Brazil's Mantega: Economy Won't Experience Bubble
MAY 12, 2010, 11:58 A.M. ET
BRASILIA (Dow Jones)--Brazil's economy has embarked on a long-term cycle of growth and won't be subject to a bubble, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said Wednesday.
Speaking to a group of local labor leaders, Mantega said there is little danger the country would repeat boom-and-bust cycles seen in the past.
"Brazil is a much more solid and dynamic country than in the past and has conditions to continue on a long cycle of growth," he said.
Mantega said the country's economy would grow between 5.5% and 6% this year after posting a contraction of 0.2% in 2009.
Both inflation and public sector deficits, he said, will soon return to declining trajectories following recent expansion.
Brazil posted 12-month IPCA consumer price inflation of 5.26% in April, well above its year-end inflation target of 4.5%. The country's 12-month nominal public sector deficit, meanwhile, ended March at 111.64 billion Brazilian reals ($63 billion), or the equivalent of 3.46% of gross domestic product.
The minister, however, said that Brazil's fiscal and foreign reserve management policies have helped immunize the country against the effects of global and regional turbulence in financial markets.
"We have $250 billion in foreign reserves and we are vaccinated against crisis," he said. "Just as we faced the crisis last year, we can weather the current one that is stemming from Europe."
Regarding concerns over the excessive appreciation of the local currency, the real, Mantega noted government efforts to smooth capital inflows have had positive effects.
"When there were excess capital inflows, we imposed the IOF (financial operations) tax," he said. "This was well received by all and understood within the international community."
Last year Brazil imposed a 2% tax on foreign capital inflows to slow the appreciation of the real.
-By Gerald Jeffris, Dow Jones Newswires; (5561) 3335-0832, gerald.jeffris@dowjones.com
Cnooc, Sinochem Bid For Statoil Brazil Oil Field Stake-Sources
MAY 12, 2010, 11:44 A.M. ET
BEIJING (Dow Jones)--Two Chinese oil companies, Cnooc Ltd (CEO), and Sinochem Corp., have submitted separate bids for stakes in a large offshore oil field in Brazil in which Norwegian state oil company Statoil ASA (STO) is selling a 40% share, two persons familiar with the matter said.
Statoil has now closed the bidding for the stake in the Peregrino oil field, and the outcome is expected very soon, said one source, who has first-hand knowledge of the bids but who declined to be named.
It is unclear if the two Chinese companies are competing for the full 40% being offered, or if they are each bidding for part of it. Usually Chinese oil companies don't compete with each other in efforts to buy up foreign assets.
The news is the latest in a series of Chinese oil and gas investments throughout Latin America. In March, Cnooc Ltd said it was spending $3.1 billion in a joint venture with Argentina's Bridas Energy Holdings Ltd.
Cnooc in December signed a preliminary agreement to develop the Boyaca 3 oil field in Venezuela's Orinoco basin, and in 2009 Cnooc made headlines worldwide when it bought into four offshore oil field leases held by Statoil in U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Statoil holds 100% of the shallow-water Peregrino oil field, located in the BM-C-7 block in the Campos Basin some 85 kilometres off Rio de Janeiro. The field is in the developing stage, and Statoil describes it as one of the largest fields outside of Norway in which it is the operator.
Peregrino is estimated to hold recoverable reserves of about 500 million barrels of heavy oil, rated at between 14 degrees and 16 degrees on the American Petroleum Institute's rating scale.
China's other two oil giants, China National Petroleum Corp. and China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec, didn't bid, one source said.
CNPC, China's leading oil company by assets, in April reached deals with Brazil state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), or Petrobras on crude oil exploration in two Brazilian deepwater blocks.
The sources were unable to put a value of the bids from the Chinese companies.
China's top energy official Zhang Guobao Friday, in comments to Dow Jones Newswires, said he had heard Cnooc is bidding for a Brazil asset, but didn't give details.
Cnooc Ltd's spokesman Jiang Yongzhi said the company had "no comment on market rumors" and Sinochem news official Hu Hongjun said that the company "has no information available on this for the public."
In 2009, Statoil held a roadshow for its Peregrino stake, during which it talked to the big four Chinese state oil companies--CNPC, Sinopec, Cnooc and Sinochem.
Statoil says it expects Peregrino will start production early in 2011, with this rising to about 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in its first phase of development.
Last October Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported that Statoil planned to sell 40% of the field.
When asked by Dow Jones at the time to respond to the article, Statoil spokeswoman Mari Dotterud said that "we never comment on rumors. But as a general comment, within the oil and gas industry, keeping 100% ownership over the total lifetime of an asset would be unusual."
-Wan Xu contributed to this article; Dow Jones Newswires; 8610-84007799; wan.xu@dowjones.com
Banco do Brasil Maintains Credit-Expansion View For 2010
13/05/2010
Latin America's biggest bank in terms of assets, government-controlled Banco do Brasil SA (BBAS3.BR) kept its guidance for the expansion of its domestic credit portfolio by up to 23% in 2010, the bank said in a statement Thursday.
In 2009, the bank's domestic credit portfolio reached 300.8 billion Brazilian reals ($169 billion), up 34% from a year earlier.
Banco do Brasil maintained its guidance to expand its consumer credit portfolio by up to 32% this year and its corporate credit portfolio by up to 21%.
The bank's consumer credit portfolio rose 88% to BRL91.8 billion in 2009, while its corporate credit portfolio reached BRL125.3 billion, up 29% from a year earlier.
Banco do Brasil expects to increase its farm loans by up to 9%. Farm loans rose 4.3% last year to BRL66.4 billion.
Banco Do Brasil To Pay $542 Million In Dividends
13/05/2010
The board of Brazil's government-controlled Banco do Brasil (BBAS3.BR) has approved the payment of 962.3 million Brazilian reals ($542 million) in dividends, it said in a statement Thursday.
Of the total, BRL444.16 million will be distributed in the form of dividends, while BRL518.15 million will be paid in the form of interest on its own capital.
The bank said that the total amount represents a payment of BRL0.37 a share. It will be paid May 31.
The payment of interest on its own capital will be based on shareholders' positions as of March 24, while the dividend payment will be based on shareholders' positions as of May 21.
European Growth Lifts Telefónica's Net Profit
13/05/2010 | By JASON SINCLAIR
MADRID—Telefónica SA said Thursday its first-quarter net profit rose slightly as its European and Latin American operations helped compensate for a drop in revenue in its recession-stricken Spanish market.
Telefónica, Europe's second-largest telecommunications company by market capitalization behind the U.K.'s Vodafone Group PLC, said net profit for the quarter rose 2% to €1.66 billion ($2.09 billion) from €1.62 billion a year earlier, but came in below analysts' forecasts of €1.80 billion.
Revenue increased 1.7% to €13.93 billion from €13.7 billion. The company got a slight boost in revenue from its German broadband unit Hansenet, bought at the end of 2009.
Madrid-based Telefónica also reiterated its guidance of an earnings per share of €2.10 and pledged revenue growth of between 1% and 4% on the year.
Revenue in Latin America rose 4.2% to €5.62 billion in the period, but a slowdown in growth and an increasing reliance on inflation-prone markets has forced the company to change course and step up efforts to strengthen its foothold in the region.
In January, it also said it would have to wipe €1.81 billion from its Venezuelan assets after the country's government devalued the bolivar. Venezuela's hyperflationary economy also slashed revenue in the country by 44% to €491 million in the quarter.
Meanwhile, in Europe, Telefónica faces increased competition, the continued fallout from the economic crisis and the impact of regulatory pressure on its revenue. In recent months, Telefónica has lowered tariffs to hold on to customers. It also lost exclusivity on Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Revenue in Spain, where unemployment tops 20% and low-cost competition has increased, fell 5.7% to €4.63 billion. In Europe, where Telefónica operates under the O2 brand outside Spain, revenue increased 7.4% to €3.49 billion.
Earlier this week, Telefónica made a €5.7 billion offer for Portugal Telecom SGPS SA's stake in the joint venture both companies control in Brazil. Latin America has traditionally been Telefónica's main growth market, but the company has faced a series of recent setbacks in the region.
