Economy

• Thursday, February 16th 2017 - 16:30 UTC

  Brazil forecasts record soy and corn harvests, on good climate conditions

  

  Conab, the Brazilian crop supply agency lifted its forecast for the second-season corn crop by some 2.5m tons, citing good weather. Conab forecast the Brazilian safrinha crop, which is sown after soybeans are harvested, up 44% year-on-year, to 58.59m tons. This compares to the 56.10m tons Cobab forecast in January.

• Thursday, February 16th 2017 - 12:40 UTC

  US producer prices in January record highest gain in four years

  

  U.S. producer prices recorded their largest gain in more than four years in January amid increases in the cost of energy products, but a strong dollar continued to keep underlying inflation at the factory gate tame.

• Thursday, February 16th 2017 - 10:59 UTC

  Brexit Minister admits some parliamentary “ping pong”, but March timetable stands

  

  British ministers are braced for a parliamentary battle and are prepared for the Article 50 legislation to be rewritten by the House of Lords, David Davis has indicated. The Brexit Secretary said he expected some parliamentary “ping pong”, with the Bill being sent back and forth between the Commons and the Lords, suggesting he expected peers to defeat the Government and make changes to the tightly-worded legislation.

• Thursday, February 16th 2017 - 10:43 UTC

  Thirty tons of Venezuelan currency are seized in Paraguay; smuggled from Brazil

  

  Central Bank employees will count about 30 tons of Venezuelan currency seized in a private house in Paraguay, while officials try to figure out why the vast quantity of 50- and 100-bolivar bills was brought into the country. The cash was discovered in Salto del Guaira, a city about 370 kilometers northeast of the capital of Asuncion, on the border with Brazil in a region known for the contraband trade.

• Wednesday, February 15th 2017 - 09:12 UTC

  Brazilian currency at its strongest against the US dollar since July 2015

  

  The Brazilian real gained on Tuesday to its strongest level in more than a year and a half, following a rise in capital inflows and after the central bank resumed currency intervention following a two-week pause. The real firmed 0.45% to 3.096 real per dollar, its strongest showing since July 2015.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2017 - 12:17 UTC

  Petrobras credit rating raised to BB-: improved governance “compares well with those of its peers”

  

  Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s on Friday raised its corporate credit rating on Petrobras, one notch, from B+ to BB-. The rating change does not lift Petrobras out of the non-investment grade category, but it lowers the risk from “highly speculative” to “speculative.”

• Tuesday, February 14th 2017 - 11:28 UTC

  Brazil forced to import Robusta coffee: first time in decades

  

  Brazil's Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said on Monday he has asked the country's Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) for authorization to open robusta coffee imports at near zero tariff, according to the ministry.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2017 - 11:21 UTC

  Uruguay's wool and lamb exports dropped 17% in twelve months

  

  Uruguay wool and lamb exports dropped 17% in dollars in the last twelve months compared to the year before. Of the US$ 265 million shipped overseas, China was the main client with 42% of that total, according to the latest Custom stats.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2017 - 11:17 UTC

  Greater Buenos Aires January consumer prices rose 1.3% in January

  

  Consumer prices in greater Buenos Aires rose 1.3% in January over the previous month, Argentina's official Indec statistics agency announced, far below market expectations and in line with the central bank's annual target. January's reading was slightly above 1.2% inflation in December.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2017 - 10:34 UTC

  Former Goldman Sachs executive and “foreclosure expert”, confirmed as US Treasury Secretary

  

  A bitterly divided Senate on Monday confirmed Steven Mnuchin as United States treasury secretary despite strong objections by Democrats that the former banker ran a “foreclosure machine” when he headed OneWest Bank. Republicans said Mnuchin's long tenure in finance makes him qualified to run the department, which will play a major role in developing economic policy under President Donald Trump.