Agriculture
AgricultureBrazil says there is enough coffee to supply exports and domestic market
Brazil has enough coffee stocks to supply exports and domestic demand this year even though a severe drought will result in a lower-than-expected harvest, the nation's coffee industry association Abic said on Thursday.
Latest storms and rainy weather could cost Argentina 3 million tons of soybeans
Argentina's crop of soybeans and cereals, and the country's main source of hard currency is threatened by the last few days storms of pouring rainfall, flash floods and mud slides that have punished at least seven provinces. Argentina is one of the world's main suppliers of grains.
China's COFCO joins world's top grain-traders select club
COFCO Corp has agreed to pay 1.5 billion dollars for a majority stake in Noble Group Ltd's agribusiness, its second acquisition in less than two months, as China's largest grain trader seeks to strengthen its market position worldwide.
FAO food price index in March climbs to its highest since May 2013
The FAO Food Price Index rose sharply in March, up 4.8 points, or 2.3%, to an average of 212.8, the highest level since May 2013. The Index, based on the prices of a basket of internationally-traded food commodities, saw prices increase in all groups except dairy, which fell for the first time in four months (-2.5%). Sugar, 7.9% and Cereals, 5.2% climbed the most.
White House targets methane emissions
By Nicholas Cunningham of Oilprice.com - On March 28, the White House released a multi-pronged strategy to reduce methane emissions from a variety of sources, a step the administration says is an outgrowth of the President's Climate Action Plan announced last year. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Brazilian congress strikes down new taxes on the domestic soy market
Brazil's Congress struck down this week a proposal to impose new taxes on the internal soy market after fierce opposition from the country's agricultural sector. An amendment to apply a tax known as PIS/Cofins on soybean sales to some domestic buyers had been removed from a bill to simplify taxation of Brazilian companies abroad that was passed by the lower chamber late on Tuesday.
Brazil's 2,3% growth in 2013 came as a surprise, even for Minister Mantega
Brazil's economy expanded 2.3% in 2013, compared with growth of 1% the previous year, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE, said this week. The country's GDP for 2013 was estimated at 4.84 trillion Reais (some 2.05 trillion dollars), the IBGE said.
Argentine wine from small grape farmers for Pope Francis masses
The wine used for the masses of Pope Francis will be made using grapes from small Argentine producers with 500 liters of the drink already in production, according to a report from the Project for the Integration of Small Producers in the Viticulture Chain (PROVIAR).
Cuba ready to implement an ambitious foreign investment with generous tax breaks
Cuba's government has released further information on a proposed foreign investment law that will cut the profits tax in half and exempt investors from paying it for eight years in an attempt to attract capital into the communist economy.
Argentina's grain shipping blocked by vessel grounded in the Paraná
Argentina's river Paraná is blocked since early March when a Cypriot flagged vessel broke down with a 45.000 tons cargo of soybeans, thus holding back access of another eighty vessels waiting to load in Rosario and other ports in the heartland of the grains and oilseeds country.
