Can trade and logistics remake Florida? GIS WebTech has shared with us (via twitter) a story from Brookings that raises this question – and answers with an emphatic yes. As Brookings points out, many of Florida’s metro areas have yet to recoup the job losses sustained...
US Almond Exports Volume Down, Value Up in October
Our latest trade data confirms that the California drought’s toll on almond harvests has resulted in decreased export volumes – down nearly 13% in October compared with the same month a year ago. At the same time, the shortage appears to have driven up prices enough...
Agricultural Juggernaut: California’s Almond Exports
This caught our eye in the story about the reboot of US-India trade relations: Almonds round out India’s top five imports from the US. Almonds are an export success story for the US – and for California in particular. In fact, almonds are a leading US export crop,...
HS Tariff Codes for Tesla Products
The World Customs Organization (WCO) has proposed a set of Harmonized System (HS) tariff codes to tag and track import-export trade in hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric passenger vehicles. The new codes are part of a package of amendments to the HS that is...
Game of Chicken: Who Stands to Lose from Russia Sanctions?
Russian consumers will likely top the list of losers under Moscow’s one-year ban on all meat, fish, poultry, dairy, fruit and vegetables imports from the US, the EU, Canada, Australia, and Norway, effective August 7, 2014. Or, as the New York Times put it, Russia...
Are Tennessee Whiskey Exports Tapping out Supplies?
Global demand is on the rise for whiskey, especially Tennessee whiskey, the fastest-growing category. Sales, foreign and domestic, are outpacing production at least 2 to 1, reports The Tennesseean – and the production process (requiring two-years of aging, at minimum)...
Where Love and Quiches Found Working Capital: US Ex-Im Bank
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Financing is often the most crucial issue for US exporters, even more than the price of their goods. If commercial banks won’t provide the necessary credit, or the foreign buyers require assistance with financing so they can pay for the...
South American Healthcare Market Leader Brazil Hosts Hospitalar
About 40% of the exhibitors at next week’s Hospitalar healthcare fair in Brazil will be from foreign countries – recognition of the strength of demand for imports in the country’s US$167-billion healthcare market. The US Commercial Service will be at Hospitalar to...
Getting Governments to Shop for Best Value, Not Lowball Bids
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor A new US program and a revised World Trade Organization agreement aimed at getting governments to shop for best value instead of lowest cost may open significant opportunities for US companies to sell in foreign markets. The US Trade...
Will Look South Initiative Yield Results? Potential’s There.
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Business executives and trade analysts generally applaud the Obama administration’s new Look South Initiative, I found. (See my related post for details on this program to boost US exports.) “The initiative has the potential to help...