China Uses Rules on Global Trade to Its Advantage

Summary

Today the world’s economy is struggling to recover from the recession , but in China there are evidences that they are using international trade rules to get their own economy better at the cost of others , by this they try maintain their export dominance.
They do that by using two major international bodies. First the World Trade Organization , by this organization they can complain about other countries trade practices. Filling a case at the World Trade Organization is one of the best weapons a country can have when you’re in a trade dispute with another country. By this they are trying to protect their own economy against others.


The second international body is the International Monetary Fund and is a sort of a watchdog for the global economic policy. Now the I.M.F. reports that China is constantly undervaluing its currency ‘the renminbi’. They keep ‘the renminbi’ artificially low all the time and that’s why China’s export is inexpensive and China’s import expensive.

Those two acts are against trade laws and that’s why other countries are starting to take measurements against China.

Personal Opinion

For us, China can be our hope but at the other hand it can also by our worst fear. They can supply us the cheapest clothes , electronic parts , ... but with their low remunerations they’ll claim most of our jobs. They attracts many enterprises because they have very cheap labour men and housing prices.
Also those measures that they take against competing countries and making their currency artificially low is cowardly and need to be restricted. Why does only China do such kind of actions and almost every other country respects the laws and make sure that a free trade is the new tomorrow.


By Nicholas De Potter
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/business/global/15yuan.html?scp=8&sq=trade&st=Search

China defends trade policy

On March the tenth, the prime minister of China – Wen Jiabao – addressed the political and economical concerns of Western nations during the National People’s Congress (NPC). The NPC is the only time a year on which the prime minister of China holds an open press conference, and that’s why it’s so highly anticipated in the rest of the world. Wen made several promises during his speech, amongst others; more cooperation between nations to bolster the global economical recovery, an increase of the educational budget, more low-cost housing and a consistent striving for a better living standard for all Chinese citizens.

Wen also defended his government against certain allegations - for example: that China is intentionally undervaluing the yuan in order to boost exports. Wen countered this by lashing out at the United States – who expressed their concerns with the Chinese currency – by asking Washington to take unspecified steps to reassure Chinese investors - who have over $800 billion in foreign exchange reserves in U.S. Treasury Securities.

As for geopolitical issues; China stands firm in their beliefs that Tibet and Taiwan are Chinese property and refutes sabotaging the negotiations at the Copenhagen Climate Summit (CCS), stating that they were never formally invited to any negotations.

It’s another amazing example of the struggle between China and the U.S. Both countries are trying to dominate each other and keep throwing threats and accusations in all directions. The bickering over their currencies is a prime piece of evidence in this complex case. China is a master in saying one thing and doing another; for example: “China urges countries to resist protectionism and asks them not to take advantage of each other during this fragile economic recovery”. While they’re the first ones to take advantage of the recent economic downturn by lending out credit with insane interest rates and to use their surpluses of previous years in order to keep their production at the same level it was before the downturn.

On the other hand we have the United States challenging the yuan, probably in order to safeguard their own economical interests . If the yuan is positively revaluated it would mean lower export numbers for China, which directly benefits the United states. This is an understandable argument, if it weren’t for the weak dollar and the gigantic government debt.

It goes to show that while both countries preach cooperation and understanding, all they really care about is fortifying their grip on the world’s political and economical stage. And all these charades and white lies are holding back the real economic recovery.

Simon Verduyn

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/14/china-defends-trade-polic_n_498324.html

Vanilla

Bitter plight of the vanilla trade children



Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world. Luckily, they can still get some revenues from vanilla-trading. Vanilla is the most famous Malagasy product in the world. A lot of premium brands use Malagasy vanilla, for example; Ben & Jerry’s, Marks & Spencer desserts, Magnum and a lot of other brands,… . Vanilla is a premium flavour for many products.
In Madagascar, 28% of the children between five and seventeen already work a day job. In Northern Madagascar, children are forced to work 6 or 7 hours a day on their parents’ fields. The reason? Children have to help put money on the table and aren’t even given the most basic education.
One black vanilla pod sells up to 4£ a piece in British supermarkets. Small growers can sell their vanilla to Société Vanille de Sambaya, which organizes auctions twice a year.
Nowadays vanilla is no longer a guaranteed source of income for the Malagasy people . A few years ago a kilo of vanilla sold for 600$, now a kilo is only worth 20$. We could conclude that the standard of living has decreased immensely. The vanilla pods have to go through a whole process, this means that the cultivation is very labour-intensive.
Vanilla has become very popular in the west, and Madagascar has become a symbol of quality. Big companies like Unilever have strict ethical standards, they don’t want to buy vanilla anymore from suppliers who work with children. By the end of 2013, Ben & Jerry’s promised to only use fair-trade-certified products

Opinion
For many poor families in poor countries, the help from their children is desperately needed. If they want a decent income to survive. Most families in countries like Madagascar have a bunch of children, their parents cannot pay an education for them. It’s very sad for the Malagasy that the price of the vanilla pods plummeted so much, because this is one of the most important incomes for Madagascar. Sadly enough, vanilla is not as scarce as for example diamond in Sierra Leone.
As we all know the Malagasy government is corrupt, this is also one of the important aspects why Madagascar is so poor.
Visiting Madagascar was a big experience for me. The Malagasy people are not sad because they are poor, they are always happy and enthusiastic. Madagascar is not a dry country at all, that’s why they can cultivate their own food instead of importing it.
Maybe if Madagascar could negotiate a better price for their products, they wouldn’t be as poor as they are right now.