Telefónica was outbid by French media conglomerate Vivendi SA for Brazilian telecommunications company GVT.
Brazil lends a hand
May 10, 2010, 7:21 PM EDT
Brazil, involved in a massive oil drilling project off its own shores, has sent 10 technicians to help Britain's BP Plc contain a spreading oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a senior Brazilian official.
Petrobras sent its staff because the state-run oil producer has "good experience in drilling oil from deep below and has good technology," said Sergio Rezende, Brazil's minister of science and technology, in an interview Monday in Laguna Beach, Calif.
Rezende said he believes the accident will provide an opportunity for the industry to learn and avoid future spills. "It's not good for the planet and for the oil business, which will be important for many more decades," he said.
Rezende, at an event sponsored by his agency in southern California, said Brazil also has a hand in helping stem a separate crisis –- this one in Greece, whose burgeoning debt problems are at the heart of a nearly $1 trillion European Union and International Monetary Fund loan package for distressed euro-zone countries, agreed over the weekend.
"For many years we had to borrow" from the IMF, said Rezende. "Now are a creditor." — Carla Mozee
Brasil Foods Sees Brazil Sales Topping Europe, U.S. Rebound
13/05/2010 | By Lucia Kassai
May 13 (Bloomberg) -- BRF Brasil Foods SA, the world's biggest poultry exporter, posted a first-quarter profit after revenue from Brazil doubled, and said sales growth in the Latin American country will continue to outpace Europe and the U.S.
Net income of 53 million reais ($30 million), or 6 centavos a share, compares with a year-earlier loss of 226 million reais, or 1.09 reais a share, Sao Paulo-based Brasil Foods said yesterday in a statement.
Sales almost doubled to 5.05 billion reais from 2.6 billion reais after the company formerly known as Perdigao acquired its biggest Brazilian rival, Sadia. Demand in Brazil for the company's products will expand by as much as 10 percent this year, outpacing export growth of as much as 5 percent, Chief Executive Officer Jose Antonio do Prado Fay said.
"Domestic demand is good and will stay strong throughout 2010," Fay said yesterday at a news conference in Sao Paulo. "Demand from international markets is gradually recovering."
The Brazilian market, where margins are higher, accounted for about 63 percent of sales in the first quarter, the company said yesterday.
Brasil Foods and Sadia are still waiting for approval from Brazil's antitrust regulator to fully merge assets and operations. The regulator will likely approve the deal by August, Fay said. The companies expect to cut costs by 500 million reais by 2012, he said.
"We continue to view a strong earnings momentum over the next two years," Alexandre Pizano, an analyst at Bank of America in Sao Paulo, said in a May 4 note to clients. He rates the company a "buy." "The antitrust regulator's approval, expected by mid-year, is one of the company's relevant short- term drivers."
Brasil Foods fell 10 centavos, or 0.5 percent, to 21.95 reais in Sao Paulo trading yesterday. The earnings results were released after the close of regular trading.
Brasil Foods Sees Brazil Sales Topping Europe, U.S. Rebound
13/05/2010 | By Lucia Kassai
May 13 (Bloomberg) -- BRF Brasil Foods SA, the world's biggest poultry exporter, posted a first-quarter profit after revenue from Brazil doubled, and said sales growth in the Latin American country will continue to outpace Europe and the U.S.
Net income of 53 million reais ($30 million), or 6 centavos a share, compares with a year-earlier loss of 226 million reais, or 1.09 reais a share, Sao Paulo-based Brasil Foods said yesterday in a statement.
Sales almost doubled to 5.05 billion reais from 2.6 billion reais after the company formerly known as Perdigao acquired its biggest Brazilian rival, Sadia. Demand in Brazil for the company's products will expand by as much as 10 percent this year, outpacing export growth of as much as 5 percent, Chief Executive Officer Jose Antonio do Prado Fay said.
"Domestic demand is good and will stay strong throughout 2010," Fay said yesterday at a news conference in Sao Paulo. "Demand from international markets is gradually recovering."
The Brazilian market, where margins are higher, accounted for about 63 percent of sales in the first quarter, the company said yesterday.
Brasil Foods and Sadia are still waiting for approval from Brazil's antitrust regulator to fully merge assets and operations. The regulator will likely approve the deal by August, Fay said. The companies expect to cut costs by 500 million reais by 2012, he said.
"We continue to view a strong earnings momentum over the next two years," Alexandre Pizano, an analyst at Bank of America in Sao Paulo, said in a May 4 note to clients. He rates the company a "buy." "The antitrust regulator's approval, expected by mid-year, is one of the company's relevant short- term drivers."
Brasil Foods fell 10 centavos, or 0.5 percent, to 21.95 reais in Sao Paulo trading yesterday. The earnings results were released after the close of regular trading.
Business: A change in gear
By Stefan Wagstyl | Published: May 11 2010 21:47 | Last updated: May 11 2010 21:47
As chief executives emerge from recession they are seeing some unfamiliar names scurrying around the global corporate landscape.
In Europe, Geely, the Chinese carmaker, is finalising a $1.8bn (€1.4bn, £1.2bn) acquisition of Volvo, the Swedish manufacturer. In Africa, India's Bharti Airtel is set to become the world's fifth-largest mobile phone operator through the $10.7bn purchase of the regional assets of Zain, the Kuwaiti telecommunications group. In the US, Reliance Industries, India's biggest private sector company, is completing a $1.7bn joint venture with Atlas Energy after narrowly failing in Europe with a $14.5bn bid for LyondellBasell, a Dutch chemicals group.
Meanwhile, after last year's slump, exports from emerging economies are recovering at break-neck speed, rising last month in China, for example, by 30 per cent.
Companies from emerging economies are back on the move. They "have come out of the crisis better than developed world corporates", says Chris Hemmings of the PwC consultancy.
These groups are climbing up the value chain with new products, services and brands, ranging from high-technology Chinese electronics to Indian cars and Brazilian financial services. As Edward Tse of the Booz consultancy writes in a recently published book: "China is no longer exclusively a source of low-cost manufacturing. It is realising its potential to be far more: a source of global competitors in every aspect of business on the global stage."
The same applies to India and, to a lesser extent, Latin America. For global corporates, this is an even bigger shift than the emergence of Japanese groups as international investors 25 years ago. The new challengers are moving faster and more aggressively than did the cautious Japanese.
The new multinationals are coming from countries more open to foreign investment than Japan was in the 1980s. Hundreds of international companies are already firmly established in markets such as China, India and Brazil; developed and emerging world companies are competing head on across a range of industries – and co-operating extensively through joint ventures. But the rivalry is becoming more intense, embracing the developed as well as the emerging world.
For portfolio investors, too, the game is changing. Once investing in emerging markets mainly meant backing a particular economy's growth potential or its capacity to export commodities. No longer. Now it means investing in businesses already ranked among the world's largest in their industries, such as SAB Miller, the South African brewer; Cemex, the Mexican cement group; or Huawei, China's biggest telecommunications network equipment group. It means investing in new technologies, brands and ways of doing business.
Competing with emerging market companies is nothing new for developed world multinationals. While they faltered in the worst recession since the 1930s, they are recovering rapidly. The number of emerging markets companies in the Financial Times Global 500 may have nearly doubled from pre-crisis levels of 68 in March 2007 to 119 two months ago – but the majority are still from the developed world.
Western, Japanese and South Korean multinationals retain huge reserves of talent, technology and capital. Many have been in emerging markets for decades, including Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer products group; General Electric, the US conglomerate; and Siemens, the German engineering group. Others have joined more recently, among them Microsoft, the US software giant, which has established its biggest development centre outside the US in Beijing; and Cisco Systems, the computer network group, which has set up "a second headquarters", Cisco East, in Bangalore, India.
Davin Chor of the Singapore Management University argues against over-generalising from the weaknesses of a few high-profile American companies, such as the carmakers. "One shouldn't be too bearish about American companies going forward."
The same applies to European companies. The biggest cross-border acquisition this year so far is the planned $35.5bn purchase by British insurer Prudential of AIA, the Asian business of US group AIG – a more conventional case of a developed world company moving into emerging markets.
