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Released: July 15, 2009
NASSTRAC Takes Stand With Others on Lacey Act Implementation
NASSTRAC, along with other shipper and importer groups, have joined forces to support a “Consensus Statement” on Lacey Act implementation to Congress. The statement reads that the Lacey Act declaration requirement, “if properly implemented, facilitates achieving the intent of the Lacey Act to curb trade in illegally harvested plants. The processes that companies put in place to determine the origin of their plant material for declaration purposes, as well as the data generated by the requirement, are tools that support compliance with and enforcement of the Lacey Act.” It goes on to suggest that the declaration requirement has the potential to ensure that businesses all along the supply chain – harvesting operations, manufacturers, brokers, importers, retailers – become a part of the solution to the problem through joint action.
NASSTRAC, along with other organizations such as the National Retail Federation, supports the statement, which was worked up by industry representatives (i.e., importers and manufacturers using wood and wood products from outside the US) and non-governmental organizations (i.e. environmental groups). “It should lighten importer paperwork burdens as to wood and wood products imported into this country,” according to John Cutler, NASSTRAC’s Legal Counsel.
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Industrial Price Index Signals Recovery on Track
Global industrial production is on track to recovery, although in fits and starts, according to the trend signaled by the industrial price index compiled by The Journal of Commerce and the Economic Cycle Research Institute. The index is considered a leading indicator of industrial demand that looks at pricing for a broad assortment of raw materials used in industrial production, and has grown nearly 16 percent since the beginning of May, even after a slight decline the week of July 10.
Although the latest measure was only 6.6 percent below the ECRI index a year ago, it’s far better than the year-over-year declines of more than 60 percent the index saw for several months starting in November. Meanwhile, as ECRI predicted in April, the U.S. economy remains set to see the recession end sometime this summer. This is despite the general feeling out there that what economists are calling “green shoots” have withered, as reflected by the pullback in stock prices. But the evidence for this seems to be based largely on backward-looking indicators like payroll jobs (a single month of lower-than-consensus data following a month of higher-than-consensus data). Logically, according to the Journal of Commerce, this should not undermine the strength in the leading indicators, which is why ECRI’s leading indexes remain in decisive cyclical upswings.
Diesel Prices Fall Again
The price of a gallon of diesel fell for a third straight week Monday, dropping 5.2 cents to $2.542 a gallon, the U.S. Department of Energy reported to NASSTRAC this week. The decline puts the price of diesel $2.222 below levels recorded one year ago, when it hit its all-time record of $4.764 a gallon. Gasoline, meanwhile, plunged 8.4 cents to an average $2.528 per gallon, slipping below diesel for the first time in two months. Gasoline hit a record $4.114 per gallon on July 7, 2008, and Monday’s price is $1.585 below the same week last year. Oil prices have plunged since late June, falling more than $11 to finish last week’s trading below $60 per barrel, Bloomberg reports.
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