Economy

• Thursday, April 14th 2011 - 19:47 UTC

  Argentine soy-oil industry diversifies markets following China’s ban

  

  China is far from normalizing soy-oil purchases in Argentina since it has not placed new orders according to the Argentina Cooking Oil Industry Chamber, CIARA. However the industry has managed to diversify markets.

• Thursday, April 14th 2011 - 19:43 UTC

  Venezuela and Argentina have the highest inflation rates in South America

  

  Venezuela and Argentina recorded the highest rates of inflation in South America during the first quarter of 2011 according to the latest data available.

• Thursday, April 14th 2011 - 05:24 UTC

  President Rousseff invites Foxconn to develop Brazil’s electronics industry

  

  Foxconn in planning to invest as much as 12bn US dollars in Brazil, according to President Dilma Rousseff currently on an official visit to China. Taiwan-based Foxconn operates the majority of its factories in China, producing goods for firms like Apple, Hewlett Packard and Dell.

• Thursday, April 14th 2011 - 05:00 UTC

  BRICS members discuss trade grievances with host China

  

  Chinese President Hu Jintao came under pressure from fellow BRICS members Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa to open the Chinese market to goods ranging from Indian drugs to Brazilian planes as leaders gathered on a tropical south China island for a summit.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 23:04 UTC

  EU, Colombia, Peru sign ambitious trade agreement; saves half a billion Euros in tariffs

  

  EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gutch together with Colombian Minister for Trade Sergio Diaz-Granados Guida and Peruvian Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade Carlos Posada Ugaz, celebrated Wednesday in Brussels the initialling of an ambitious trade agreement between the EU, Colombia and Peru.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 23:00 UTC

  Obama unveils his plan to cut the federal budget which includes tax increases

  

  President Barack Obama called for an overhaul of the U.S. tax code for individuals and businesses and said he wants to raise an additional 1 trillion US dollars through tax increases over the next decade.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 22:55 UTC

  Mercosur/EU will exchange proposals in the coming two months, says De Gutch

  

  The European Union and Mercosur currently holding a round of association and trade talks will be exchanging proposals for market access of their list of products in the coming two months, according to the EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 18:34 UTC

  Mercosur to release members’ same criteria macro-economic data beginning June

  

  Beginning June, Mercosur full members will share macro-economic indicators elaborated with the same criteria and which will be released simultaneously, according to reports in the Montevideo press. The initiative was partly financed by the European Union that also played an advisory role.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 18:17 UTC

  EU ‘animal well being’ group warns about Mercosur livestock conditions

  

  The Eurogroup for Animals called on the European Union to demand from Mercosur farmers associations and governments the same ‘animal well-being’ requisites and regulations which their European counterparts must comply with.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 17:06 UTC

  Chile raises basic rate to 4.5%, but more on the pipeline says Capital Economics

  

  The Central Bank of Chile (CBC) hiked interest rates by 50bps to 4.5% on Wednesday but with the near-term outlook for growth very good and inflation likely to top 5% in Q4, further policy tightening is on the way, reports Capital Economics that estimates rates to reach 6% by year-end.