Equally, some emerging market companies were battered during the crisis – notably over-borrowed Russian resources groups such as Rusal, the aluminium group; and some Mexican companies, including Cemex. "There are huge disparities in performance within sectors and within countries," says Alok Kshirsagar of McKinsey consultancy's Asia Centre.
But there is no doubt which way the economic winds are blowing. "From my new base in Hong Kong, the shift from west to east is clearer than ever," Michael Geoghegan, chief executive of HSBC, one of the world's biggest banks, said last week. "In developed markets, the risks of double-dip recession and stagnation haven't gone away. In contrast, recovery in emerging markets looks secure." said Mr Geoghegan, who this year moved from London to Hong Kong.
Driving emerging market companies are their domestic economies. While developed countries' gross domestic product contracted 3.5 per cent last year and are expected to record sluggish growth of about 2.5 per cent in 2010, the emerging world avoided recession and is forecast to bounce back to a healthy 6.3 per cent this year. While policymakers in the developed world fret about stagnation, their emerging market counterparts worry about inflation.
The domestic demand surge is clearest in India, where incomes are rising from a low base. Companies reaping the rewards include Hero, a motorcycle manufacturer; Godrej, a producer of personal care products; and cement makers such as India Cements and Grasim. "What we find is that many Indian companies that focus on India itself have done extremely well," says Kwok Chern-Yeh of Aberdeen Asset Management Asia.
Asia – and especially China – is living in a credit boom that contrasts sharply with the scarcity blighting western Europe, the US and, to a lesser degree, eastern Europe and Latin America. While there are concerns the boom could end in a bust, for now, Chinese companies have cheap finance.
By contrast, the emerging market companies that have suffered are those in countries that followed the developed world into recession – notably Russia, where 2009 output fell 7.9 per cent; South Africa, (down 1.8 per cent); and Mexico (down 6.5 per cent), the laggard of Latin America. Russian tycoons who borrowed heavily before the crisis have been forced to sell assets to cut debts, most notably Oleg Deripaska, Rusal's main shareholder.
The most visible – and most controversial – element in emerging multinationals' expansion is corporate acquisition, seen by many directors as the fastest way to advance. Li Shufu, Geely's poetry-writing founder, says the Volvo takeover is the perfect antidote for what his own and most other Chinese carmakers lack: technology, research capability and a reputation for quality and dependability.
While the overall quantity of capital flowing from the developed world into emerging economies is still far greater than that going in the opposite direction, in corporate acquisitions it is a different story. Last year, for the first time, takeovers by emerging world companies of developed world groups exceeded takeovers going the other way – the former valued at $105bn, the latter at $74.2bn, according to Dealogic, a business data company.
"In the next few years we will see a growing number of acquisitions in Europe and the United States by companies based in emerging markets, especially in Asia and South America," says Rodolfo De Benedetti of CIR, an Italian conglomerate. "These companies today have considerable financial resources and good management, and are interested in entering new markets and acquiring competitors."
As well as the developed world, new corporate investment is being targeted at other emerging markets – often challenging western groups. The race for natural resources is particularly tight, with China and India leading the way. Not to be left out, Vale, the Brazilian miner, last month paid $2.5bn for a half-share in a remote iron ore deposit in Guinea. For South African companies, raised on links with the west, investing in Africa is a new "orthodoxy" says Jacko Maree, chief executive of Standard Bank, the country's biggest.
Alongside acquisitions, partnerships matter in a globalised world, with scores of joint ventures already set up between developed world motor groups and their emerging market counterparts. In the latest case, Peugeot Citroën, the French carmaker that has lagged behind other foreign groups in China, this month announced a joint venture with China Changan to supplement production capacity it already has in the country.
However, the terms of trade between developed and emerging market groups are changing, with power shifting to the emerging world. "We are seeing a bit of a pendulum shift. Five or 10 years ago, a multinational would tell you what to do ... now working together is a true joint venture," says McKinsey's Mr Kshirsagar.
Cross-border deals are not easy. First, timing is crucial as companies that made big-ticket acquisitions just before the crisis found to their cost – notably Tata, India's biggest business group. In 2006-08, it bought Corus, the European steel group, for £6.7bn in India's largest foreign acquisition; and Jaguar Land Rover, the UK carmaker, for $2.5bn. The assets plummeted in value during the recession, leaving Tata managers struggling to restructure their acquisitions.
Next, the cultural gaps between emerging economy owners persist. Chinese managers feel as alien on the Tyne in north-east England as western executives do on the Yangtse. According to Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu, authors of Winning in Emerging Markets, a study published last month: "Securing and instilling global standards and capabilities throughout an emerging markets-based organisation is a difficult, long-term task."
Finally, there can be political barriers. Chinese state-controlled companies have run into trouble in the US over perceived political and security risks. A $2.2bn bid for 3Com, a US network technology company, from Bain Capital and Huawei, the Chinese telecoms equipment-maker, failed in 2008 when Washington objected. In Europe, the ambitions of Russian state-run energy group Gazprom to expand into the European Union have been contained by political concerns.
But as Japanese companies found 25 years, ago these barriers can be overcome. Even before the crisis the corporate order was changing, with companies from China, India, Brazil and other emerging economies forging ahead in global industries. Their advance has now become a charge.
Lafarge seeks out the new frontiers of housing growth
By Paul Betts | Published: May 13 2010 03:00 | Last updated: May 13 2010 03:00
Bruno Lafont, the understated chief executive of Lafarge, considers himself a modern-day pioneer chasing business in some of the world's last great frontiers. Like many of his rivals in the cement industry, he is looking for growth not only in the big emerging markets but in what he calls the underdeveloped economies.
Countries such as Ethiopia, Peru, Zambia and Bangladesh, will all be the motors for his growth, as well as the large emerging economies of China, which accounts for half of the demand for world cement, India, Brazil and Russia. After all, Mr Lafont's business is to provide the cement and other aggregates that the people in these countries need to build affordable housing.
Like his main competitors such as Switzerland's Holcim, Germany's Heidelberg Cement and Mexico's Cemex, he is relying on small homebuilders in emerging markets to help pull his group - the world's largest cement maker - through one of the worst slumps in the construction industry. At the same time, the strategy is also designed to secure long-term growth for Lafarge. For Mr Lafont believes that emerging markets, including those in what he calls the last frontier, will account for about 90 per cent of future housing.
But building a presence, especially in smaller underdeveloped countries, takes time, and Mr Lafont knows that. It has taken Lafarge about 10 years to develop a presence in many African countries that is only now beginning to pay dividends. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why he has been so quiet of late. But perhaps his modesty also reflects the fact that he has had to keep his head down to tackle the impact of the global crisis that has hit his company particularly hard.
As the crisis broke, Mr Lafont found himself with a heavy burden of debt. This was the result of a €10bn ($12.6bn) gamble to expand in Egypt and the Middle East through the acquisition of Orascom Cement. So he has had to spend the past two years divesting non-core assets and cutting costs in an effort to reduce the debt to more manageable levels. At €14.5bn net debt at the end of the first quarter this year, there is still a long way to go.
But arguably it is that acquisition - together with other deals in India and Brazil - that has helped support sales badly hit in the company's mature developed markets. In turn, this has given him the necessary breathing space to carry out his balance sheet restructuring - of course, last year's €1.5bn capital increase also helped.
Lafarge has continued to invest in innovation and expand in emerging markets. But clever as this strategy may look - 52 per cent of group sales now come from emerging regions - the company is still reliant on a recovery of the construction markets in a handful of key mature markets such as the US, the UK and France.
Recent political developments in Europe have certainly clouded the picture. But Mr Lafont argues that there are now signs of a revival in the US where the housing construction market has fallen to such low levels that a pick-up is inevitable. But he also concedes that the recovery in the US and in the housing market of other developed countries hinges on two key factors - available financing and a rebound in general public confidence. In both cases, it is still far too early to say we have finally turned the corner. In the meantime, Lafarge's pioneer will have to keep seeking out new frontiers in the quest for growth.
