Product to be Exported
The intended product to be exported to Nepal is a seed spreader; the kind used for home use for lawn care. The spreader has the capacity to hold up to 80 lbs of seed; the flow of the seeds is able to be manually adjusted with a leaver on the handle (Home Hardware, 2014). The seed spreader is also equipped with 10” heavy duty poly wheels that are built to last on varied terrain (Home Hardware, 2014). The product isn’t specifically build for jute seed but for a general combination of seeds and fertilizer. Jute seeds are roughly the size of grass seeds and therefore the spreader would work well for jute because it was designed as a lawn care spreader which includes grass seeds.
Company Involved
At first it was thought that Home Hardware would be able to provide the product in bulk shipments. Due the fact that Home Hardware is a 100% Canadian owned company it would have had large potential to benefit the Canadian industry and help to further expand a large iconic Canadian company (Home Hardware, 2014). The issue with having Home and Hardware supply the product is that they buy the product from their manufacturer; meaning that there is already a significant mark up on the price and if it were then sold to Nepalese farmers the price markup would be even greater. In an economic sense from the view of the Nepalese farmers it would not be very cost efficient to buy the seed spreader from Home Hardware but instead directly from the manufacturer in bulk quantities to avoid the second price increase.
Market Opportunity
In Nepal there is a great opportunity for this product, many farmers could benefit from having a seed spreader in their possession. In the 2005/2006 growing season 17100 metric tonnes of raw jute was produced over a total of 11975 hectares of land, mostly in the terai region (Ghimire and Yadav, 2014). Most of these farmers own a few hectares of land and do mostly hand labour, this is a lot of hard, physical labour that is very stressful for the human body. Having a seed spreader reduces the labour on one of the steps in growing a crop; however, the raising, harvesting and post-harvesting events in the growing seasons are still equally intensive.
This spreader is designed for general seed and fertilizer use. This can greatly benefit Nepalese farmers and also makes the product more attractive for them because they will be able to use it for multiple kinds of seed as well as fertilizer. Originally this seed spreader was thought to be used for jute seed and help to improve jute production in Nepal; however, any farmer can purchase the spreader if they are willing to use it for other grass seeds or fertilizer. Therefore, this product has large potential and a great market opportunity in the country of Nepal.
Not only is this product great for farmers to plant their crops but any homeowner can use this product; it was originally designed to be a grass seeder for lawn care after all. This means that the there is also a market opportunity directed toward people that populate the larger cities of Nepal that have a higher income than the average Nepalese farmer; if the people living in urban cities wish to sow a nice lawn they may want to purchase a grass seeder. Moreover, there are many tourists in Nepal that live in big reserves and hotels, these vacation destinations must look presentable to tourists meaning that they will need a nice, uniformly spread lawn – this can be done with the seed spreader being proposed to being exported to Nepal (Wheplton, 1990).
This potential export product is very simple and not incredibly expensive; moreover it can be used for a variety of different seeds and fertilizers which makes it a great product for any labour intensive farming system which are seen in most developing countries. Due to this the product has the potential to not only be exported to Nepal but the seed spreader could also have a good market potential in many African nations, other Asian countries and developing countries in both Central and South America; giving Canada a large export potential with great market opportunity on the receiving end.
Benefits to Canada
Canada already has a relatively stable export-import relation with the country of Nepal. Canada imports mostly garments, carpets and jewelry. Nepal imports lots of Canadian goods such as peas and lentils, aircraft parts, appliances, stainless steel, and chemical instruments (Embassy of Nepal, 2014).
Each year the amount of goods that Canada imports to Nepal is slightly increasing however that total amount of goods that is getting exported to Nepal is on a decreasing trend, with a slight increase in 2011 (Embassy of Nepal, 2014) Having this seed spreader to export to Nepal could potentially increase the amount that Canada exports to Nepal and could help stabilize the trade balance since currently Canada imports more than they export to Nepal.
Canada stands to gain a lot by exporting this seed spreader to Nepal, it strengthen trade relations with Nepal and increase revenue and Canada’s overall Gross Domestic Product if enough seed spreaders where exported. However, it also has the potential to create future trade deals with Nepal especially in the agriculture sector. Since this product is designed to increase jute production in Nepal, Canada might be able to import more jute from Nepal to fill the demand for fibre bags.
If this product were to be exported to Nepal it would have the ability to create more jobs in Canada, particularly in Alberta where the warehouse is located that would organize the shipments and also in Prince Rupert where the port is located that the Canadian Steamship Lines would facilitate to transport the containers of product across the Pacific Ocean.
