Mercosur

• 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.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 00:10 UTC

  Uruguayan inflation eases in April but still is almost double the annual target

  

  Uruguay’s April consumer inflation, 0.34%, the lowest since last November came as a relief for government authorities, but the accumulated rate of the last twelve months was 8.34%, well above the Central bank 4% to 6% target. Furthermore compared to April 2010 inflation was almost double: 0.18% vs 0.34%, according to the country’s Statistics Institute, INE.

• Wednesday, May 4th 2011 - 18:38 UTC

  Mercosur main partners heading for a record year in bilateral trade

  

  Trade among the two leading Mercosur partners reached 11.7 billion US dollars during the first four months of the year with Argentine exports to Brazil reaching a record 5.2 billion USD. This is 29% higher than in 2010 and 23% above the 2008 record year.

• Wednesday, May 4th 2011 - 17:01 UTC

  EU/Mercosur trade negotiations limited by reciprocal claims of protectionism

  

  The European Union/Mercosur trade talks taking place in Paraguay are attempting to advance with a ‘verbal exchange of proposals’ while negotiators continue ahead with technical aspects of a future agreement, according to Argentine sources.

• Tuesday, May 3rd 2011 - 18:08 UTC

  Tax and investment protection agreements needed to boost India/Mercosur trade

  

  India emphasized the need to deepen trade and investment engagements with Latin America by expanding the existing PTA with Mercosur, during a business seminar in Montevideo, Uruguay. But he added that double tax and investment protections agreements are critical to expansion.