Luxurious parallels
Surprisingly, the same rules that apply to the most unglamorous of industries such as cement can equally be used to deliver growth in the more glittering world of luxury goods.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the US and Japan represented the new frontier for the European luxury goods industry. But these days, emerging economies are accounting for a growing share of the business and not just some of the big Bric member countries such as China, India and Brazil.
Much like Mr Lafont's economically underdeveloped countries, Sanford Bernstein luxury analyst Luca Solca argues that the so-called South-East Asian Five - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam - could jointly account for about 500m potential luxury goods customers.
These aspiring luxury hubs, he says, may start from an economically-backward position in relative terms, just as South Korea did in the 1960s, and present all sorts of cultural challenges. But the Korean experience has also shown that long-term success and the acceptance of overseas luxury brands can be achieved in the context of rapidly-rising income levels in these potentially promising markets.
Brazil and Mexico embrace closer economic ties
13/05/2010
Brazil and Mexico could begin negotiations as early as this year to establish an "ambitious" agreement to bring Latin America's two largest economies closer together.
In an interview with the FT, Welber Barral, Brazil's foreign trade secretary, said that the idea was to go beyond traditional trade accords. "This is not just a free-trade agreement . . . we are going to try to bring the two economies together," he said. "We are talking about goods, but also about services, about customs and public-sector procurement."
Mr Barral, who was visiting Mexico City to start initial talks aimed at defining core issues for the eventual negotiations, did not say how much the agreement could boost economic growth for both countries. But he added: "The agreement between the two biggest economies [in Latin America] would be very fruitful for both countries."
The combined gross domestic product of the two countries is about $2,600bn – roughly equal to that of France but with five times the population.
Mr Barral's comments come as Mexico and Brazil have experienced differing fortunes over the past decade or so, with Brazil's economy racing ahead while that of Mexico has remained relatively stagnant.
One factor explaining that divergence is the emergence of China as a ferocious competitor for Mexican industry and exports entering the US, and a seemingly insatiable market for Brazilian commodities.
In spite of the different places the two countries occupy in the global economy, Mr Barral said that there was plenty of scope to develop sectors of mutual interest. One, he said, was the petrochemicals industry. Another was textiles.
However, he played down the possibility that any final agreement would facilitate Brazilian access to the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), which binds Mexico, the US and Canada; or that it would enable Mexico to tap into Mercosur, the South American customs union.
"[Greater access] could happen, but we are going to establish clear rules of origin to define clearly what a Brazilian company is and what a Mexican company is," he said. "We want to focus on each other's markets."
Brazil has long had a trade surplus with Mexico. According to Mexico's economy ministry, the surplus reached just over $1bn last year from total trade between the two countries of $5.9bn.
Mr Barral said that the driving force behind the desire to create deeper ties between the two countries came directly from Felipe Calderón, Mexico's centre-right leader, and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his Brazilian counterpart.
"There is a very positive political climate," he said about relations between the countries. "There is a good chemistry between the two presidents, and both have expressed more than once how important this agreement would be."
He added that the change of government following his country's presidential election, scheduled for October 3, would not be an obstacle to continuing and concluding the talks. "We are pushing to begin the negotiations this year . . . but the support from the private sector will keep the momentum going."
Lula dice tasas de interés Brasil podrían volver a subir
13/05/2010
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - El presidente brasileño, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, dijo el miércoles que las tasas de interés de su país podrían volver a subir este año de ser necesario, aún en el período previo a la elección presidencial.
"La estabilidad económica y el control de la inflación son obligaciones para nosotros", declaró Lula en una entrevista televisada.
"Si (las tasas) tienen que subir, subirán (...) Nunca permitiré que la economía se desacarrile por una elección", sostuvo el mandatario al ser consultado sobre la posibilidad de una segunda alza este año.
El banco central de Brasil elevó el mes pasado su tasa referencial de préstamo a un 9,5 por ciento, mediante un agresivo incremento de 75 puntos base, por las señales de que la economía del país podría estar recalentándose.
Los votantes elegirán el octubre un nuevo presidente que sucederá a Lula, quién por ley no puede postularse a un tercer período.
(Reporte de Hugo Bachega, Escrito por Brian Ellsworth; Editado en español por Ricardo Figueroa)
Brazil shares, currency buoyed by euro zone news
SAO PAULO, May 12 (Reuters) - Brazil's stocks and currency followed foreign markets higher on Wednesday, helped by reassuring signs from the euro zone which has given global markets a bumpy ride in recent trading sessions.
Brazil's Bovespa stock index .BVSP put on 1.24 percent to 65,232.32, tracking the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 that found relief on evidence of continued German growth and plans by Spain to cut its deficit. It traded within its narrowest range since the end of April as volatility eased.
Investors have been weighing the efficacy of a $1 trillion rescue package for the euro zone announced earlier in the week, concerned over whether or not weaker euro zone countries will manage to adopt the fiscal austerity that the plan dictates.
"This shows that governments are disposed to taking tough measures to deal with the region's quite worrying fiscal problem," said Newton Rosa, chief economist at SulAmerica Investimentos.
Brazilian stocks also were boosted by yet another sign that the country's economy is growing solidly. Retail sales grew more than expected in March and figures for February were revised higher.
However, the numbers also reinforced concerns that Latin America's largest economy could be overheating. For more see [ID:nN12172034].
In an exclusive interview with Reuters Insider on Wednesday, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said the government would announce "meaningful" cuts to government spending to cool demand and prevent the rebounding economy from overheating. See: [ID:nN12222276]
The pep in Brazilian markets was also underpinned by some better-than-expected quarterly results, including for the stock exchange owner itself, BM&F Bovespa, whose shares shot up 7.5 percent after profits soared and it gave positive signals for the coming year.
The company said it expects a 10 percent decline in capital expenditures in 2010 and plans to issue $620 million of 10-year bonds, Chief Executive Edemir Pinto said. See [ID:nSPG002890] and [ID:nSPG002891].
Some mobile telecoms firms were strong finishers in Wednesday's trading. Vivo Participacoes (VIVO4.SA) gained 3.95 percent to 49.69 reais. Tim Participacoes (TCSL3.SA) added 3.35 percent to 6.79 reais.
Petrobras (PETR4.SA), the most heavily-weighted stock on the main index, rose 0.95 percent to 29.90 reais with the issue of an estimate for an offshore oil field whose resources could be used for the firm's capitalization. See: [ID:nN12216158]
The estimated 4.5 billion barrel find would rival the world's largest discoveries in recent years in nations such as Kazakhstan and Iraq and will likely draw further oil company attention to country's offshore waters.
Iron ore miner Vale ended unchanged at 44.40 reais, steelmaker Gerdau (GGBR4.SA) jumped 1.71 percent to 26.78 and CSN (CSNA3.SA) fell by 0.07 percent to 29.38 reais.
Yields on interest rate futures were broadly mixed <0#DIJ:> with the January 2011 contract DIJF1 at 11.12 percent.
Brazil's central bank last month raised rates by an aggressive 75 basis points to 9.5 percent and analysts in a weekly central bank survey expect the benchmark Selic rate to end the year at 11.75 percent. (Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Peter Murphy; Editing by Diane Craft)
Ambitious Brazil housing plan would replace slums
13/05/2010 | By MARCO SIBAJA
AGUAS LINDAS, Brazil -- Cristina Silva dos Santos is close to realizing a dream she has had for 28 years, since giving birth to the first of six children: a home big enough for her entire family.
For now, she and her five youngest are squeezed into a four-room, rough-brick house the size of most garages, where they all sleep in the same room.
But a new government housing program, the largest in Latin America aimed at cutting overcrowding in slums, will give Silva a substantial down payment on a $30,680 (54,000 real) home with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom.
The program, "My Home, My Life," is a model for developing countries trying to alleviate the squalor surrounding roughly 1 billion squatters and slum dwellers worldwide, according to one expert.
Officials from Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and other countries facing housing shortages have requested information about the program, said Maria Fernanda Ramos Coelho, president of the state-run bank Caixa Economica Federal, which is administering the project.
Caixa officials also presented the program recently to their Venezuelan counterparts.
