_The Cultural Trade Index_ Page | **8** of **14**

The items and figures indicated above are provided merely as examples. And such an exercise could be used for various cultural goods and services in global, regional, and economic groupings, as noted earlier. In this case, according the figures in Table 2, at $759 million, the Arab Republic of Egypt leads the selected group of African nations in art crafts trade — it is followed by South Africa ($175 million), and Ghana ($126 million). That result, however, changes when looking at the percentages of art crafts trade in each country’s total trade. See Table 2.1. Ghana takes the second place and South Africa comes third. Under the index computed in Table 2.2, Egypt still leads, and again followed by Ghana, then South Africa. Ghana’s total trade is used in Table 2.2 as a base for illustrative purposes. (But even if the total trade by Egypt or South Africa were used, the variations would not shift the ranking as such.) The tables on royalties and license fees focus on Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia in Southeast Asia. In this case, the result is similar — Thailand leads in all the three instances (as tables 3, 3.1, and 3.2 indicate). What must be noted, however, is that the data support the hypothesis that has been said about the intellectual property rights: that developing countries are likely to pay more for rights than they earn from them. This shows that developing countries need to find ways to better earn from their creative intellectual capability.

The next example considers trade in musical instruments. China “reached over 40 billion yuan ($6.5 billion) in 2012, surpassing the United States for the second year to become the largest musical instrument market in the world.”<sup>14</sup> Statistics released by the China Musical Instrument Association “showed that, in 2012, the total world output of pianos was 500,000, with China accounting for 80 percent. Of the two million Western orchestral instruments in the world, 60 percent of them were made in China, and the country produced 80 percent of the 1.3 million violins made worldwide in 2012.”<sup>15</sup> On just piano exports, consider Box 1.

It must be noted nonetheless that just as the Human Development Index (and other indices) may correlate with GDP in some areas, the Cultural Trade Index, and the Cultural Exchange Index may also do the same. For example, China’s economic rise in recent years may explain why China has become the largest instrumental music market in the world. Yet that might not be

|**Box 1| Top P**<br>**Country**|**iano Exporters**<br>Amount in<br>US Dollars|**in 2014 by Cou**<br>Percentage of<br>total Piano<br>Exports|**ntry**<br>Rank|
|---|---|---|---|
|China|$150,625,000|19.9percent|1|
|United States|$134,090,000|17.7percent|2|
|Germany|$60,176,000|7.9percent|3|
|France|$35,777,000|4.7percent|4|
|Canada|$30,416,000|4percent|5|
|Japan|$27,668,000|3.7percent|6|
|United|$27,118,000|3.1 percent|7|
|Kingdom||||
|Australia|$23,760,000|3.1percent|8|
|Switzerland|$21,197,000|2.8percent|9|
|Russian|$20,962,000|2.8 percent|10|
|Federation||||
|Korea, Rep.|$15,438,000|2percent|11|
|Hong Kong<br>SAR, China|$15,331,000|2 percent|12|
|Singapore|$14,102,000|1.9percent|13|
|Malaysia|$13,778,000|1.8percent|14|
|Italy|$13,604,000|1.8percent|15|
|Vietnam|$13,390,000|1.8percent|16|
|Total|**$ 617,432,000**|**81 percent**||
|Source: Workma|n 2015/World’s To|pExports||

the case. A culture that celebrates certain aspects of artistic excellence may also more or less help

> 14 Xinhua 2013.

> 15 Ibid. This implies that these trade patterns could also be evaluated in terms of volume and percentages.