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Note 7 - China Operations
9 Months Ended
May. 31, 2015
Fair Value Disclosures [Abstract]  
Fair Value Disclosures [Text Block]
7. 
CHINA OPERATIONS

On January 2, 2015, the Company announced that, effective as of December 31, 2014, the Company terminated its joint venture agreements with its previous joint venture in China, Tianjin Zerust, began the process of liquidating the joint venture entity, and has commenced conducting business in China through a newly formed wholly owned subsidiary, NTIC (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. on January 1, 2015.  Effective December 31, 2014, the Company’s investment in Tianjin Zerust is reported at carrying value based on the Company’s decreased level of influence over the entity, and the Company has reclassified previously unrecognized gains on foreign currency translation from other comprehensive income.  Any declines in the fair value are reflected as adjustments to the carrying value.  No such adjustments were recorded during the nine months ended May 31, 2015.

The investment in Tianjin Zerust is as follows:

   
Investment
 
Equity method investment – August 31, 2014
  $ 2,243,524  
Equity in earnings – nine months ended May 31, 2015
    132,824  
Reclassification of translation gains on foreign currency translation
    (492,680 )
Investment at carrying value – May 31, 2015
  $ 1,883,668  

The Company incurred expenses of $1,138,000 during the nine months ended May 31, 2015 related to the termination of the joint venture agreement with Tianjin Zerust, the initiation of the liquidation of Tianjin Zerust and the formation and initial operation of NTIC China.  Such expenses consisted primarily of legal expenses and personnel expenses associated with the establishment of the subsidiary and the hiring of new personnel.  These expenses are recorded as operating expenses on the consolidated statements of operations and are partially off-set by the gross margin contribution from sales of NTIC China .