Brazil

• Friday, February 4th 2011 - 22:28 UTC

  Brazil preparing package to counter surging imports rapidly eroding trade surplus

  

  Brazil’s trade surplus fell more than economists expected in January from a month earlier as exports declined at a faster pace than imports. The surplus narrowed to 424 million USD last month from 5.37 billion in December, said the Trade Ministry.

• Friday, February 4th 2011 - 22:22 UTC

  Brazil’s industrial output fell in December for second month running

  

  Brazil’s industrial output unexpectedly fell for a second straight month in December. Output in December fell 0.7% from November after a 0.2% decline in the previous month, the national statistics agency IBGE said this week.

• Friday, February 4th 2011 - 21:21 UTC

  Rousseff and Obama to discuss ways to counteract China’s undervalued Yuan

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will discuss with her U.S. counterpart Barack Obama ways to counteract the threat posed by an undervalued Yuan and cheap imports from China, a Brazilian official said.

• Friday, February 4th 2011 - 21:11 UTC

  Massive blackout in Brazil exposes vulnerability of energy infrastructure

  

  A widespread blackout hit at eight states in Brazil's northeast Friday exposing energy infrastructure vulnerabilities of the nation that will host an Olympics and a World Cup.

• Thursday, February 3rd 2011 - 22:17 UTC

  Brazil to provide free medicines for high blood pressure and diabetes

  

  Brazil is to provide free medicines for everyone suffering from high blood pressure or diabetes. The drugs will be distributed as of next month through a nationwide network of budget pharmacies, where many medicines are already heavily subsidised.

• Thursday, February 3rd 2011 - 21:54 UTC

  Brazilian industry loosing world market share to main trading partner, China

  

  Competition with top trading partner China is costing Brazilian industry valuable market share, the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) in South America's largest economy said on Thursday.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 14:27 UTC

  Brazilian oil output reaches 2.18 million bpd in December; 9% above a year ago

  

  Brazil’s production of oil and natural gas in December 2010 surpassed the previous one-month record, according to a release from the ANP regulatory agency. December 2010 oil output of 2.18 million barrels per day represents a 4.4% increase over November and was 9.1% higher than in December 2009.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 06:53 UTC

  Trade deficit main “concern” for Argentine/Brazilian relations

  

  Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Héctor Timerman revealed Tuesday that the trade deficit Argentina has with Brazil is “concerning”, and indicated that both nations are working “to reduce it.”

• Tuesday, February 1st 2011 - 12:54 UTC

  Northeast Brazil to become “tuna hub” with support from Japan

  

  Japan will help Brazil develop a “tuna hub” at the north of the country with the purpose of doubling tuna catches. State of the art Japanese equipment together with Brazilian personnel specially trained to operate the new logistics are at the heart of the ambitious project which plans to turn the north-eastern impoverished state of Rio Grande do Norte into a tuna hub covering an extensive zone of the Atlantic.

• Tuesday, February 1st 2011 - 00:34 UTC

  Rousseff blasts US and China’s currencies’ “competitive depreciation” policies

  

  Emerging market countries such as Brazil and Argentina must take a stronger position against “competitive depreciations,” Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told Argentine press on Sunday.