"This is undoubtedly a model that could be used in other countries," said Demostenes Moraes, director of Habitat-Brazil, the Brazilian branch of an international nonprofit devoted to building houses for the poor.
The program, started last year, is part of the social policies that have made President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva one of Brazil's most popular ever - and could help attract votes for his chosen successor, candidate Dilma Rousseff, who trails in the polls going into the October presidential election.
Aguas Lindas, a city of 200,000 about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Brasilia, is a picture of unmanaged sprawl and hotspot for violence and drug trafficking that grew up with migrants moving to the capital to escape rural poverty.
Silva's new home is one of 1,600 to be built on the outskirts in a community that will have its own police force, school and water supply - services that more often than not are absent from shantytowns in cities such as Aguas Lindas.
"As a single mother, this program is what allowed me to have my own house," said the 45-year-old food services worker, accompanied by her five youngest children during an interview in the old home. "Every day they ask me, 'When we are going to move?'"
Using federal, state and municipal funds, "My Home, My Life" pays 100 percent of the cost of a home for families who earn a maximum of $870 a month (1,530 reals) - three times the minimum monthly wage of $290 (510 reals.) The amount diminishes as participants' salaries rise.
Houses are built by private construction companies, which act as intermediaries with the bank on behalf of customers.
As of February, the government had 670,000 new-home applications in the works and aims to have signed contracts for 1 million homes by the end of this year, Ramos Coelho said,
A second phase of 2 million homes is planned to begin in 2011, she added.
If the program continues at the intended rate, Brazil could erase its shortage of 7 million homes - and hundreds of illegal settlements that have popped up over the years in the South American nation of 190 million people - in the next decade.
"Brazil has not had any housing policy since the 1970s," Ramos Coelho said. "This program begins a new era in the country of eliminating our housing deficit."
Many of the city dwellers live in poor, overcrowded, crime- and drug-infested shantytowns known as "favelas." Brazil experienced an explosion of favelas from the 1950s to the 1970s amid a boom in industrialization that attracted rural dwellers to metropolitan life.
"My Home, My Life" aspires to transform the favelas into more formal and hospitable living areas, complete with security, recreational areas and public utilities.
Another goal is to remove homes from areas at high risk of landslides and flooding, such as the slum in Niteroi, a city of about 500,000 across the bay from Rio de Janeiro, where 60 houses were destroyed last month during heavy rains.
At least 232 people were killed in the Niteroi landslide and others in Rio de Janeiro state.
There is much evidence to indicate the program will succeed: Brazil's strong economic performance over the past few years - despite a global economic crisis - has provided officials with the means to bankroll the project; land for new housing is widely available in the enormous country, and both of the two main presidential contenders have pledged to continue the program if elected.
But the program hasn't been seamless: Some beneficiaries are complaining the houses are being handed over too slowly, while large cities such as Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo don't have enough land on which to build.
In Sao Paulo last month, about 2,000 protesters invaded unoccupied buildings to demand housing for the poor in Brazil, saying the government program will not be made available to everybody who needs it.
But for Mailson Barbosa de Santana, 22, and his wife, Luana de Oliveira, 18, "My Home, My Life" is a godsend, allowing them to buy a three-bedroom house in the same residential complex where Silva is going to live.
"We had been looking for a house for a year, but can only buy one because of this program," Santana said. "Now with our own home, we're going to think about having kids, too."
Newly discovered oil reserves in Brazil larger than previously announced
13/05/2010
The volume of recoverable oil in a newly discovered well reaches 4.5 billion barrels, more than doubling the previously announced volume of 2 million barrels, Brazil's National Petroleum Agency (ANP) announced Wednesday.
The 2-ANP-1-RJS well, nicknamed Franco, is located in the Santos Basin, some 200 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, in Brazil's southeastern region. The area belongs to the federal government and has not undergone any public bidding process. The drilling is carried out by state-controlled oil and gas giant Petrobras, with ANP's authorization.
ANP first announced the Franco discovery in late April.
ANP has already started the drilling of a second well in the area, 2-ANP-2-RJS, nicknamed Libra. The well is located 32 km northeast of Franco.
More Brazilians move up to middle-class: minister
10:29, May 13, 2010
Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Wednesday that the country's economic growth in recent years has turned more people to the middle-class.
In a meeting with union leaders, Mantega said the Brazilian economy could grow 5.5 to 6 percent without macroeconomic imbalances or bubbles.
There has been a real increase in the minimum wage and reduction in inequalities during the two terms of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former union leader. This, in turn, has allowed more people to move up to the middle class, which currently accounts for over 50 percent of the country's population, Mantega said.
"When we started the government, the minimum wage was enough to buy just a basic basket. Now it is possible to buy nearly two. The purchasing power of the minimum wage has almost doubled, which is a fundamental change in terms of reducing poverty and expanding the consumer market," he said.
While many other economies experienced a contraction in consumption last year due to the impact of the international financial crisis, Brazil witnessed strong consumption, which benefited trade and and production, he added.
The finance minister said he expected the Brazilian consumption to grow 8 to 8.5 percent, allowing employers to invest more.
Source:Xinhua
Brazilian economy to grow 5.5% to 6% in 2010
09:37, May 13, 2010
Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Wednesday that the country's economy could grow 5.5 to 6 percent this year in a balanced manner.
"The economy is showing vigor and dynamism after the crisis," he said.
According to the minister, Brazil is managing to achieve more than the 2.5- to 3-percent growth it used to see before President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office in 2003, which was not enough to generate new jobs for the country.
Mantega said such a prediction is based on an increase in the investments and on the wealth distribution policies. The official growth projection for this year is 5.2 percent.
Last year, the effects of the international financial crisis led to a contraction of 0.2 percent in the Brazilian GDP.
When commenting on the budget deficit, the minister said Brazil has a solid fiscal situation and is getting close to registering a zero nominal deficit, which could have been achieved already if not for the international financial crisis.
Also on Wednesday, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said the retail sales in Brazil registered a 12.8-percent jump in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.
According to the IBGE, the revenues generated by those sales also rose 15.6 percent year-on-year.
In the April 2009 to March 2010 period, sales volume increased 8 percent from the previous 12-month period, while revenues were up 11.5 percent.
All eight sectors included in the study saw an expansion in the sales volume in the first quarter. The most significant rises were registered in food products (12.4 percent), furniture and household appliances (21.7 percent) and computer and communication devices (29.9 percent).
Source:Xinhua
Duro planteo de Europa y Brasil por el freno a los alimentos
Reclaman por las trabas a la importación de esos productos dispuesta por el secretario Moreno. La Unión Europea emitió un comunicado tratando la medida de "inexplicable". El gobierno de Lula también exigió formalmente explicaciones.
13/05/2010 | Por: Guido Braslavsky, Eleonora Gosman
A escasos días del viaje a Madrid de Cristina Kirchner para participar en una cumbre de América latina y el Caribe con la Unión Europea, las relaciones comerciales con este último bloque y también con Brasil se recalentaron ayer, con protestas de estos dos fuertes socios de la Argentina frente a las restricciones a las importaciones de alimentos que impulsa el secretario de Comercio Interior, Guillermo Moreno, pero aún no hay una medida oficial.
La UE calificó de "inexplicables" las medidas cuando en pocos días, en el marco de la cumbre, podrían relanzarse las negociaciones comerciales entre la UE y el Mercosur que buscan, precisamente, mejorar las relaciones comerciales entre los dos bloques. Tras indicar que ya habían "interpelado a las autoridades argentinas" por las trabas, la Unión Europea advirtió que "de concretarse, serían incompatibles con la normativa de la Organización Mundial de Comercio (OMC) y con los compromisos adquiridos por Argentina en el marco del G-20". El Gobierno argentino, sin embargo, retrucó asegurando que las medidas en juego están en línea con lo dispuesto por ese organismo.
Con Brasil, la disputa también subió de tono. Luego de que el martes se conociera la reacción de la poderosa cámara industrial FIESP, que blandió la amenaza de represalias comerciales, el gobierno de Lula da Silva instruyó a su embajador en Buenos Aires, Enio Cordeiro, para que reclame explicaciones a la Cancillería.
