PIERS Home > Trade Insights Trade Profiles Connect now offers a click-to-email capability: Simply point and click on a contact name within a company profile to create and send a message directly to that contact's email address (where available). Click here to learn more — or call +1 800 952 3839, ext. 7128. State of confusion? What state does YC stand for ... and when did it join the union? It doesn't ... and never did. YC is the PIERS® abbreviation for British Columbia, a province of Canada. But you might see YC in the state field of a PIERS shipment record, an indication that a cargo was only passing through a U.S. port on a multi-leg journey that began, or ended, in British Columbia. When cargoes are trans-shipped through U.S. ports, U.S. Customs data includes information on where the original shipper (for exports) and final consignee (for imports) is located. These trans-shipped cargoes frequently originate from or are bound for destinations in our neighbor to the north, or countries in the Caribbean — and the PIERS data will include a two-letter code identifying the Canadian province or Caribbean nation in the field that would otherwise show the state of origin or destination. Trade Insights Here's a quick survey of current global marketplace developments ... with tips on resources you can use to turn them to your business advantage. PIERS Intelligence@Work: Here are the headlines from our most recent e-newsletter. Click here to have PIERS Intelligence@Work delivered to your e-mailbox FREE. Opportunity Alert   High-Growth Ag Exports Agricultural exports are hitting new highs for the fifth year in a row. Containerization has played a part in getting more U.S. soybeans to overseas markets. Read more >> Strategic Hit   More of a Fighting Chance With the information from PIERS Trade Profiles®, Argents Express Group salespeople are better prepared to offer logistics and supply chain solutions tailored to customers’ needs. Read more >> Hot Topic   Second Thoughts about Biofuels Demand for biofuel feedstocks — including corn for ethanol — got a big boost from government mandates that are now being re-examined for unintended consequences. Read more >> Snap Shot   Ag Chart-Toppers U.S. exports continue to grow, with grains & flour, and soybeans & soybean products setting the pace. See the chart >> PIERS Market Tip: Bucking the trend in housing and home furnishings … The PIERS prediction that any slow-down in housing would put sharp brakes on U.S. furniture imports has been borne out by containerized trade statistics that indicate the downward trend in America’s top import (at roughly a 15% share) beginning in 2006. The slump has claimed as casualties two companies in the PIERS list of the top 10 home furnishings importers (based on volume): 9th ranked Bombay Company and 10th ranked Levitz Furniture have both filed for bankruptcy. ... imports of housewares (more stuff to hold stuff) are on the rise. But while consumers may be scaling back on furnishings, they’ve not entirely stopped spending on their homes. Indeed, if one of your resolutions for the New Year is to re-organize your closet or to add storage to your garage, you’ll be helping to fuel one of the high-growth trends in this battered sector. PIERS trade stats indicate strong growth in housewares imports (more than 6000% since 2000). And, according to the International Housewares Association, growth in demand for closet and storage items leads the housewares category, with consumer spending increasing 20.5% a year on average for the last five years. As the trade association’s Perry Reynolds told the Wall Street Journal: “We’ve been through an orgy of getting, and now there’s an orgy of storing.” Make it work for you: CLICK HERE to download FREE PIERS Sector SnapShot of Home Furnishings (in a 500K PDF) This current statistical summary of U.S. imports and exports of home furnishings includes lists of top exporters and importers, top markets for U.S. exports, and top sources for U.S. imports. Then use PIERS to identify — and reach — global buyers and sellers. PIERS TI® trade intelligence gives you the transaction details — names, addresses, shipment contents, and estimated values — you need to track who’s buying and who’s selling. With a subscription to our Web-based Trade Profiles Connect, you get anywhere, anytime access to each prospect’s most recent trade activities and business background info … plus a direct link to company contacts’ e-mailboxes. To learn more about PIERS commercial intelligence, click here or call us at +1 800 952 3839, ext. 7128. Click here to have PIERS Market Tips delivered to your e-mailbox FREE. PIERS in the News: PIERS is the recognized authority on U.S. import-export trade information. Here are recent citations: A shortage of shipping containers threatens to limit U.S. exports — one of the few bright spots in an otherwise troubled economy, reports the Wall Street Journal in an article that cites PIERS container import-export statistics. Finding boxes used to be easy when U.S. trade traffic tended to be one-way: incoming. Shippers had to scramble to fill the boxes for the return trip to pick up more imports. Now shippers are charging a premium — where the boxes are available at all. Read the WSJ story With fuel prices soaring, imports falling, and competition heating up, Southern California’s twin ports are in the doldrums, reports the Los Angeles Times. Local opposition to expansion of Los Angeles and Long Beach port facilities will hamper efforts to capitalize on the economy’s rebound, expected in 2009 — while East Coast ports continue to grow their share of Asian cargo, according to Michael