Chile posted a trade surplus of $770 million from April 1 to 15, with exports at $1.97 billion and imports at $1.20 billion. Copper exports stood at $475 million. Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, accounting for one third of global copper output.
Category: Daily Brief
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Condoleezza’s Message
Condoleezza Rice is on her first trip to Latin America as secretary of state and she is trying to stress a positive agenda. This is well and good, but Rice has also made it clear that Washington’s main issue with Latin America concerns trade. She wants to revive the moribund Free Trade Area of the Americas, the grand vision of creating a single trading bloc stretching from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.
That dream will remain a fantasy. Even though free trade would help Latin America grow faster, attract more investment and build more sophisticated societies closely integrated with the emerging global civilization, politicians throughout the hemisphere will keep sabotaging progress. Rice called on Brazil to “reenergize” FTAA but the Bush administration has scarcely lifted a finger to push the far less challenging CAFTA trade pact with Central America through Congress. Business lobbies, labor unions and ignorant nationalists in the US and throughout Latin America have blocked full-blown trade integration at every turn.
That’s the bad news. The less bad news is that a great many Latin American companies now realize that exports are an integral part of their business. Trade is flourishing even without any grand trade pacts. The great challenge for Latin America is to ensure that this positive outlook for trade, investment and growth will survive the Chinese-driven commodity cycle. It would be a tragedy if Latin America resigns itself to being no more than a supplier of base metals and low-value farm goods to China and the rest of the world.
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Mexico: Trade Deficit Shrinks
Mexico posted a $181 million trade deficit for March, its lowest in 11 months. The country had exports worth $17.33 billion, up 4.4% year-on-year. Imports were $17.52 billion, up 4.5%. Exports of oil and oil-related products jumped 41% to $2.5 billion, while manufactured goods were worth $14.6 billion. Mexico’s total trade deficit in the first three months of 2005 came to $1.8 billion.
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PDVSA to Build Refineries
Venezuelan state-run oil giant PDVSA plans to construct three new crude oil refineries in Venezuela by 2010, including one in the northern state of Anzoategui with 400,000 barrels per day capacity. The company also plans to improve and update the rest of its refining facilities to increase output. The decision coincides with growing restrictions on foreign investment in Venezuela’s oil industry.
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Telefónica CTC Chile Profit Up
Telefónica CTC Chile, the Chilean unit of Spanish telecom giant Telefónica, posted net profit of $14 million for the first quarter, up 127% year-on-year. The company says its stronger performance was due to its success in the broadband market and ability to retain customers, which had previously been a problem for the company.
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Brazil: Higher Inflation Expected
Brazilian economists increased their 2005 inflation forecast for an eighth straight week on concern rising international oil prices will force the government to raise domestic fuel prices, a Central Bank survey showed. The median expected inflation rate rose to 6.15% from 6.1% a week earlier and from 5.68% at the end of February. The estimate is the highest since the Central Bank started polling the market’s inflation forecasts four years ago.
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Embraer Wins Order
Brazil’s Embraer, the world’s fourth-biggest aircraft maker, won a $400 million order for 15 aircraft from Saudi Arabian Airlines, the first Middle-Eastern carrier to buy the company’s new, bigger jets. The state-run airline ordered 15 Embraer 170 aircraft with delivery due to begin in December. Embraer is trying to secure orders from Europe and other parts of the world to offset the growing risk that some of the company’s cash-strapped US customers may continue to cancel orders.
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Gutiérrez Arrives in Brasilia
Deposed Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutiérrez has arrived in Brasília, where he is expected to petition Brazil’s Justice Ministry for political asylum. Ecuador’s new government — led by former Vice-President Alfredo Palacio — originally issued an arrest warrant for the ex-president following widespread protests. The opposition denounced him as corrupt and for firing Ecuador’s Supreme Court justices.
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Latin America Drives InBev Sales
Sales of Belgian brewer InBev in Latin America rose 12% to 18.2 million hectoliters in the first quarter thanks to the company’s 2004 acquisition of Brazil’s AmBev. Strong sales in the region, helped push group sales up by 4.1% to 47.3 million hectoliters in the same period. Sales of AmBev’s flagship brand Brahma outpaced Stella Artois and Beck’s with an increase of more than 17% driven by rising sales in Brazil. InBev is launching Brahma around the world this year.
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G-Mex’s Profit Jumps
Mining and metals giant Grupo Mexico (G-Mex) reported net earnings of $251 million for the first quarter of 2005, a 51 percent increase year-on-year. G-Mex’s consolidated earnings for the quarter were $1.25 billion, up 43 percent. The company is currently planning a three-for-one share split to boost its liquidity on the Mexico City stock exchange.