Los cruces con la UE y con Brasil se suman a los problemas suscitados ya con China por las exportaciones de aceite de soja y completan un panorama en que la Argentina aparece con conflictos con sus tres principales socios comerciales.
A todo esto, el Gobierno no dio señales de que piense dar marcha atrás. Al contrario, Cristina Kirchner recibió a Hugo Moyano y a la cúpula de la CGT, y les confirmó la política de "protección" de la industria nacional, según reveló el titular de Dragado y Balizamiento, Juan Carlos Schmid.
El argumento oficial es que la crisis en Grecia y la devaluación del euro pueden tornar competitivos a muchos productos de la UE, perjudicando a la industria nacional.
La reacción europea se conoció a través de su delegación en Buenos Aires. Pero fuentes de esa oficina precisaron a Clarín que la letra se originó en Bruselas, sede de la UE. El asunto se cocinó bien arriba -acaso un mensaje previo al desembarco de Cristina en Madrid- a punto que este diario pudo constatar que algunos embajadores de la UE desconocían el comunicado que se gestó en la capital belga.
Para calificar de "inexplicables" las restricciones, la UE destacó que la Argentina había impulsado "decididamente" las negociaciones con Europa para "incrementar los flujos de importación y exportación entre las partes", durante su reciente ejercicio de la presidencia del Mercosur. Por eso, agregó, la UE llamaba a la Argentina "a no implementar las medidas anunciadas". Hoy los embajadores europeos en Buenos Aires se reunirán con los diputados dela Comisión de Relaciones Exteriores. Y hay un encuentro de consejeros comerciales europeos. En ambos encuentros, se tratará el tema.
Con Brasil, ya desde la semana pasada el ambiente pasó de la cordialidad a la ofuscación, luego de que la prensa sacara a la luz que el secretario Moreno había avisado, en una reunión con supermercados, que a partir del 1º de junio habría un control estricto sobre los alimentos importados.
En principio, la iniciativa parecía abarcar únicamente a artículos envasados procedentes de Europa. Pero luego se vio que la gama era más amplia e incluía por ejemplo granos de choclo y tomates en lata. Dentro de ese universo, cayeron varios ítems brasileños según denunciaron el martes empresarios del sector de alimentación.
El embajador Cordeiro habló ayer con el secretario de Relaciones Comerciales Internacionales, Alfredo Chiaradía. El diplomático, número tres del Palacio San Martín, se comprometió a enviarle lo antes posible la información reclamada sobre eventuales trabas. El canciller Celso Amorim, que hasta ahora había mantenido un perfil bajo, ayer decidió hablar. Dijo a través de sus voceros que "el gobierno acompaña con atención y preocupación las noticias sobre una nueva barrera comercial impuesta por Argentina a los alimentos brasileños", aunque aclaró que la medida "todavía no fue notificada oficialmente".
En Brasil, las quejas se dejaron sentir más allá del gobierno y de los privados. La candidata presidencial Dilma Rousseff, apadrinada por Lula da Silva, dijo que Brasil debe ejercer represalias si se comprueba que el gobierno de Cristina impone prohibiciones a los alimentos de fabricación brasileña.
Argentina suma fricciones con sus tres principales socios comerciales
13/05/2010 | Por: Daniel Fernández Canedo
Guillermo Moreno frena la importación de alimentos, deja pintado al ministro de Economía y ratifica la vigencia de la política del manejo discrecional.
No hay una norma escrita, sino presiones oficiales sobre supermercadistas y productores para que no compren alimentos.
La industria no sabe a qué regla atenerse y plantea que esa política no tiene sentido ya que la Argentina exporta diez veces más alimentos de los que importa, y que las represalias pueden ser serias.
Sólo es necesario repasar que hoy la Argentina tiene fricciones con sus tres principales socios comerciales: Brasil, Europa y China.
Amado Boudou avaló esta política diciendo que en materia de comercio internacional no se puede ser "bueno", como si la estrategia de exportar e importar se tratase de una cuestión sentimental.
Este año, probablemente el superávit comercial del país supere los US$ 15.000 millones por lo cual no cabe pensar que Moreno frena importaciones porque no quiere gastar reservas del Banco Central para pagar choclos brasileños o aceite de oliva español.
Probablemente la mano ejecutora de Moreno responda a la idea de la Casa Rosada de empujar la producción del alimentos que en la primera parte del año no dio el salto que tuvieron otros sectores. Pero los números no lo justifican.
En el primer trimestre, las exportaciones argentinas al Mercosur a Europa y a China sumaron US$ 7.250 millones, una cifra que bien vale evitar una pelea.
¿Todo será porque el Gobierno prevé un fuerte repunte de las importaciones a partir de la política del dólar anclado?
La apuesta oficial es a que el dólar se quede en torno de $3,89 hasta fin de año.
Y con un costo de vida subiendo al 20% anual, la inflación en dólares local estaría en los primer puestos del ranking mundial.
En lo interno, Moreno despliega su estrategia de la misma forma que lo hizo con la manipulación de los índices del INDEC en el convencimiento de que si no hay medidas firmadas ni lanzamientos oficiales, los cambios pasan desapercibidos.
Pero la economía no cree en esas supuestas reglas de la política.
Como ejemplo, basta considerar un informe de la Unión de Bancos Suizos sobre la Argentina que comenzó a circular esta semana. El título traducido del estudio es "Argentina: lo bueno, lo malo y lo horrible" y encierra algunas recomendaciones para los inversores.
Entre lo bueno, destaca el crecimiento. Para este importante banco suizo, que remarca el desempeño del sector agropecuario, la economía crecerá este año 5,2% y la cifra oficial podrá ser mayor dada la inflación no asumida por el Gobierno.
En el capítulo de "lo malo", menciona el deterioro fiscal y la inflación y pone el acento en que las recientes decisiones oficiales sobre la expansión del gasto público no le permiten ser optimistas.
Dice que el Gobierno ahora no busca achicar el déficit sino que toma dinero del Banco Central para financiarse.
Sobre ese punto le recomienda a los inversores "estar muy atentos".
Y, por último, menciona "lo horrible", donde sostiene que la falta de políticas públicas para combatir la inflación y el déficit puede conducir a una espiralización inflacionaria.
Hasta ahora la respuesta oficial a esos llamados a atención descansa en la calma del precio del dólar y el congelamiento de algunas tarifas domiciliarias de servicios públicos que el Gobierno compensa con subsidios.
Por lo demás, el freno a la inflación no aparece en los primeros puestos del ranking de preocupaciones oficiales.
Sólo basta considerar que el gasto público crece a una tasa del 38% anual y los fondos de la ANSeS y las ganancias del Banco Central son combustibles muy utilizados para darle más cuerda a la expansión del consumo interno.
Pero la inflación pasa las facturas más dolorosas.
Hasta la medición del INDEC sobre el costo de vida refleja los problemas.
Según el relevamiento oficial, la canasta básica alimentaria -que establece la línea de la indigencia- subió casi 20 por ciento en un año.
Ese aumento es diez puntos menor al que midieron los estudios privados de economía, pero marca el golpe al bolsillo de los que menos tienen.
Son pocos los trabajadores en negro que lograron aumentos de 20% en el último año y, desde ya, mucho menos aún los desocupados.
Se pueden ocultar datos. También evitar dar definiciones o esconder las estrategias. Pero la economía siempre saca a flote las consecuencias.
Brasil anunció el hallazgo de otro gran yacimiento petrolero
El pozo tendría un volumen de 4500 millones de barriles y permitirá capitalizar a Petrobras
13/05/2010
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters y EFE).- Brasil anunció ayer su mayor descubrimiento petrolero en casi tres años en aguas profundas, lo que apuntala aún más el potencial del país como un gran productor de energía. El hallazgo, estimado en 4500 millones de barriles, podría rivalizar con algunos de los mayores descubrimientos del mundo en los últimos años, como en Kazakhstán e Irak, y posiblemente alentará aún más al país a mirar en las zonas costa afuera de Brasil.
