MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Breaking News from Chile.

Headlines:
Royal Navy Patrol vessel calls in Punta Arenas. British Standard Wool Chile swindled. Punta Arenas farmers criticize privatization. Chilean beef exports booming. Unemployment in Chile stands at 9,1%.

Royal Navy Patrol vessel calls in Punta Arenas.

The Royal Navy Castle Class offshore patrol vessel HMS Leeds Castle called in Punta Arenas over the weekend. The Falklands Patrol vessel took on supplies while and in port and the crew was able to take a couple of days rest onshore. The 1427 ton HMS Leeds Castle that was commissioned in 1981 belongs to the Fishery Protection Squadron Offshore Division and has been stationed in the South Atlantic as a patrol ship since 1994 with its sister ship the HMS Dumbarton Castle.

British Standard Wool Chile swindled.

An employee working for the British company Standard Wool Chile and an outside accomplice have been charged with a 50,000 US dollars fraud according to Punta Arenas press. Long established in Magallanes Region, Standard Wool Chile trades mainly with wool and skins. The modus operandi of the two men actually was quiet simple and involved relative small operations therefore it was only discovered several months after it was started. The unfaithful employee who had been working for the company for six years was responsible for payments to small suppliers and had mounted a scheme of bills of payments to nonexistent suppliers. The outside accomplice, actually a bartender in a Punta Arenas night club, was paid a commission for the use of his bank account and cashing the checks. The fraudulent payments occurred during most of 2002 and were only discovered last February while the employee was on annual leave and some of the bills did not correspond to registered suppliers. On his return from holidays and aware of the internal investigation in the company the unfaithful employee resigned and left for Santiago. Charges were formally presented by Mr. Dean Suyden from Standard Wool last March and local detectives flew to Santiago to arrest and bring back the accused. Both men have appealed the sentence but Punta Arenas police is further investigating since it is believed there could be other people involved particularly forging the company's books. Company sources admitted the lack of an effective supervision but also argued that they concentrate in the big money operations.

Punta Arenas farmers criticize privatization

Magallanes farmers reiterated criticism to the privatization process of the region's second most important abattoir, Sacor in Porvenir. "The bidding conditions for Sacor lack transparency and equal opportunity conditions and that is why we presented the case before the Anti Monopoly Committee in Santiago", indicated Mr. Pablo Sapunar president of the Farmers Association of Magallanes, Asogama. Mr. Sapunar added that given the Committee's positive response "the whole bidding process should be postponed", adding that the ideal would be "a joint private-public management of the abattoir in the framework of the Government Companies System". Magallanes farmers warned that if the bidding process still goes ahead they will legally present a "no innovation" appeal in defence of the region's industry interests. "If a joint administration does not work, in one or two years a new bidding process should be started but with guarantees for all those interested", underlined Mr. Sapunar who rejected the current tender specifications. "If you're not specifically involved in the tender process, you are forced to a confidentiality pact", revealed Mr. Sapunar. However Mr. Sapunar underlined that farmers in no way will be involved in the "rumour campaign" regarding the whole Sacor operation since "there are no documents to prove allegations and we're interested in rescuing a second efficient abattoir in the Magallanes region". Magallanes farmers fear that with the Sacor abattoir out of government management "a monopoly situation" could be created "constraining demand and prices, and harmful for local breeders".

Chilean beef exports booming

Chilean beef exports during the first five months of the current year increased ten fold compared to the same period in 2002. According to Carlos Furche head of the Chilean Agriculture Studies and Policies Office, sales in the first five months of 2003 reached seven million US dollars compared to 600,000 US dollars a year ago. As to volumes, in the 2003 period 3,514 tons were shipped against 326 tons in 2002. Mr. Furche said that following the European Union's Veterinary Committee acceptance of Chile's residual control program sales to the EU have constantly expanded. The recently approved EU-Chile free trade association grants Chile a yearly tariff-free quota of 1,000 tons of beef with a further 10% annual increase. The main markets for Chilean beef in the first five months of 2003 were Israel (52%); Cuba (26%); Costa Rica (15%) and Libya (6%).

Unemployment in Chile stands at 9,1%

Unemployment in Chile during the second quarter of 2003 stood at 9,1%, a slight 0,4% decrease compared to a year ago, according to the latest release from the Chilean Statistics Institute. In the second Q, Chile's working force reached 6,065,720 people, just 27,990 below the previous quarter and a 3,4% increase over a year ago, (199,830). Those actually holding jobs are 5,516,650, which represents a 3,9% increase compared to the second Q of 2002, that is 206,620 new jobs. As to the number of jobless it was estimated in 549,170, a 1,2% drop compared to a year ago. Redundancies and those looking for a job for the first time dropped 1,2% and 1,4%. With regard to the first quarter of 2003, the number of unemployed increased 2,8%, those left redundant also increased 3,2% and those who are looking for a job for the first time increased 0,8%.