Julie Deaulmerie

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article7060962.ece

Green and Black's to go 100% Fair-trade

Green & Black’s is an organic chocolate maker. The company revealed to change its entire worldwide food range to Fair-trade by the end of 2011. If the company succeeds, it will be the world’s leading manufacturer of organic Fair-trade chocolate.



The products of Green & Black’s will carry the blue and green fair-trade logo. The company hopes that the full conversion of the chocolate products will be achieved by the end of 2011 in more than 30 countries. Sales of fair-trade products keep rising, for example last year, sales of fair-trade products grew to £635m, in 2010 it could break the £1bn barrier.

Each year farmers in the Dominican Republic get a fair-trade funding, approximately £300,000 a year. By supporting the farmers, it's possible to make new initiatives to improve the education, the quality and availability of the farmers, which will increase their income, ensure the cocoa industry and the supply of high-quality organic cocoa beans. The biggest reason for this is, chocolate has become a mainstream fair-trade product. Same as bananas, tea and coffee.

To my opinion fair-trade is a really good thing ! Green & Black’s has made a good decision choosing for this. More and more people prefer to buy fair-trade products. The products are maybe more expensive but the quality of the products is very good ! When consumers buy products stamped with the blue, green and black Fair-trade logo, it means they support a movement that gives farmers a fair price for their hard work. Our economy may be in a meltdown but we still support groups such as the Fair-trade Foundation, We give hard workers in the developing countries a chance to escape poverty ! How nice is that !

Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/28/fair-trade-ethical-living

Fair Trade

Fair Trade is an exchange system that offers fair wages in local context. It’s trading with respect for cultural identity. It creates direct and long-term relations because Fair Trade makes sure businesses come together. Fair Trade is more than coffee it’s also clothing, jewelry, … It makes sure the prices are not expensive but competitive. They build schools for better education, hospitals for better healthcare and so much more with their profits!

I think it’s very important Fair Trade exists! Smaller communities and poorer countries also get a bit of support with this kind of trade! It’s good that those people get a chance to work and to earn money. The products they create are very basic, but very necessary in our world!

They say the prices are not expensive but competitive. I think products produced by Fair Trade are more expensive than other products! I know it’s very difficult to compete with the big manufacturers but it would be better for the “organization” if the prices would be a little cheaper. Maybe this would be possible if they would get more aid from the government.

It’s very interesting to know they make the difference by building schools and hospitals to improve the living conditions of that certain place. But I think that they would make more profit if they would promote their organization better than they do nowadays. I think everyone knows that Fair Trade exists, but I don’t think most people know what they do with their profits! It’s very important to know what Fair Trade is and it’s good that there are people who promote it by different and simple ways, for example YouTube in this case!

By Nico Cossyns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_h99DDa39E

Quick Query: Covario's Stephan Spencer on Mobile Commerce

Summary

These days more and more consumers access the Internet through their mobile phones. That’s because the new phones have the ability to connect to the web via mobile data networking services – called 3G . Of course for us, ‘the consumer’, this is a very interesting tool to use. But for the merchant it’s a possibility that brings a lot of complications with it. This possibility is selling all or most of their goods via mobile phone.


Because this new tool is a sudden change in sales, the merchant needs to adapt his website to interact and react better at changes in trade. That’s why nowadays a third party joins the trade between the consumer and the seller to transform the merchant’s website into a mobile optimized version - which is very efficient and easy to use.

In this article Stephan Spencer is such a third party. They interviewed him about his new company , of which the main goal is to transform all kinds of websites and platforms into mobile optimized pages. He explains how such a transformation works and if any platform or website is capable to undergo such a drastic transformation.

Personal opinion

I do believe that this change in trade is one of the future possibilities to make trade much easier and faster. More and more people are getting mobile phones with internet support. And more and more internet providers are making it possible that you can access the internet almost everywhere you want.

I’m also the owner of such a mobile phone; equipped with internet support, and I have to admit that it’s a very useful feature when you’re in need of information and you don’t have time to start-up your laptop or desktop. It’s also easy if you can’t get on your desktop and really needs to find an address , ...

Of course there are still some mayor problems with it , and I find it a bit raciest that only IPhone or Blackberry users can use this new application. At school we have also such an application for only IPhone users and it’s not that friendly to give them an opportunity and not every people !
All people are equal for the law, so why not for this application ?

Nicholas De Potter

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/1679-Quick-Query-Covario-s-Stephan-Spencer-on-Mobile-Commerce

The concept of trade

To start this topic about trade, I thought it was helpful to give a further explanation to the word “trade”. I’d like to give an answer to the question : what do we know about trade ? Many people know the word but on the other hand, can these people explain the word ? A small introduction.
We have been hearing this word for the first time since we started to understand the world. But what exactly is trade ? Trade is a simple activity between two parties or several parties that involves exchange of goods and services. Always remember that trade takes place between two or several parties in the transaction.
How do we trade ? In our modern world we use money as medium to exchange goods and services. A reason why trade has become a very important term in our common world. To understand the importance of trade we have to know that trading is in existence since humanity was born. One thing is sure, trade is going to be in existence as long as people walk on this planet.
The invention of money has played an important role in simplifying and promoting the development of trade. Modern traders generally use money as medium of exchange. Trade benefits also both parties involved in the transaction.
To my opinion the world wouldn’t exist if people weren’t trading among each other. Can you imagine a life without trade ? Trade has become an indispensable part in our life, that’s for sure ! Of course there are many different ways of trading. In our topic we discuss the concept of trade in an economic view. But as you know trading is not always a positive thing, think of all the illegal practices among trading. Such as trading humans, drugs, weapons,… If we look to trade that way, the discussion is far from over ! The world still needs to develop more than we can imagine.

Jeffrey Bogaert

Source : http://www.indianchild.com/trade/trade_index.htm