With Argentine Congressional approval, the free trade agreement signed by trade bloc members and Egypt in 2010 will enter into force within a month. Argentina announced it has sent its formal ratification of the Mercosur-Egypt FTA to the regional trade bloc’s...
U.S. Beef Exports | Primed for Opening Markets
U.S. beef exports to South Korea passed a billion-dollar milestone in year 5 of the KORUS FTA. Beef exports are primed for more growth as the Chinese and Brazilian markets re-open. U.S. Beef Exports: KORUS FTA Trajectory No market provides a better example of the fall...
Brazilian Beef Exports | Sharp Cuts in Top Markets
Brazilian beef exports have paid a price for Operation Weak Flesh, the Brazilian government investigation into alleged bribery of food-sanitation inspectors. [See Brazilian Meat Exports Skewered.] The investigation culminated in March with charges against 21 meat...
New Zealand Wine Gaining U.S. Market Share on Premium Strategy
New Zealand has a clear shot at its target of $2 billion in wine exports by 2020, reports the New Zealand Winegrowers industry association, with New Zealand wine gaining U.S. market share, surpassing $500 million for the first time in April. Last year, New Zealand...
Whiskies Top Tipple in U.S. Trade in Distilled Spirits
Whiskies were the top tipple in U.S. trade in distilled spirits in 2016, with one notable exception. Our 2016 U.S. Census-sourced data shows whiskies with the leading share of imports by value (27%) and volume (31%), and exports by volume (76%) of trade in the...
Pacific Alliance Expansion Plans
Could the Pacific Alliance become the vehicle for the economic ties across the Pacific Rim that were the aim of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)? The four members of the trade bloc – Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru – are among Latin America’s leading advocates for...
Brazilian Meat Exports Skewered by Operation Weak Flesh
Brazilian meat exports have taken a big hit. On March 17, Brazil’s federal police raided meat packers accused of paying off inspectors to okay rotten and adulterated meat for market, capping a two-year investigation into official corruption dubbed “Operation Weak...
Actively Seeking Trade Ties | Mercosur
Mercosur is looking for opportunities to do more cross-border business both within the five-member trade bloc and beyond. Foreign ministers are set to meet March 9 to discuss lowering barriers to trade among the countries that make up the “Common Market of the South”...
Li-ion Batteries Drive Chinese Lithium Imports
Lithium, last year’s hottest metal, looks set to be even hotter in 2017. With the new year barely a day old, mineral exploration company Birimian announced the sale of its Bougouni lithium project in southern Mali to China’s Shandong Mingrui Group. The deal signals...
Playing Whack-a-Mole with US Steel Imports
“It can be like whack-a-mole,” one steelmaker exec told us recently. “AD/CVD duties do have an effect, but there is so much excess steel capacity in the world that when, say, China is blocked, here comes the steel from someplace else. Countries are watching for any...