"Parece ser uno de los pozos con mayor potencial jamás perforados en el país", dijo Haroldo Lima, director general de la Agencia Nacional del Petróleo (ANP), ente regulador que ayer dio a conocer el hallazgo, al aludir a los resultados de las prospecciones realizadas en Franco, como se denomina el pozo hallado.
La agencia, que contrató a Petrobras para realizar la perforación, reveló que encontró una columna de 272 metros de petróleo en un área a 195 kilómetros del litoral del estado de Río de Janeiro, en la cuenca de Santos.
El petróleo posiblemente sea usado en el plan de capitalización, en el que el gobierno recibiría acciones de Petrobras a cambio de derechos para desarrollar 5000 millones de barriles de petróleo en áreas costa afuera ( offshore , en la jerga) que aún no han sido licitadas.
Brasil se ha transformado en una nueva frontera para la exploración mundial de petróleo, luego de su descubrimiento en 2007 del gigantesco campo Tupi en el cúmulo subsal costa afuera, lo que llama la atención de importantes firmas internacionales de energía.
La ANP afirmó que estudia la posibilidad de efectuar "de inmediato" las pruebas de formación para verificar la productividad del pozo de Franco, bautizado como 2-ANP-1-RJS, mientras ya ha comenzado las perforaciones en un segundo pozo a 32 kilómetros de distancia.
El yacimiento encontrado se ubica a 45 kilómetros de Iara, un campo propiedad de la estatal Petrobras que alberga reservas de entre 3000 millones y 4000 millones de barriles.
Este es el tercer hallazgo en importancia de petróleo en esa zona geológica conocida como presal, por ubicarse bajo una gruesa capa de sedimentos salinos.
"Regalo de Dios"
El presidente brasileño, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, ha descripto las gigantescas reservas subsal como "un regalo de Dios"; el año pasado lanzó una reforma legislativa que impulsaría el control estatal sobre el sector y transformaría a Petrobras en el único operador de nuevos proyectos.
El Congreso aún debe dar la aprobación final, crucial para el plan de Petrobras de desarrollar miles de millones de barriles contenidos en reservas mar adentro en el área subsal, que podrían proveer a la compañía hasta los 25.000 millones de dólares necesarios para su presupuesto de inversión de este año.
El mayor campo identificado en este bloque hasta la fecha es el de Tupí, donde Petrobras calcula que podría recuperar entre 5000 y 8000 millones de barriles de crudo y gas natural.
La ANP consideró que este descubrimiento "refuerza el optimismo" del gobierno brasileño con relación al potencial del presal, que, según sus cálculos, puede contener entre 50.000 y 80.000 millones de barriles, lo que equivale a cinco veces las actuales reservas probadas del país (14.000 millones de barriles).
Los daños ambientales asociados a la perforación aguas adentro enfrentan crecientes cuestionamientos luego del enorme derrame petrolero de la británica BP en el Golfo de México. Igualmente, analistas esperan una creciente dependencia mundial de las reservas en el mar.
Enérgico reclamo de Europa por las barreras comerciales
Calificó de "inexplicable" el freno a la importación de alimentos; Brasil analiza tomar represalias
13/05/2010 | José Crettaz | LA NACION
La Unión Europea (UE) y Brasil respondieron en duros términos ayer al cierre de las importaciones de alimentos ordenada por la presidenta Cristina Kirchner por medio de su polémico secretario de Comercio Interior, Guillermo Moreno. Además, advirtieron que, de aplicarse tal como fue anunciada, la Argentina podría ser denunciada ante la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC). En un comunicado, la UE confirmó que "interpeló formalmente a las autoridades argentinas a propósito de las restricciones a la importación de alimentos anunciadas en los últimos días. Tales restricciones, de concretarse, serían incompatibles con la normativa de la OMC y con los compromisos de Argentina en el marco del G-20".
Para el bloque europeo, "dichas medidas resultan además inexplicables pocos días antes del posible relanzamiento de negociaciones comerciales entre la UE y el Mercosur. Dichas negociaciones, que la Argentina ha impulsado tan decididamente durante su presidencia del bloque sudamericano, tienen precisamente por objetivo incrementar los flujos de importación y de exportación entre las partes". Además, la UE recuerda que la Argentina es un exportador neto de alimentos: vende al mundo por US$ 22.000 millones y sólo importa ese tipo de productos por US$ 1000 millones anuales.
Una veintena de embajadores de países miembros de la UE irán hoy a las 11 a la Comisión de Relaciones Exteriores de la Cámara de Diputados, que preside el peronista opositor Alfredo Atanasof. Aunque el encuentro estaba previsto desde hacía semanas y se relaciona con la preparación de la próxima Cumbre UE-América latina, es posible que la tensión comercial se mencione en el encuentro.
En tanto, el canciller de Brasil, Celso Amorim, instruyó a la embajada de su país en Buenos Aires a expresar la "preocupación" de su país sobre la posibilidad de que la Argentina aplique barreras comerciales. "El ministro Amorim acompaña el asunto con preocupación y por eso instruyó a la embajada de Brasil en Buenos Aires a expresar ese sentimiento a las autoridades argentinas", dijo un vocero de ese ministerio. La fuente también informó que el embajador de Brasil en la Argentina, Enio Cordeiro, se entrevistó ayer con el secretario de Comercio y Relaciones Económicas Internacionales, Alfredo Chiaradía, a quien le transmitió el mensaje de Amorim.
Las nuevas barreras comerciales, que se suman a otras restricciones para importar y exportar que viene instrumentado la Argentina, también se colaron en la campaña electoral en la que está inmerso Brasil con miras a las elecciones de noviembre. La precandidata del oficialista Partido de los Trabajadores, Dilma Rousseff, estrecha colaboradora del presidente Lula da Silva, expresó: "Por la OMC y por el Mercosur existe la posibilidad de tomar represalias. Una medida tan agresiva como ésta contra Brasil tiene que ser respondida y el primer paso es tener una posición firme, muy fuerte", afirmó la dirigente.
En tanto, el director de Comercio Exterior de la poderosa Federación de la Industria de San Pablo (Fiesp), Roberto Giannetti da Fonseca, encendió la alarma al afirmar que ya hay camiones brasileños parados en la frontera con alimentos cuyos certificados sanitarios están en poder de Moreno. "Todavía no hay ningún decreto ni nada; ¿sólo una palabra basta para que algo se convierta en ley?", se quejó el empresario. Brasil, la Unión Europea y Chile son los principales afectados por las restricciones.
El reclamo europeo y la preocupación brasileña son el resultado de una medida informal del gobierno argentino conocida la semana pasada, pero que se remonta a fines de abril, cuando Guillermo Moreno ordenó al Instituto Nacional de Alimentos (INAL), un organismo sanitario dependiente del Ministerio de Salud, que no entregue nuevos certificados sanitarios para la importación de alimentos sin su autorización. Ayer, en una reunión con la Cámara de Importadores (CIRA), Moreno justificó las barreras en la necesidad de mejorar el saldo comercial argentino (ver aparte).
A pesar de la tensión, el Gobierno volvió a defender la decisión de restringir las importaciones. Ayer fue el turno de la ministra de Industria y Turismo, Débora Giorgi: "Todo lo que el mercado demande en materia de alimentos importados va a estar disponible en las góndolas de nuestro país", afirmó la funcionaria. Y agregó que "la Argentina trabaja bajo las normas de la OMC" y así lo seguirá haciendo, tanto en lo relativo a la aplicación de licencias no automáticas como de medidas contra la competencia desleal.
LLEVAN HASTA 4 DÍAS ESPERANDO AUTORIZACIÓN DEL INAL
Brasil denunció que la Aduana demora camiones con alimentos
Sin norma vigente, la Aduana igual cumple el deseo de Moreno y traba el ingreso de camiones. En Brasil dicen que argentinos suspendieron órdenes de compra
NATALIA DONATO Buenos Aires ()
Jueves 13 de mayo de 2010
La advertencia de Guillermo Moreno ayer se convirtió en realidad: según denunciaron industriales brasileños y confirmaron parcialmente en la Aduana argentina, hay entre 3 y 4 camiones con alimentos provenientes de Brasil demorados en las aduanas a la espera de que el Instituto Nacional de Alimentos (INAL) reciba el visto bueno de la Secretaría de Comercio para liberar el paso.
