Uruguay has offered far better conditions for the export of Bolivian products from Uruguayan ports than Chile has, revealed on Friday Bolivian Foreign Affairs minister David Choquehuanca.
The cost of farmland in Uruguay has dropped between 20% and 30% in the first half of 2009 and the number of operations has fallen drastically, 70% according to local camp brokers.
Uruguay could be heading for another record of farmland dedicated to wheat and although it is too early to have the exact data, estimates are above 500.000 hectares. Good climate and lower input costs, mainly from fertilizers, could be anticipating a record harvest next December overtaking the 480.000 hectares and 1.2 million tons of the 2008 crop, according to reports in the Montevideo press based on official and private estimates.
Finally at a brief and cool ceremony the Uruguayan ruling coalition announced on Monday evening the ticket for the coming October presidential election: the winner of the primary and former guerrilla leader Jose Mujica will head the slate with economist Danilo Astori as vice-president candidate.
Uruguay’s consumer price inflation rose 1.4% in June, the highest in the last twelve months, but was the lowest 2.82% for the first half of the year since 2005, according to the latest release from the country’s Statistics Office.
Uruguay’s main opposition party performed much better than anticipated according to official results of last Sunday’s primary elections for the nomination of presidential candidates for October’s elections.
A consortium made up of YPF/Repsol, Petrobras Uruguay and GALP from Portugal has won a bid to explore for oil in two offshore blocks near the coast of Uruguay, according to industry reports late Wednesday.
United States Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee is urging the US to extend trade benefits to Uruguay, bypassing Mercosur, a move he says would also increase pressure on Brazil to deepen commercial ties.
Uruguay confirmed the first death of the A/H1N1 virus influenza and two more hospitalized cases, which have been described as in “critical situation”. The victim is a 60 year old woman who died in a government managed hospital on Monday
Mercosur Foreign Affairs and Economy ministers will be meeting Tuesday in Asuncion, Paraguay in the framework of the Common Market Group to discuss trade barriers and try to unwind several issues.