Consumers are willing, but divorce divides the movement by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Poverty has historically been the lot of small-holding farmers in developing countries. The fair trade movement seeks to change that by appealing to global consumers to pay a...
US, EU Agree on What’s Organic
Each recognizes the other’s certification, opens market to imports The US and European Commission have reached an agreement that, in recognizing the equivalence of their organic certification programs, will open their markets to each other’s organic products effective...
Looking for Cool
Top product searches of our import data focus on refrigerants The most frequent product search of Datamyne’s US import data in December was for R134a (a.k.a. hydrofluorocarbon-134A, or HFC-134a, or 1,1,1,2–tetrafluoroethane), a refrigerant used in most car air...
Some Fungicide with Your O.J.?
FDA testing orange juice import shipments The Wall Street Journal reports that the Food and Drug Administration is testing inbound orange juice shipments at US ports for a fungicide, carbendazim, that has been found in brand-name juice products sold in the States. The...
Counting Flood’s Toll on Thai Trade
No December shipments of HDDs to US from top exporters Comparison of US waterborne import data from November 2010 with November 2011 indicates a 6.3% drop in trade volumes from Thailand – providing a partial measure of the damage done by the flooding of the country’s...
Santa’s Top Helpers
Trade data shows who really delivered toys to US kids Forget the North Pole. Most toys under the Christmas tree – or bestowed on US children any time of year for whatever reason – are made in China and delivered by container ships. Based on the volumes from Datamyne’s...
Mexico Leads US Organic Fruit Imports
New HS codes capture trade in organic produce This past year was the first in which specific Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) codes were available to identify incoming shipments to the US of fruits, vegetables, coffee, and grains that are “Certified Organic.” [See By...
Here’s the Beef
Cattle outnumber people more than 3 to 1 in Uruguay by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Get a group of trade policy junkies together and the first word likely to pop into their minds when they think of Uruguay is “round” – a reference to the Uruguay Round of multilateral...
Peru Eyes Blueberries
Planting in the mountains for export markets in US, Europe, Asia The Peruvian government’s Sierra Exportadora agency announced that its demonstration blueberry plantation in Pichupampa should be shipping its first crop next year. The economic development program will...
A Model Trade Partner
US exports to Chile have soared since FTA took effect in 2004 by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor I caught Barbara Kotschwar, a Latin America specialist with the Washington-based Petersen Institute for International Economics, by surprise when I said I wanted to talk...