El canciller brasileño, Celso Amorim, recibió "con preocupación y por eso instruyó a la embajada de Brasil en Buenos Aires a expresar ese sentimiento a las autoridades argentinas", dijo un vocero del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. Por ese motivo, el embajador de Brasil en Argentina, Enio Cordeiro, se entrevistó ayer en Buenos Aires con el secretario de Comercio y Relaciones Económicas Internacionales, Alfredo Chiaradía, a quien le transmitió el mensaje de Amorim.
El Gobierno no comunicó ni publicó la existencia de ninguna resolución que establezca parámetros para la importación de alimentos. Sólo trascendió el contenido de una nota firmada por Moreno a Oscar Zubieta, director del INAL, en el que le pide que informe a la Secretaría de Comercio Interior sobre los pedidos de importación para tener "conocimiento integral de cada una de las operaciones" y articular políticas con otras áreas de gobierno "impidiéndose que el mercado interno se vea afectado negativamente".
El alineamiento del resto del Gobierno con Moreno fue inmediato y en las aduanas comenzaron a retener camiones a la espera de cumplir los nuevos trámites administrativos. Por ahora se trata de demoras, pero en ámbitos empresarios brasileños temen que las demoras se estiren y produzcan pérdidas en el caso de productos perecederos.
El director de Comercio Exterior de la Federación de Industriales de San Pablo (FIESP), Ricardo Martins, tiene registrado las demoras de 7 camiones por hasta cuatro días. En la Aduana de Paso de los Libres hay dos unidades que transportan chocolates y productos de snak y otro en Buenos Aires transportando productos congelados. A otras cuatro unidades todavía no se les autorizó el ingreso a territorio argentino. "Creemos que están demorados por las nuevas medidas que anunció Moreno, pero no hay información oficial", dijo Martins.
La mayor preocupación es que se suspendieron las órdenes de compra desde la Argentina por temor a que los productos no puedan después ingresar. "Muchos importadores frenaron pedidos por miedo de no saber lo que va a pasar", explicó Martins.
Según la Dirección General de Aduanas, que encabeza Silvina Tirabassi, no hay camiones de alimentos provenientes de Brasil detenidos en las fronteras más allá de los tiempos que son normales para trámites burocráticos.
"Los camiones brasileños de empresas alimenticias que están en las fronteras están esperando la intervención del INAL que habitualmente tienen alguna demora, antes de pasar a realizar los habituales trámites aduaneros", explicó la fuente de Aduana.
"Hasta ahora la demora es la normal y la Aduana no está deteniendo camiones de productos alimenticios provenientes de Brasil ni de ningún otro país", aseguró la fuente oficial.
Le Brésil va réduire ses dépenses pour éviter une "surchauffe"
13/05/2010 | par Ana Nicolaci da Costa et Raymond Colitt
BRASILIA, 12 mai (Reuters) - Le Brésil va annoncer une réduction "conséquente" des dépenses de l'Etat afin de canaliser la demande et d'empêcher une surchauffe de la première économie d'Amérique latine, a déclaré mercredi le ministre des Finances Guido Mantega.
Bien que le gouvernement ait minimisé la probabilité d'un tel scénario, les chiffres des ventes au détail en mars publiés dans la journée illustrent l'intensité de la reprise que connait le pays. Les ventes ont augmenté de 1,6% par rapport au mois précédent alors qu'une progression de seulement 0,75% était attendue.
L'économie devrait croître de plus de 6% en 2010, selon l'enquête hebdomadaire de la banque centrale et le ministère des Finances se demande à présent si la remontée des taux d'intérêt sera suffisante pour canaliser l'activité à court terme.
"L'un des instruments pour réduire l'emballement de l'économie consiste à réduire les dépenses publiques", a déclaré le ministre dans une interview à Reuters Insider à Brasilia.
Le gouvernement étudie actuellement des mesures pour réduire ses dépenses courantes et devrait présenter des propositions dans les jours à venir, a-t-il dit. Le gouvernement réexamine son budget tous les deux mois et le prochain examen est prévu le 20 mai.
"Il s'agira de baisses conséquentes", a-t-il dit, sans fournir de chiffres précis car les discussions sont toujours en cours.
"LE PROBLÈME NE VIENT PAS DE LA CHINE MAIS DES USA"
"Cela aura un impact plus important qu'une hausse des taux d'intérêt", a-t-il ajouté.
Le ministre des Finances a par ailleurs appelé les Etats-Unis à relever leurs taux d'intérêt et à permettre une appréciation du dollar afin de réduire les déséquilibres mondiaux.
"Ils doivent augmenter les taux d'intérêt aux Etats-Unis (...) afin de trouver un nouvel équilibre sur la monnaie", a-t-il dit. "Le problème ce n'est pas la Chine, ce sont les Etats-Unis", a-t-il ajouté.
Le responsable brésilien a par ailleurs appelé le Fonds monétaire international et les pays européens à mettre en oeuvre rapidement le plan de stabilisation financière de la zone euro adopté le week-end dernier.
"Au début, le marché est heureux avec les promesses. Par la suite, des mesures concrètes sont nécessaires", a-t-il dit.
"Il est nécessaire que ces pays agissent comme nous l'avons fait au sein du G20 en débloquant jusqu'à 1.000 milliards de dollars pour lutter contre la crise mondiale l'an dernier", a-t-il ajouté.
(Gwénaelle Barzic pour le service français)
Le Brésil va réduire ses dépenses pour éviter une "surchauffe"
Le Brésil va annoncer une réduction "conséquente" des dépenses de l'Etat afin de canaliser la demande et d'empêcher une surchauffe de la première économie d'Amérique latine, déclare le ministre des Finances Guido Mantega.
Bien que le gouvernement ait minimisé la probabilité d'un tel scénario, les chiffres des ventes au détail en mars publiés dans la journée illustrent l'intensité de la reprise que connait le pays. Les ventes ont augmenté de 1,6% par rapport au mois précédent alors qu'une progression de seulement 0,75% était attendue.
L'économie devrait croître de plus de 6% en 2010, selon l'enquête hebdomadaire de la banque centrale et le ministère des Finances se demande à présent si la remontée des taux d'intérêt sera suffisante pour canaliser l'activité à court terme.
"L'un des instruments pour réduire l'emballement de l'économie consiste à réduire les dépenses publiques", a déclaré le ministre dans une interview à Reuters Insider à Brasilia.
Le gouvernement étudie actuellement des mesures pour réduire ses dépenses courantes et devrait présenter des propositions dans les jours à venir, a-t-il dit. Le gouvernement réexamine son budget tous les deux mois et le prochain examen est prévu le 20 mai.
"Il s'agira de baisses conséquentes", a-t-il dit, sans fournir de chiffres précis car les discussions sont toujours en cours.
"LE PROBLÈME NE VIENT PAS DE LA CHINE MAIS DES USA"
"Cela aura un impact plus important qu'une hausse des taux d'intérêt", a-t-il ajouté.
Le ministre des Finances a par ailleurs appelé les Etats-Unis à relever leurs taux d'intérêt et à permettre une appréciation du dollar afin de réduire les déséquilibres mondiaux.
"Ils doivent augmenter les taux d'intérêt aux Etats-Unis (...) afin de trouver un nouvel équilibre sur la monnaie", a-t-il dit. "Le problème ce n'est pas la Chine, ce sont les Etats-Unis", a-t-il ajouté.
Le responsable brésilien a par ailleurs appelé le Fonds monétaire international et les pays européens à mettre en oeuvre rapidement le plan de stabilisation financière de la zone euro adopté le week-end dernier.
"Au début, le marché est heureux avec les promesses. Par la suite, des mesures concrètes sont nécessaires", a-t-il dit.
"Il est nécessaire que ces pays agissent comme nous l'avons fait au sein du G20 en débloquant jusqu'à 1.000 milliards de dollars pour lutter contre la crise mondiale l'an dernier", a-t-il ajouté.
Gwénaelle Barzic pour le service français
