Mercosur

• Friday, May 13th 2011 - 14:11 UTC

  Mercosur has a surplus production of three million tons of rice

  

  Uruguay which does not harvest transgenic rice has been consolidating as a growing European Union supplier and is a traditional provider for Mexico and Middle East countries such as Iran and Iraq.

• Thursday, May 12th 2011 - 22:18 UTC

  Mercosur institutionalization and image lifting, High Commissioner targets

  

  Institutionalization of Mercosur and changing its public opinion image are the main issues Brazil’s Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes plans to address, at his new post of Mercosur High Representative-General since February.

• Thursday, May 12th 2011 - 16:41 UTC

  Mercosur largest economies ‘inconveniences’ delaying trade accord with EU

  

  The existence of ‘inconveniences’ with Mercosur largest economies is delaying reaching a trade agreement with the European Union, according to Germany’s Ambassador before the government of Paraguay, Claude Robert Ellner.

• Thursday, May 12th 2011 - 00:48 UTC

  EU/Mercosur trade talks remain at “technical level and delayed until end of the year”

  

  Reports from the European Union and Mercosur confirm that negotiations for a trade agreement remain at ‘technical level’ and no information will be forthcoming until both sides have agreed on the lists of products to be exchanged.

• Saturday, May 7th 2011 - 04:52 UTC

  Lack of serious opposition ensures Cristina Fernandez re-election next October

  

  With less than six months to the October election President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner leads comfortably, with no serious opposition on site, and with a public opinion support of 56%, similar to when she first took office in December 2007.

• Saturday, May 7th 2011 - 04:50 UTC

  Soybean and by products represent 25% of Argentine exports

  

  Argentine overseas sales of soybeans and by products reached 17.3 billion US dollars in 2010, equivalent to 25.4% of total exports, according to the latest report from the country’s statistics office INDEC. In 2009 the soy complex exports represented 23.3%.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 17:29 UTC

  Brazil’s inflation peaks in April, but prices should begin slowing down in May

  

  Brazil’s benchmark consumer price index in April exceeded the upper limit of the government’s target range for the first time since 2005 but officials are confident April was a peak and during May the tendency is for inflation to decelerate.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 17:28 UTC

  EU farmers insist with the “catastrophic impact” of trade agreement with Mercosur

  

  European farm leaders have left Members of the European Parliament in no doubt about the ‘catastrophic impact’ on EU agriculture of a trade agreement with Mercosur, reports the Friday edition of the UK’s Farmers Guardian.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 17:26 UTC

  Brazilian automobile industry, still strong, begins to feel the tight money pinch

  

  Automobile production in Brazil fell 4.9% and sales dropped 5.5% in April from March, the national automakers' association said on Friday.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 06:29 UTC

  FDI in Uruguay has soared in last five years and reached 1.6 billion USD in 2010

  

  Foreign direct investment, FDI, in Uruguay during 2010 reached 1.627 billion US dollars which represents a 29% increase over 2009 and puts the country among the top six FDI recipients in South America and eighth in the region, according to the latest report from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC.