BBC Funding

April 29, 2011 — The Editors

As a bit of a tip-of-the-hat to the royal wedding being celebrated today, we look at the company that will no doubt lead the rest in covering this event, the British Broadcasting Corporation, known around the world as the BBC. Today’s market size is the estimated total value of the annual licensing fee which is levied on every U.K. household that has a television set. This fee was established under law in 1922 and although controversial today, remains in place. The sum collected makes up approximately 80 percent of the BBC’s annual budget.

Geographic reference: United Kingdom
Year: 2010
Market size: £3.6 Billion (approximately $5.6 Billion based on the exchange rate at the end of 2010)
Source: Lyall, Sarah and Eric Pfanner, “The Beeb Is Struggling to Tighten Its Belt,” The New York Times, April 24, 2011, page B1.
Original Source: BBC

Posted in Broadcasting, Information Technology, National Infrastructure. 2 Comments »

Cosmetic Surgery

April 28, 2011 — The Editors

In China, even a small percentage of the population can be a very large number. This may explain how, according to the source, China is now the third largest national consumer of cosmetic surgery when calculated by number of procedures performed annually. Today’s market size is the estimated value of cosmetic surgical procedures performed in China last year.

Geographic reference: China
Year: 2010
Market size: $2.3 Billion
Source: LaFraniere, Sharon, “For Many Chinese, New Wealth and a Fresh Face,” The New York Times, April 24, 2011, page 6
Original Source: Chinese Government estimates
Posted on April 28, 2011

Posted in Health Care, Personal Services, Skin Care Products. No Comments »

Digital Prescriptions

April 27, 2011 — The Editors

Approximately one third of all prescriptions written by doctors in Estonia, in January 2010, were digital.

Geographic reference: Estonia
Year: 2010 (January)
Market size: 306,000
Source: “One Third of Prescriptions Written Digitally in Estonia,” February 2, 2010, available online here.

Posted in Drugs, Health Care, Information Technology, Pharmaceutical Industry. No Comments »

Pets in Japan

April 25, 2011 — The Editors

Today’s market size is an estimated size for the pet care sector in Japan. This is a measure of the market for all products and services related to household pets. In Japan, one third of this market is made up of pet food. As in the United States, the pet sector is growing strongly in Japan. However, based on a calculation of population to estimated pet dog and cat numbers, fewer than half as many Japanese households have a dog or cat as a pet as U.S. households.

Geographic reference: Japan
Year: 2009
Market size: ¥1.2 Trillion (approximately $12.96 Billion based on the exchange rate on December 31, 2009)
Source: “At ¥1.2 Trillion, Pet Sector Recession-Proof,” The Japan Times Online, October 28, 2010, available online here.
Original Source: Fuji Keisai Company

Posted in Food, Pet Care. 2 Comments »

Chicken Eggs

April 22, 2011 — The Editors

Poultry and poultry products are a growing agricultural segment in the United States. The state that produces the greatest number of chicken eggs in the United States is Iowa, which in 2010 accounted for 16% of national production. Their leadership in this market is relatively new. As of 1998 Iowa’s chicken egg production accounted for 7.5% of the national total.

Wishes for a happy Easter Holiday to all.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1998 and 2010
Market size: 79,717 and 91,398 Million Eggs
Source: “Chickens and Eggs 2010 Summary,” one in a series of reports put out regularly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is accessible online here. The 1998 data come from an earlier edition of this same report. These earlier USDA reports may be accessed here.

Posted in Agriculture, Food. No Comments »

Houseware Sales

April 21, 2011 — The Editors

Housewares is a catagory of products covering a large range of different sorts of items. Here is a list: floor care products; metal cookware; kitchen tools & gadgets; plastic storage; air treatment products; blenders & food processors; cutlery; metal bakeware, and toasters. Today’s market size is an estimate of the total retail sales value of all items in this category during 2010. It shows a 2% increase over retail sales in 2009.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010
Market size: $52.2 Billion
Source: “It’s alive! Home furnishings sales—put on life support last year—show signs of life,” HFN Home Furnishings News, February 2011, page 16.
Original Source: McFadden Communications Group LLC

Posted in Household products, Retail Outlets. No Comments »

Student Loan Debt

April 20, 2011 — The Editors

The cost for a higher education has been rising for decades. According to an intersting article on this subject in EconSouth, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s quarterly journal, students at four-year colleges and universities paid a national average of between $20,000 and $40,000 last year for tuition, books, and room and board. This range covers a great deal of variation based on geography and type of institution—public or private. It is the average for students living on campus and enrolled in a four-year degree program.

It costs a lot to get a degree these days and this cost is being paid by more people taking on greater and greater levels of debt. Today’s market size is the total debt outstanding, nationally, for student loans. This figure exceeded, for the first time ever in 2010, the national total debt outstanding for revolving credit.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010
Market size: $829.79 Billion
Source: “Cap in Hand—The High Price of Higher Education,” EconSouth, first quarter 2011, page 8.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, College Board, and FinAid.org

Posted in Banking, Educational Services, National Infrastructure. No Comments »

e-Filing in the United States

April 19, 2011 — The Editors

Individual income tax returns were due for 2010 yesterday. A large number of these tax returns are now filed electronically, in 2010 e-filing accounted for 69.3% of all individual income tax forms filed for the tax year 2009. Today’s market size is the number of those returns files as of December 31, 2010. The IRS expects this figure to rise for coming tax years. Of the returns filed electronically last year, 35.3% were filed by the filer him or herself and the remaining 64.7% were filed by a professional preparer.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010
Market size: 98,740,000 Individual Tax Returns for tax year 2009
Source: “2010 Filing Season Statistics,” an online report made available online by the
IRS here.
Source: U.S. Internal Revenue Service

Posted in E-Commerce, Information Technology, National Infrastructure, Personal Services. No Comments »

Coffee

April 18, 2011 — The Editors

Today’s market size offers a measure of the world’s coffee production. The U.S. Department of Agriculture tracks many, many agricultural products, geographically, by output, by shipment and even by consumption. Another example of how the federal government’s data collection agencies provide us with an extremely valuable service.

Happy tax day!

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2000/2001 and 2010/2011
Market size: 117,521 and 139,084 thousand 60-Kilogram Bags respectively
Source: “Table 01 – Coffee World Production, Supply and Distribution,” Coffee: World
Markets and Trade, page 4, December 2010, available online here.
Original Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service

Posted in Agriculture, Coffee and Tea, Food&Drink, International Trade. No Comments »

Fresh Vegetables, Exports & Imports

April 15, 2011 — The Editors

Today’s market sizes are the value of fresh fruit exported from and imported into the United States. Two year’s worth of import and export figures are provided. The export values are based on free alongside ship (FAS) values at the U.S. port of exportation while the import values are based on customs value at the U.S. port of entry.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010 and 2020
Market size: Exports: $2,060 and $2,791 Million respectively
Market size: Imports: $5,180 and $8,985 Million respectively
Source: “Table 29. Horticultural crops long-term export and import projections, fiscal years,” USDA Agricultural Projections to 2020, page 80, February 2011, available online here.
Original Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Interagency Agricultural Projections Committee, and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
Posted on April 15, 2011

Posted in Agriculture, Food, International Trade. No Comments »
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