Joe Alba, Editor

It does not take a heck of a lot of marketing to fly a full cargo load eastbound from Asia to the New York region, but what about the return trip? This is where the challenge exists for airlines striving to achieve profitable cargo margins. The problem is finding United States based firms who have products to ship to the Far East and then, selecting the Freight Forwarders and Truckers who can deliver the product with land-based transportation at both ends of the air trip. The genesis of the problem is the lopsided balance of trade between the United States and Asia. This is especially true of China and the United States where the aggregate balance of trade differential up to September of 2005 is $70 billion dollars. However, there may be good news on the horizon. Efforts to balance the trade from the US to China, received a boost last month when a public opinion poll among China's emerging urban middle class found that high-quality personal care toiletries and consumer electronics lead the list of most desired American products. Apparel and fashion accessories and music and videos were close behind, while items drawing the least interest were American cigarettes and liquor. Isn't it interesting to see a survey where Chinese consumers are looking to buy United States apparel? China is one of the primary sources of apparel in the United States and who would have thought that U.S. sourced apparel may be finding there way on airplanes to China. As the middle class in China continues to grow as a segment in the economy, the "middle-kingdom" will soon become a prime marketing target for United States firms. The survey - that was sponsored by UPS and conducted by Research International - involved 1,140 Chinese consumers between the ages of 20 and 59 in six cities. UPS said it commissioned the research to better understand the Chinese marketplace to help its customers learn which US products are most in demand, and to stay abreast of consumer trends within China as the company develops its service offerings. The results are good news for cargo airlines and combination carriers plying the routes to China. Most, if not all, of them have been facing unbalanced traffic to China ever since the country opened its door to foreign products, meaning scarce capacity on the outbound flight, but plenty of it - and at very low rates - coming into China. According to Kevin O'Connell, senior partner of the law firm O'Connell and Co, who divides his time between the firm's Hong Kong, Washington, D.C., and Annapolis, Maryland offices, the survey indicates that Chinese consumers are more selective and more sophisticated than formerly thought. "I believe that American business needs to be smarter than it has been," he said. That may well be true, but O'Connell's advice could be equally directed at US lawmakers, who continue to push for imposing stiff tariffs on imports from China, to protect US manufacturers, with the latest textile quota drama being a case in point. China's upward mobile class may be quite prepared to Buy American, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the same is true for a Buy China attitude in the US.