The intended product to be exported to Nepal is a seed spreader; the kind used for home use for lawn care. The spreader has the capacity to hold up to 80 lbs of seed; the flow of the seeds is able to be manually adjusted with a leaver on the handle (Home Hardware, 2014). The seed spreader is also equipped with 10” heavy duty poly wheels that are built to last on varied terrain (Home Hardware, 2014). The product isn’t specifically build for jute seed but for a general combination of seeds and fertilizer. Jute seeds are roughly the size of grass seeds and therefore the spreader would work well for jute because it was designed as a lawn care spreader which includes grass seeds.
Company Involved
At first it was thought that Home Hardware would be able to provide the product in bulk shipments. Due the fact that Home Hardware is a 100% Canadian owned company it would have had large potential to benefit the Canadian industry and help to further expand a large iconic Canadian company (Home Hardware, 2014). The issue with having Home and Hardware supply the product is that they buy the product from their manufacturer; meaning that there is already a significant mark up on the price and if it were then sold to Nepalese farmers the price markup would be even greater. In an economic sense from the view of the Nepalese farmers it would not be very cost efficient to buy the seed spreader from Home Hardware but instead directly from the manufacturer in bulk quantities to avoid the second price increase.
Market Opportunity
In Nepal there is a great opportunity for this product, many farmers could benefit from having a seed spreader in their possession. In the 2005/2006 growing season 17100 metric tonnes of raw jute was produced over a total of 11975 hectares of land, mostly in the terai region (Ghimire and Yadav, 2014). Most of these farmers own a few hectares of land and do mostly hand labour, this is a lot of hard, physical labour that is very stressful for the human body. Having a seed spreader reduces the labour on one of the steps in growing a crop; however, the raising, harvesting and post-harvesting events in the growing seasons are still equally intensive.
This spreader is designed for general seed and fertilizer use. This can greatly benefit Nepalese farmers and also makes the product more attractive for them because they will be able to use it for multiple kinds of seed as well as fertilizer. Originally this seed spreader was thought to be used for jute seed and help to improve jute production in Nepal; however, any farmer can purchase the spreader if they are willing to use it for other grass seeds or fertilizer. Therefore, this product has large potential and a great market opportunity in the country of Nepal.
Not only is this product great for farmers to plant their crops but any homeowner can use this product; it was originally designed to be a grass seeder for lawn care after all. This means that the there is also a market opportunity directed toward people that populate the larger cities of Nepal that have a higher income than the average Nepalese farmer; if the people living in urban cities wish to sow a nice lawn they may want to purchase a grass seeder. Moreover, there are many tourists in Nepal that live in big reserves and hotels, these vacation destinations must look presentable to tourists meaning that they will need a nice, uniformly spread lawn – this can be done with the seed spreader being proposed to being exported to Nepal (Wheplton, 1990).
This potential export product is very simple and not incredibly expensive; moreover it can be used for a variety of different seeds and fertilizers which makes it a great product for any labour intensive farming system which are seen in most developing countries. Due to this the product has the potential to not only be exported to Nepal but the seed spreader could also have a good market potential in many African nations, other Asian countries and developing countries in both Central and South America; giving Canada a large export potential with great market opportunity on the receiving end.
Benefits to Canada
Canada already has a relatively stable export-import relation with the country of Nepal. Canada imports mostly garments, carpets and jewelry. Nepal imports lots of Canadian goods such as peas and lentils, aircraft parts, appliances, stainless steel, and chemical instruments (Embassy of Nepal, 2014).
Each year the amount of goods that Canada imports to Nepal is slightly increasing however that total amount of goods that is getting exported to Nepal is on a decreasing trend, with a slight increase in 2011 (Embassy of Nepal, 2014) Having this seed spreader to export to Nepal could potentially increase the amount that Canada exports to Nepal and could help stabilize the trade balance since currently Canada imports more than they export to Nepal.
Canada stands to gain a lot by exporting this seed spreader to Nepal, it strengthen trade relations with Nepal and increase revenue and Canada’s overall Gross Domestic Product if enough seed spreaders where exported. However, it also has the potential to create future trade deals with Nepal especially in the agriculture sector. Since this product is designed to increase jute production in Nepal, Canada might be able to import more jute from Nepal to fill the demand for fibre bags.
If this product were to be exported to Nepal it would have the ability to create more jobs in Canada, particularly in Alberta where the warehouse is located that would organize the shipments and also in Prince Rupert where the port is located that the Canadian Steamship Lines would facilitate to transport the containers of product across the Pacific Ocean.