Andrews, chief economist for PIERS. Read the story in the LA Times Last year saw a marked rise in import alerts issue by the Food and Drug Administration, reports USA Today, with the FDA blocking imports of 11 types of questionable foods and drugs. At least two alerts had substantial impact, says USA Today, citing trade data from PIERS Global Intelligence Solutions: Imports of Chinese wheat gluten fell to 2.4 million pounds in September-November (compared to 14.7 million imported during the same period a year earlier), while imports of Chinese catfish dropped 68%. Read the story in USA Today The Associated Press has investigated the Food and Drug Administration’s effectiveness in screening seafood imported from China. The AP found one of every four shipments from China between last October and this May slipped through without inspection despite an FDA “import alert” requiring that every shipment be held until it passed a laboratory test. The AP’s source: import data from PIERS. Read the story in the Los Angeles Times PIERS also helped the AP trace the unchecked route taken by toothpaste tainted with a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze from China through Tacoma and Seattle to the Metro State Prison in south Atlanta. Read the story in the Washington Post Can you imagine a world without garbage? The trick, according to Fortune/CNN Money.com, is to achieve zero waste with 100% recycling. That’s the goal of U.S. municipalities such as San Francisco (leading the country with a 68% recycling rate) and companies (including Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Dell), eager to cash in on growing global demand for reclaimed resources. Indeed, as PIERS reports, wastepaper is the U.S.’s top export by volume to China. Read the story PIERS collaborated with Textile World on a detailed survey of textile import-export trade through U.S. seaports. Among other findings: fabric, fiber and yarn are net exports for the U.S.; apparel, home furnishings and floor coverings, as well as textile machinery and parts, were net imports. Tables covering port traffic are included. Read the story Page Index Featured Resource Tricks of the Trade Intelligence@Work Headlines Market Tip PIERS in the News More Resources Trade Links More Resources Turning up the pressure: The current issue of Intelligence@Work includes a story on biofuels and their impact on global grain markets. This is one Hot Topic that continues to simmer. In recent weeks, the USDA reported that U.S. farmers will plant 8% fewer acres of corn this year … while they plant 18% more acres in soybeans and 6% more in wheat, two higher-priced crops. Meanwhile, riots over food prices in some of the world’s poorest nations prompted criticism of U.S. biofuel policies by International Monetary Fund policy makers, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Expect even more pressure to revisit — and perhaps reverse — food-to-fuel mandates. These sites continue to track (and argue) the issue: U.S.: the Dept. of Agriculture’s Biobased Products & Bioenergy Coordination Council, and the Dept. of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and its Biomass Program. International: The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Protecting Intellectual Property: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released its annual “Special 301” Report on the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection afforded by U.S. trading partners. While there is evidence of improved respect for IPR in China and Russia, serious concerns remain — and these two countries will stay on the Priority Watch List. Improvements by Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and Ukraine are noted. Two trading partners — Belize and Lithuania — merit being removed from the Special 301 Report altogether. Read more>>. Ships and Boxes A large fully-laden container ship can weigh the equivalent of 300 jumbo jets. A container of refrigerators can be moved from a factory in Malaysia to a port and then shipped the journey of roughly 9,000 miles/14,484 kilometres to Los Angeles in just 16 days. On average a container ship emits over three times less than a heavy truck and around 40 times less CO2 than a large freight aircraft. The world’s biggest container ships are about 1,300 feet long (nearly 400 meters) - with a maximum width of 180 feet (55 meters). There are 21 stories between the bridge and the engine room. They can be operated by teams of just 13 people and a sophisticated computer system and carry 11,000 20-foot containers. … You’ll find these and other fast facts about container trade at the new website launched by the Container Shipping Information Service (CSIS), a new industry organization with a mission to help people understand how ships and boxes help them enjoy the lives they lead in today’s world. The site features a jargon buster, current industry news, and key issues briefings. Understanding NAFTA A new webinar from the U.S. Commercial Service explains how to take advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement documentation rules and procedures to start or expand sales to Mexico and Canada. Trade Links More global trade information sources: Commonwealth Business Media, PIERS parent company The Journal of Commerce, PIERS affiliate Official Export Guide, PIERS affiliate Custom House Guide, PIERS affiliate Alibaba Bankers’ Association for Finance & Trade (BAFT) CalTrade Report Export-Import Bank of the U.S. Federation of International Trade Associations (FITA) Management Dynamics NEXCO Southern U.S. Trade Association (SUSTA) Thomas Global Register U.S. Customs U.S. Government Export Portal