Brazil

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Fuel prices hiked in Brazil; first time since 2005

  

  Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega this week announced a 10% hike in the price of gasoline and 15% for diesel fuel, the first such increase since 2005. The increases refer to products from Petrobras, the country's government owned oil corporation which sets the pace for the rest of the industry.

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Lula da Silva praises Brazil's two sided “investment grade”

  

  Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrated the country's newly acquired investment grade condition and magnet for foreign investment. “Brazil is a serious country, with serious policies, which looks after its finances seriously, and that is why we now have achieved the international trust, which Brazil was after for a long time”

• Wednesday, April 30th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Investment grade for Brazil; stock market balloons 6.3%

  Brazil's Ibovespa stock exchange index jumped to a record on Wednesday after Standard & Poor's unexpectedly raised the country's credit rating to investment grade. S&P Ratings Services Brazil's debt rating announcement from BB+ to BBB- sent domestic stocks soaring 6.3% hitting a new intraday record of 67,854.

• Tuesday, April 29th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Herculean challenge ahead for Brazilian petroleum industry

  Brazil's plan to become one of the world's biggest oil exporters hinges on exploiting crude 6 miles below the ocean surface in deposits so hot they can melt the metal used to carry uranium to nuclear plants, reports Bloomberg.

• Tuesday, April 29th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil's Vale and ArcelorMittal reach mega iron ore deal

  Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce announced this week it agreed to supply 480 million tons of iron ore and pellets to ArcelorMittal the world's largest steel maker.

• Tuesday, April 29th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil forecasts record production of sugar cane ethanol

  

  Brazil is forecasting for this year its greatest production of sugar cane ethanol ever according to the country's National Supply Company, Conab. The total volume is estimated between 26.4 and 27.4 billion liters, 14.9% and 19.4% higher than in 2007.

• Saturday, April 26th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  World's main ethanol producer takes over Exxon Brazil

  

  Brazil's Cosan the world's largest sugar and ethanol processor announced Friday it had agreed to buy more than 1.500 Brazilian service stations and other assets from Exxon Mobil (Esso Brazil) for 826 million US dollars.

• Monday, April 21st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Warnings about Brazil's high interest rates policy

  

  Sao Paulo governor Jose Serra and one of Brazilian leaders tipped to dispute the presidency in 2010 warned about the possibility of an economic downturn when President Lula da Silva concludes his second mandate.

• Monday, April 21st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  UN Continental shelf committee received Mexican submission

  The United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf dealt with the submission presented by Mexico, the ninth it has received so far. This was the twenty first session of the Commission and was held at UN headquarters from 17 March to 18 April.

• Monday, April 21st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Lula da Silva blames farm subsidies and oil for food crisis

  Brazilian president Lula da Silva, currently visiting Ghana, blamed rising oil prices for the current global food crisis, saying that bio-fuels had nothing to do with the problem, as some have suggested. He insisted escalating oil prices are pushing up freight costs, which in turn affects world food prices.