Fiat invests usd 100 million in agriculture machinery for Argentina
The Italian automaker Fiat will invest 100 million U.S. dollars in Argentina to produce agriculture machinery, the Argentine Industry Ministry and Fiat said on Tuesday. Through its local subsidiary Case New Holland (CNH) Fiat will start the local production and assembly of a small tractor, large capacity harvesters and the Fiat Powertrain Technologies (FPT) engines needed for these agricultural machinery. “Eighty percent of the investment will be used to produce tractors and harvesters, which at the beginning…
The largest US farm co-operative expands investments in South America
CHS, the largest US farm co-operative, is looking to expand investments in South America to boost its presence as a grain buyer and exporter in the booming soya sector. According to Carl Casale, chief executive of CHS, the company is “looking at our Brazilian footprint right now in the deep interior in Cerrado or Mato Grosso to see what we need to build out from an origination standpoint there to be able to complement our position in southern Brazil and Argentina. CHS is a major food exporter, a supplier…
Middle-class growing strongly in Latin America
Latin America’s Middle-class increased by 56 million since 1999 with a direct consequence on consumption patterns and demand for government policies, according to a report in the latest edition of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean, ECLAC Review. “This represents a formidable increase of the consumers’ market”, according to the ECLAC newsletter featuring expert analysis on issues such as changes observed in the middle classes in recent years, and the “China…
Buenos Aires booming hotel industry
As the largest city in Argentina, Buenos Aires is home to legendary landmarks, sophisticated entertainment, and noteworthy shopping and dining. But in terms of tourism development, the biggest news of late has come from the local hotel scene. Indeed, Argentina as a whole is Latin America’s standout when it comes to hotel development, with some 15 hotel projects and 1,700 rooms in the pipeline. And Buenos Aires is, of course, the white-hot center of Argentina’s hotel boom. The new hotels apparently aren’t…
Buenos Aires: a Mecca for overseas property investment
Argentina’s booming economy is fuelling investment interest across the real estate spectrum from residential to commercial assets and hotels. With fantastic returns on investments, property investors from around the world are snapping up real estate opportunities, in anticipation of future capital growth. In addition, the tourism sector is also rapidly expanding; tourism in Argentina is expected to grow at a rate of 10% annually until 2020, compared with the world average of 4.1%. In 2010 one of every five…
Investment funds around the world seeking farmland in response to food price hikes
For decades, the world was often swimming in surplus food because farmers were so productive. But rising demand has caught up, and reserves have become so tight that global food markets are vulnerable to even minor shocks. Many analysts say that higher, more volatile prices may be here to stay. The new dynamic reflects in part the rising demand for commodities in developing countries such as China, India and Russia. By 2050, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization projects that world food production will…
Chinese largest agricultural firm to buy farmland in Latin America
China’s largest agricultural enterprise, Heilongjiang Beidahuang Nongken Group, will acquire or lease 200,000 hectares of cropland in countries including Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Russia, The Philippines, Australia and Zimbabwe China, the world’s most populous country with 1.34 billion citizens, is experiencing an agricultural deficit that has spurred the authorities to seek access to crops outside its territory. In fact, according to somewhat dated statistics, less than 11 percent of Chinese territory…
Argentine winemakers set sights on Asian markets
Winemakers in Mendoza, where prized Malbec vines grow beneath Andean peaks, celebrated the end of grape-picking this month with a traditional parade of harvest queens and floats laden with flowers. But with festivities over for another year, Argentine vineyards have turned their attention to capturing relatively new Asian markets where burgeoning middle-classes are rapidly acquiring a taste for wine. “Today China consumes less than a liter of wine per person per year,” said Cristina Brachetta, director…
Record food prices are boosting farmland investments
Farmers will sow more acres and pour more funds into agriculture this year to boost yields across the top producer nations as record high food prices jolt markets and send buyers scurrying for supplies. While crops in top grain exporter the United States will battle for acres in the upcoming spring planting season, the developing world is expected to deploy resources to expand agriculture and improve stagnating productivity. Analysts told the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit they expected more land in Latin…
Brazil started 2011 with massive foreign capital investments inflows
The inflow of us dollars to Brazil so far this year (Jan-March 5) marks a surplus of usd 24.3 billion over outflows, which helped to further appreciate the Brazilian Real, according to the latest figures released by the Central Bank. This is the result of financial operations mainly by Brazilian corporations’ overseas issues and long term foreign investors. In fact, property investors from around the world are flocking to Brazilian shores with a view to snapping up real estate, in anticipation of future capital…
Eamon Cleary in Argentina
Tourism / investment despite low expectations With a new owner, Irish, reopens The Inn of the Birds The team of Boca Juniors and takes place for the preseason. Hand in hand with their new owners, the traditional La Posada of Birds, which was the venue chosen by xeneizes from the first stage of Carlos Bianchi as coach, will reopen on Tuesday. Behind the reopening is an investor group led by Irish businessman Eamon Cleary, although the operation of the facility was in charge of the Argentine Arne Bergsvik. The…
Investment Funds are scrambling to build up rural expertise in response to rocketing investor demand to buy entire farms
Investment funds worldwide have put an estimated $15 billion to $20 billion in agriculture globally, and interest is also growing from ultra-rich investors and pension funds, which see farmland as tangible, strategic assets. But Rich Gammill, managing director of the Cargill unit Black River Asset Management, which manages $6 billion including in food and agriculture, said farmland investments can be tricky. “It seems simple, but agriculture is anything but. There is a global supply chain and lots of…
Uruguay the most prosperous country in Latinamerica says Legatum Institute
MercoPress Uruguay is the highest positioned Latinamerican country in the 2010 list ranking the prosperity of 110 of the world’s nations by the London analytical centre Legatum Institute and its Legatum Prosperity Index. “The Prosperity Index seeks to understand how economic fundamentals, health, freedom, governance, safety, education, entrepreneurial opportunity, and social capital influence a country’s economic growth and the happiness of its citizens,” the group says. Europe dominates the Top…
Book Review: Australian Utopian dream in Paraguay – A ticket to Paradise
Book for the Week – A ticket to Paradise Blue-eyed South Americans with surnames like Smith and McQueen live in the wilds of Paraguay. This is the intriguing story of their ancestors, an idealistic Australian journalist called William Lane, and a colony called New Australia. In 1893, Australian journalist William Lane dreamed of creating a utopia where his socialist ideals could flourish, far away from his home in Queensland. He enlisted 238 followers and convinced them to sail across the Pacific with…
