International Trade and Its Barriers

First we will discuss the concept of trading. The trading concept is centered on the simple activity of the exchange of good or services or both. These exchanges may be the ones that simply take place between two parties within the country or between two different countries. The simple trade, which takes place between two parties, is known as bilateral trade and if these exchanges take place between more than two parties, is known as multi-Lateral trade.

Now let us deal with the issue of what International trade is? It is defined as exchanging of goods and services or both, between two or more partners from different countries (an exporter and an importer).

The country for the purpose of importing and for doing international business, generally uses the following three barriers:

1. Tariff Barriers

This is the barrier put on imports in the form of duties, tax and quotas etc. Due to which the imports are less and the price level of imported products rises and the demand for them decreases.

2. Non – Tariff Barriers

This is the barrier put by the country on imports by restricting quantity of importing. A fix quantity is defined for the importing products that make the price level of the imported goods high and the supply of foreign goods become limited.

3. Voluntary Constraints

This is the last kind of trade barrier in which the country itself voluntarily stops the incoming products. Due to this barrier the country has power to stop the imports coming frequently into the country and limiting the competition with the foreign goods with the local industries.

These three types of trade barriers should be taken into consideration when deciding to trade internationally. Mostly lower developed countries and the developing countries uses these kinds of trade barriers for their international trade and international business. The advantage of these barriers is as follows: -

Country earns foreign exchange by putting Tariff and non-Tariff barriers.

The local industry of the country is protected by the foreign competitive industries.

Less imported goods are brought into the country due to which consumer also buys local products.

The currency remains in the country due to which government gains benefit in the form of revenue.

William King is the director of UK Wholesale, UK Wholesalers and Dropshippers Directory. He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.

India Emerging As A Global Healthcare Destination

Health is vital for ethical, artistic, material and spiritual development of man. It is very certain that of all the gains, the gains of health are the highest and the best. Traveling abroad for treatment has been an age-old practice. In ancient Greece, pilgrims and patients came from all over the Mediterranean to the sanctuary of the healing god, Asklepios, at Epidaurus. There were spiritual values attached to traveling for getting cured in ancient times that only a few of the privileged lot could afford. With the passage of time and the ease of traveling, people have started traveling offshore in search of faster, cheaper and safer surgical procedures.

Relatively new to the oriental part of the globe, medical tourism has been an age old phenomena in the West and has been supported by highly-developed indigenous health care systems and constant improvements in technology. By upgrading the technology, gaining greater familiarity with latest medical protocols and improving the image in terms of quality and cost, the health-care industry in countries like India and Thailand are attracting a global clientele to emerge as a top medical-tourism destinations.

In a country as diverse as India, the health care industry has capitalized on its rich cultural resource and glorious past. In sharp contrast to the generally impoverished economical background, there are private health care centers that offer sophisticated medical services, comparable to and at times even better than those offered by developed countries. A recent market study forecasts a growth from US$ 18.7 billion to around US$ 45 billion - equivalent to 8.5 per cent of GDP by 2012. India has emerged as the leading country promoting medical tourism.

India's health care industry along with its IT and tourism sector has helped it move into the economic renaissance. It is poised to become a major driver of economic growth as first-world patients, driven out of their own systems by high costs and crowded conditions, look for cheaper places for medical care. The Government of India provides Tourist Visa of short duration and a special Medical Tourism Visa (M) of longer duration (up to 1 year) for persons. Patients are also provided Visa (MX) for their accompanying spouse coming to India for Medical Treatment. New terms such as such as health tourism, health care outsourcing and medical back office support have gained good popularity in the nation.

Medical tourism in India is a business that has been estimated to be worth $2 billion by 2012. What has been termed as "International Patient Care" is already gaining pace in the nation. Private health care units are constantly improvising their health infrastructure and attracting a regular stream of international patients by appending alluring benefits to their package. This seems quite reasonable given the rising costs of treatment in western countries along with increasing demands of an ageing population. Costs of advanced surgeries in India are 10-15 times lower than anywhere in the world that attracts patients from abroad to avail a host of arrangements at an easily affordable rate. A typical package includes air travel, local transportation, translation services, air-conditioned five-star accommodation for the patient and also for accompanying spouse or relative in many cases, together with their personalized choice of global cuisine.

From less than 10,000 patients visiting India for medical treatment five years ago, the market of medical tourism in India has taken a great leap in recent years. It is now worth US$ 333 million, with about 100,000 foreign patients coming in every year. India is well positioned to tap the top end of the global healthcare industry because of the facilities and services it offers and by leveraging the brand equity of Indian healthcare professionals across the globe. "A global healthcare destination" is what even the government is planning to brand the nation and is making economic policies in that direction.

A View on the South African Economy

South Africa has developed from an agrarian into a modern industrial state since World War II. Today, the economy is well-diversified and the country is capable of producing a wide range of consumer and investment goods. South Africa produces one fifth of the entire production of the African continent.

The mining industry still plays a prominent part. However, over the last few years, the country's economic dependency on the export of raw materials, especially on gold, has lessened.

The economy is based on foreign trade. More than half of the gross national product (GNP) is achieved through exports and imports. By investing in modern production technologies after the apartheid era, South African products became more and more competitive on the world market. In 1996, an export surplus of about 8,7 billion Rand was achieved. Exports consist mainly of mineral raw materials, agricultural produce, chemical products, machinery, electric appliances and vehicles. Import goods are machines, plastic products, chemicals and also vehicles.

Agriculture in South Africa:

South Africa is generally short of water. Only 11,8 per cent of the land is used for intensive agriculture relying on rainfalls. About two thirds of the country is arid or semi-arid. Rainfall is unreliable, and there can be long drought periods, as well as devastating floods. Therefore, irrigation based agriculture is very important and many products, like wine, citrus fruit and vegetables are grown under irrigation.

Meat production is also adapted to the climatic conditions in South Africa. In the arid expanses of the Karoo extensive cattle, sheep and goat breeding on natural pastures is predominant. In the north-west, the farming is confined to goats and sheep, though in areas with more precipitation they also breed cattle. At the coast and near densely populated areas there is also dairy production.

The share of agricultural produce in the GDP is slightly receding and was about 40 billion Rand (5,4 %) in 2004. Altogether, South Africa's agriculture is well developed and can successfully hold its ground on the world market, especially through products like wine, fruit, vegetables and sugar. About one million people earn their living through agriculture.

South Africa's Currency and Finance:

Over the last ten years, the South African Rand has lost almost half of its value against leading world currencies. In 2000 alone, it fell about 25 per cent against the US Dollar, British Pound and Japanese Yen. This occurred despite the fact that the currency was protected by high interest rates (up to 20 %) and despite decreasing inflation. Many investors, who had optimistically bought Rand bonds, came to feel the decline of the currency painfully.

It is doubtful whether the rating of the Rand is justified by economic indicators. The South African currency has become a favorite object for speculators, and many serious analysts consider the Rand to be under-rated by about 15 to 20 per cent.

Tourism which has developed into an important economic factor over the last years, is not the only industry that benefits from the Rand's weakness. The still very important gold mining sector, which has been put under strong pressure through the decline of the gold price, could also hold itself together due to the fall of the currency.

In 1998 the Rand got much stronger again and currently trades 9,80 Rand to the Euro and 7,80 Rand to the US Dollar. Nobody can predict at this stage in which direction the currency will move. The South African Reserve Bank publishes the latest exchange rates daily.