House bill challenges 2010 agreement that settled cotton dispute by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor In my last column, about Brazil’s surprising spike in demand for US ethanol and cotton, I noted that the way had been cleared for shipments of $328 million worth of US...
CBP Commissioner to Step Down?
Bersin described as “a radical departure from prior leaders” American Shipper reports that Alan Bersin’s appointment as Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection will most likely not be confirmed by the Senate and he will have to step down. President Obama made...
Chinese Solar Imports Draw Fire
Do surging shipments and dropping prices signal dumping? Potential scandal aside, Solyndra’s August bankruptcy filing, close behind the failures of Evergreen Solar and SpectraWatt, signals a fast and hard shake-out of the US solar energy industry. A global glut of...
Charts and Graphs: Brazil’s Buying
Here are some snapshots of Brazil’s import trade this year As Bill Armbruster discusses in What Brazil Is Buying, while China has roared past the US to become Brazil’s top trade partner, the US is still Brazil’s top source for imports (at least for first half 2011). ...
What Brazil Is Buying
Cotton and ethanol leap into Brazil’s top 5 imports from the US by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor China has roared past the US to become Brazil’s top trade partner, but the US is still the top exporter to the Latin American giant, and those exports – plus the US surplus...
Top Datamyne Searches
New feature tracks trends in searches of our trade data Datamyne has added a new feature to its website home page. We’re listing the top “country,” “company,” and “product” searches by subscribers of our trade database each month, starting with July. Ranked by volume...
Copper Exports: Volume Down, Value Up
Chilean, Peruvian copper fetches record prices as shipments slip in 1H11 End of July, we looked at copper exports from top source Chile and top comer Peru through year-end 2010, when the price of copper began its climb toward a record US$10,000/ton [Copper Benchmark]....
Food Prices: Why So High?
Latest spike is a variation on the pattern set in 2002 A steady downward trend in global food prices in 1980-2002 has given way to sharp rises and falls. A report from the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (ERS) looks for answers to the question...
CBP’s Bonding Falls Short
DHS report documents multimillion write-off on failures to collect by Peter Quinter, guest columnist The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a report criticizing US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In a June...
Practical Tools
In Miami: Seminar equips food importers to meet CBP, FDA rules It’s become an annual event in Miami. This year’s seminar on importing food to the US, Practical Tools for Trade in the Food Industry, will be held Wednesday, September 7, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at...