In my experience in the U.S. and India, I find Chilean embassy staff to be amazingly business-friendly with a facilitative, and not a bureaucratic, mindset. That bodes well to attain the goals outlined in this study.
3 years ago in Delhi, then Chilean Ambassador to India, Amb. Jorge Heine invited me to meet him, and spent an hour talking to me, after I sent an unsolicited email expressing an interest in South-South cooperation and stating my desire to work in that domain. That was a major impetus that put me on my current path to promote India Latin America collaboration. I am still amazed that he did that and thankful for his gesture.
The Hindu News Update Service
India and Latin American country Chile should set up bilateral forums to bolster the economic ties between the two nations to propel the mutual trade to $ 5 billion by 2014, industry body CII has said.
The two countries should set up bilateral forums to harness their economic linkages, a study by CII said, adding, “there is an ample scope for business with Chile and we should target $ 5 billion trade with the Latin American country by 2014.”
Chile’s trading agreements can help India access other markets in South America, it said. Chile has free trade agreements with Canada, the US, the EU, and Mexico and is a member of Latin America Integration Association.
Chile’s commercial agriculture management, supply chain linkages including cold storage, warehousing and transport can be the focus areas for India, the study said.
India’s overall trade with Chile expanded from $ 586.65 million in 2005-06 to $ 2 billion in 2007-08.
Technorati Tags: chile, india, trade, business
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The Amuls of the world should follow.
Stuff.co.nz
In barely three years, New Zealand Farming Systems Uruguay, Wrightson’s stockmarket-listed investment vehicle, has acquired 36,500 hectares of land and leases a further 3500ha. It has spent heavily on new pasture grasses, irrigation, roads, fencing, reticulated water supply to each paddock, milk sheds, staff accommodation, training and the other infrastructure needed to bring New Zealand-style pastoral dairying farming to the country.
It reckons it is already the largest dairy farmer in South America, and by the second quarter of next year, it plans to be milking 23,000 cows. Competition has forced up land prices. The cost of buying and converting land to dairying is nearly double that of the first purchases. But a cost of, say $10,500 per hectare, is less than 25% of New Zealand prices.
Wrightson is hopeful prices will stabilise at less than 50% of farm income, say US17-18c on a milk price of US35c.
Wrightson has already spread its climate risk by buying in three regions of Uruguay. It’s now looking across the border in southern Brazil where land is cheaper and more plentiful. Kiwis are also investing elsewhere in Brazil but the adaptation challenges are greater as they head north.
You can find similar stories of gutsy investments by Kiwi farmers in Chile. One day that will be likely true of Argentina. It has plenty of land and agricultural infrastructure to support a big increase in dairying.
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Telecompaper
Latin America will reach over 388 million mobile lines in service at the end of this year, accounting for 9.6 percent of the overall mobile lines in service worldwide, according to the Information Society index (ISI) established by consulting firm Everis. Brazil is expected to end the year with 143.2 million phones, Mexico with 76.9 million and Argentina with 44.8 million, which together account for nearly seven of every ten mobile lines in the region.
Mobile networks cover the entire populations only in Uruguay and Chile, while in Ecuador and Colombia they reach 84 percent of the population. Bolivia has the lowest mobile coverage, reaching only 45.9 percent of the country’s population. Argentina registers a higher mobile penetration than population coverage, with 102.2 mobile phones per 100 inhabitants.
Technorati Tags: telecom, mobile, Latin America, teledensity
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Peru, Chile and Brazil are in the sweet spot.
San Jose Mercury News
Every segment of the mining industry and the companies that support it continue to enjoy great success with no end in sight despite trouble on Wall Street, industry leaders said Monday at a national conference and trade show.
Much of the optimism can be attributed to the unprecedented demand from China and India, said Harold Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association.
“The boom in worldwide mining activity and the equipment to bring those products to market has arguably been the biggest economic success story of the year,” he said at MINExpo International 2008, which opened Monday in Las Vegas. He expects the gathering to be the largest ever with more than 35,000 attendees—twice as many as the last such expo in 2004.
Timothy W. Sullivan, president and CEO of equipment manufacturer Bucyrus International Inc. and chairman of MINExpo 2008, said the record size of this year’s exhibition is an indication of the strong market conditions for mining and mining equipment.
“We’ve had an unprecedented run over the last few years, thanks largely to the developing world’s powerful and sustained demand for copper, gold, iron ore, coal and other products of mining,” he said. “We see nothing near term to dampen the bullish outlook.”
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This whole talk of currency instability is slightly dated. In the 80s and early 90s, when debt was denominated in $ currencies came under pressure from rapid FDI outflows – 80s era of hyperinflation comes to mind.
With the spectacular increase in commodity prices, starting in 2001, many countries in LatAm have been able to build substantial current account surpluses, add to their currency reserves and re-denominate debt in local currency. This had provided needed currency stability. Its amazing to know that the Brazilian real which was effectively worthless at the end of the 80s is now the only foreign currency holding of Warren Buffett!
Analysis-Markets-The Economic Times
In a bid to spur Indian medium scale companies to take advantage of foreign markets, India Trade Promotion Organisation is exploring opportunities in Latin American countries.
“There is investment potential in certain Latin American countries for Indian Inc. Big players like Tatas, Godrej, Mahindra and Mahindra, Aditya Birla group have already made their presence felt in sectors like IT, FMCG, auto, fibre etc. But the presence of mid size companies can hardly be felt,” said V Narayanan, manager, ITPO.
According to Narayanan, mid size companies can find fortunes in engineering goods, chemical products, textile, plastic products, pharmaceuticals, artificial jewelery & cosmetic articles, to generate good profit margins.
US and UK-based products are being sold at a higher price in countries like Chile, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico whereas Indian companies can offer almost the same quality product at a cheaper rate, ITPO is of opinion.
“A couple of other factors also create a conducive environment for Indian mid-size companies. Those are cultural similarities and similar taste of foods. This can result in a sizable demand for Indian products,” Narayanan said.
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