California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

According to the trade association of Canadian manufacturers and exporters are
also not seeing signs of economic recovery, based up their February Business
Conditions Survey.

"Unfortunately, the economic tsunami hasn't loosened its grip on the economy and
more storm clouds are still on the horizon," said Jayson Myers, CME president. "We
are now starting to feel the full brunt of the downturn in customer demand and the outlook
for the next three months is still bleak."

The February Business Conditions Survey was conducted between February 9-23, with
a total of 620 companies, from all regions of Canada, participating. This month's survey
reveals an additional decrease in new orders over the next three months; a further reduction
in employment and a tighter credit squeeze for all companies, regardless of size.

Key trends from the survey include:
- A majority of manufacturers and exporters expect the value of new orders to fall over the
next three months - 56 per cent say that orders are likely to decrease between February
and May. This is a less optimistic outlook than in January when only 43 per cent of companies
were expecting new orders to drop in the coming three months.
- 45 per cent of companies say that employment levels are likely to fall. This is slightly higher
than the 42 per cent of companies that expected their employment levels to fall in the January
survey.
- The credit crunch is affecting smaller companies the most, but larger companies are now
reporting difficulty accessing financing. 60 per cent of manufacturers and exporters report
difficulties accessing adequate levels of financing including obtaining working capital, extending
lines of credit, accessing financing for new technologies and product development.

"The findings indicate that we haven't hit financial rock bottom just yet," Myers added.
"Unfortunately we will see more layoffs and more plant closures making this downturn the worst
economic recession since the Great Depression.

The report is available at the following address:
http://www.cmememberservices.ca/_uploads/_media/pdfs/cme_web/cme_business_conditions report_feb_09.pdf. 

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.