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Fortune Telling Services

A desire to know the future, to be able to make desicions with a firmer idea of what is to come, is a desire one finds in most human communities of all sorts. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 1 in 7 Americans consulted a psychic or fortuneteller in 2009. The market size presented below is the amount spent by Thais annually on visits to traditional fortune tellers.

Here’s hoping 2011 is a very good year!

Geographic reference: Thailand
Year: 2008
Market size: $63 Million
Source: “When the Spirits Talk, As They Frequently Do, Thais Are Eager to Listen,” The New York Times, January 1, 2011, page A1.
Original Source: Kasikorn Research Center in Bangkok.

Champagne Consumption

Not surprisingly, the nation with the largest consumption of champagne is the nation in which champagne is made, namely, France. The French consume approximately 177.6 million bottles of champagne each year. In terms of per capita consumption, two of France’s territories actually out consume the French population. Guadeloupe has an annual per capita consumption of champagne that is the highest in the world at 3.74 bottles per person. Next is Martinique with a per capita consumption of 3.3 bottles per person and France comes in third with per capita consumption of just under 3 bottles per person (2.93 bottles).

For a list of the countries with the highest champagne consumption, look at the table to which we provide a link in the source note below. Column 3 shows the number of bottles sold annually by country, in millions, and column 7 shows the per capita, bottle consumption figure per country.

Happy New Year!

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2009 (based on publication date)
Market size: 300.62 million bottles annually
Source: de Nederlandse Champagne Pagina’s, a web site presenting interesting statisitcs about the champagne business worldwide, available online here.

Christmas Trees

For our last market size posting before Christmas, later this week, we thought we’d present some figures on the industry involved in growing all those Christmas trees we decorate this time of year. The market sizes below are the number of trees harvested from Christmas tree farms in 2002 and 2007, a period over which we see a decline in numbers.
Tree Farm

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2002 and 2007
Market size: 20.8 Million and 17.4 Million trees respectively
Source: “USDA Census of Agriculture,” update, National Christmas Tree Association, available here. The image of trees being loaded on a truck is from the Pure Michigan web site, available here.
Original Source:U.S. Department of Agriculture

Toys, Dolls, and Games

The size of the retail market for toys, dolls, and games is our market size post for today. It seems a natural topic for this week of Christmas preparations.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2008
Market size: $21.6 Billion
Source: “Toys — Industry Outlook,” Great American Group, Volume 121, available here.
Original Source: The NPD Group, Inc.

Visitors to Public Gardens

Data show the number of visitors per year to public gardens in the United States. In many places the number of visitors to public gardens has declined in recent years. According to Rick Colbert, director of Tyler Arboretum in Pennsylvania, founded in 1825, “young families are not interested in being outside…. Kids today are much more comfortable behind a computer screen.” As a result, many public gardens are promoting their sustainability efforts, tapping into the theme of “going green”, which is popular with young people.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: 70 million
Source: W. Barksdale Maynard, “A Bold New Mission for Arboreta: Sustainability,” American Forests, Autumn 2010, pp. 38-43

Turkeys

The size of the market presented here is based on values at the wholesale level, farm receipts for sales of turkeys.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: $3.6 Billion
Source: “U.S. Farm Sector Cash Receipts from Sales of Agricultural Commodities, 2006-2010F,” a table on the USDA’s Economic Research Service web site, available online here.
Original Source: Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture

Truck Border Crossings into the U.S. from Mexico

Four U.S. states share a land border with Mexico over which a great deal of commerce enters the United States by truck. The measurement presented here is the number of truck loads entering the United States from Mexico in 2009. Texas is the state through which the largest number of trucks cross the U.S.—Mexican border.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: 4,291,000 Crossings
Source: State Transportation Statistics 2009, “Table 3-18: Incoming Truck Crossings, U.S. — Mexican Border: 2002—2009,” Page C-14.
Original Source: Research and Innovation Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation

Truck Border Crossings into the U.S. from Canada

Ten U.S. states share a land border with Canada over which a great deal of commerce enters the United States by truck. The measurement presented here is the number of truck loads entering the United States from Canada in 2009. Michigan is the state through which the largest number of trucks cross the border.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: 5,021,000 Crossings
Source: State Transportation Statistics 2009, “Table 3-12: Incoming Truck Crossings, U.S. — Canadian Border: 2002—2009,” Page C-12.
Original Source: Research and Innovation Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation

Tea Sales

While coffee is still the hot drink of choice for most Americans, sales of tea have been growing for more than a decade now. Tea sales rose 32% between 2005 and 2009 according to market researcher Packaged Foods.

Geographic ref.: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: $8.5 billion of which 67.1% was sold at retail.
Source: Melissa Domsic, “E. Lansing Teahouse Brings Wanderers Home,” The Towne Courier, December 5, 2010, pp. 14-15
Original Source: Specialty Coffee Retailer

Pork (well, U.S. hogs really)

The size of the market presented here is based on values at the wholesale level, farm receipts for sales of hogs.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: $14.4 Billion
Source: “U.S. Farm Sector Cash Receipts from Sales of Agricultural Commodities, 2006-2010F,” one of many tables on the USDA’s Economic Research Service web site, available online here.
Original Source: Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture