrease of import duties from 30% to 28% on January 1. This drop in import duties applies to all imported passenger vehicles. Importers believe the new tariff policy will bring the prices of passenger cars down, especially saloon cars/sedans. They predict a slight price cut for low emission cars and a sharp drop for heavy emission cars, which are charged a higher consumer tax. Although there is a reduction in duties they still add around 50% to the price of a car, although importers and dealers believe the tariff cuts will have a psychological impact on consumers.
The People's Daily Online is good for China (and world) news. Visit : english.peopledaily.com.cn.
Get The Max From Mexico
***********************Mexico is sometimes wrongly regarded as a 'third world' country, but it has the twelfth highest GDP in the world and is officially an upper-middle income country. It suffered three major economic crises between 1982-1994 when international reserves were depleted to the point of default. Today, however, Mexico is enjoying a new era of macroeconomic stability. GDP growth of 4.1% in 2004 was followed by 3% growth in 2005.
Trade with the USA and Canada has tripled since NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) membership in 1994.There has been a surge in FDI (foreign direct investment) and the economy has become increasingly aligned with that of the USA. The economy is also benefiting from free trade agreements with the EU (to be fully implemented by 2007) and Japan (implemented by 2014). The country has also recently become the world's fourth largest oil producer.
These sites are good for Mexico trade info. and links : Mexico Trade at
www.mexico-trade.com and
www.mexonline.com and
www.nafta-mexico.org (a Canadian site).
One For Your Favourites List : World Facts & Figures
***********************************************If you're researching a new market it's important to have facts, figures and good quality background information to aid your decision making. In the past this kind of research could take several days in the library, but now you can do it all in minutes at the following website : World Facts and Figures at
www.worldfactsandfigures.com. It's a great source of information on populations, finance, key industries, government, geography, politics and law and there's even information on the weather, national flags and even maps too. If, for example, you need to know whether Morocco might be an emerging market for building materials, or what exports are available from Spain, you'll find the information here.
Take Advantage Of All That Wade Can Offer
***************************************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.
Best Regards