Brazil

Documents seen by revealed that Brazil's Petrobras had received approval from the environmental agency of the country to remove corals from undersides of the drilling vessels it intends to use in Foz do Amazonas. Monday, the firm's request for a vessel to drill off of the coast of northern Amapa State was granted if the firm obtains the long-sought exploration license in the environmentally sensitive area. Corals are a potentially invasive specie if they were moved to another biome. This process must be supervised by Ibama - Brazil's environmental agency. Petrobras considers the Equatorial margin as the most promising frontier...

Sylvia dos Anjos, head of exploration and production at Petrobras, said that the company is looking for opportunities in Argentina and is also advancing projects in Colombia and Africa. Anjos, speaking at the CERAWeek Conference in Houston, said that the gas from the Vaca-Muerta region could be of interest to Petrobras, as a pipeline linking Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil can be used to transport the gas. She said the company could also search for oil opportunities abroad, since Petrobras is actively seeking to replenish its reserves of oil through overseas projects due to difficulties in obtaining environmental permits to drill...

Howard Lutnick, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, said that on Sunday tariffs against Canada and Mexico would go into effect starting on Tuesday. However President Donald Trump will decide whether or not to keep with the planned 25% rate. Lutnick said on the Fox News show "Sunday Morning Futures" that "that is a fluid scenario." There will be tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Tuesday. We'll leave it up to the president and his team of negotiators to decide what they are. Lutnick’s comments were Trump's first indication that he may not impose all the threatened tariffs of 25% on...

Empresas Copec, a Chilean conglomerate of industrial companies, announced a 15% increase in profit for the third quarter of 2024 thanks to higher pulp volumes and lower cost at its Arauco forestry unit. Arauco is the main source of Copec’s income, but Copec operates a large fuel distribution business, has stakes in mining, and also runs a fleet and factory of fishing vessels. The company's profit in the fourth quarter was $191 million, compared with $166 million one year ago. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), however, fell 1.7% to 644 million, while revenues dropped 6.4% to $6.77...

Petrobras, Brazil's state oil company, saw its shares fall 4% at the opening of Sao Paulo B3's exchange on Thursday after analysts were surprised by capital expenditures spending 15% over guidance for 2024. The Brazilian oil giant announced on Wednesday that it spent $16.6 billion in capex last year, $2.1 billion more than the company's original guidance. This was reduced from $18.5 billion to $16.6 billion. Petrobras has always spent less in previous quarters than it had planned. However, the company revised its forecast for the year downwards to better reflect reality. Magda Chabriard, the CEO of Petrobras, has stated...

Vibra Energia, a Brazilian fuel distributor, reported a 84.5% drop in its fourth quarter net profit compared to a previous year. The company's final figure was 510 million reais (88.3 millions dollars), which is also lower than the 555,000,000 reais that analysts polled for LSEG estimated. The company has approved the payment of interest on equity of a total amount of 1,07 billion reais in February, August and May 2025. Why it's important Vibra is a major fuel distributor in Latin America. It operates a network of gas stations, and sells fuel to businesses directly. By the Numbers Vibra's adjusted...

Brava Energia, a Brazilian company, will add four wells to the Atlanta field by 2025. It will also begin shipping oil to Trafigura as part of a six-million barrel supply agreement. The head of Brava's offshore operations, Carlos Mastrangelo, told reporters during a Tuesday visit that the number of wells connected with the floating production storage unit and offloading (FPSO) will now be six. We currently have two wells. In a little more than a month we will be connecting two more, and by the end June, two more. Mastrangelo said that Atlanta produces about 26,000 barrels per day. Mastrangelo...

Two sources said that the Brazilian government is split over the completion of its third nuclear plant, after 40 years in construction. The country's economic team has begun to push to abandon the project. The National Energy Policy Council, which has been delaying a decision on the Angra 3 plant since last year, will meet to discuss it on Tuesday. The issue is not resolved at the meeting. The construction of the plant in Angra dos Reis on the coast began in 1980 but was repeatedly halted due to funding issues and a corruption investigation in 2015. The project was...

Brazilian companies are looking for acquisition targets in Argentina while strengthening their staff and stores as a precautionary bet on the aggressive economic reforms of President Javier Milei that are starting to stabilize Argentina's crisis-ridden economy. Brazilian companies, such as consumer goods, services and oil, have said they plan to expand or launch new ventures in Argentina. The country is recovering from a decade of economic turmoil that has discouraged investment. Milei's strict austerity has helped to bring down triple-digit inflation and a large deficit, while also boosting investor confidence. The nation is still in recession and capital controls are...

Brazilian sugarcane processing company Raizen posted a net loss of 2.57 billion reals ($450.5million) in the third quarter 2024/25, compared to a profit 793 million reais a year ago. Why it's important Raizen is the largest sugarcane processing company in the world. Its main shareholders include Brazilian conglomerate Cosan, and Shell. The company produces sugar and ethanol while also acting as a distributor of fuel. ADDITIONAL CONTEXT Raizen releases its quarterly report Operational Preview In January, the sugarcane crushing dropped by nearly 27% compared to last year. The company also stopped its financial guidance for 2024/25. Driving its Shares to...

Petrobras, the state-run Brazilian oil company, confirmed on Friday that oil was found in a Buzios offshore field well, but did not provide details about the amount of oil discovered. Petrobras released a statement saying that oil was discovered in its 9-BUZ99D-RJS Well, located in the western region Buzios off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Petrobras stated that the new discovery confirms the potential of the Buzios oil field. This layer is part of the oil-rich formation offshore Brazil. Buzios, the second-largest field in Brazil, is behind Tupi, which are both located in Santos Basin. The company confirmed the...

He told a local station that he would meet with Ibama, the Brazilian environmental agency, this week or next to discuss Petrobras’ bid to drill near the mouth the Amazon River. Lula, who has defended Petrobras, the state-owned company that is exploring the region, stated in the interview that Obama was a government agency "that seems to be working against the government" and escalated recent criticisms against the regulator. The meeting did not lead to any final decisions on whether Petrobras could drill in this environmentally sensitive area. Ibama, in May 2023 denied Petrobras’ request for an offshore oil drilling...

The U.S. president Donald Trump ordered on Saturday a new investigation into trade that could add more tariffs to imported lumber. This would be in addition to the existing duties on Canadian softwood timber and 25% tariffs due next week on all Canadian and Mexican products. In his third new investigation in a single week, Trump has signed a memorandum ordering Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that he initiate a national-security investigation into U.S. Lumber Imports under Section 223 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act. Trump used the same trade law to impose tariffs against global imports of steel and aluminum....

The CEO of Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau said that the company may decide to increase its production capacity in the United States rather than build a new facility in Mexico. This is because tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump are affecting global trade. Gerdau announced in 2013 that it was looking at installing a special steel mill for Mexico. The new mill would have a capacity of 600,000 tons per year and require an investment between $500 million and $600 million. Gerdau originally expected to make a final decision on investment by the end 2024, and start construction this year. However,...

Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, President of Brazil, said that his country would respond to the decision by Donald Trump to impose tariffs on imports of steel. He suggested that Brazil could either file a complaint with the World Trade Organization or tax U.S. goods. "I heard they were going to tax Brazilian Steel." Lula told a radio station that if they did it, "we will respond commercially either by filing a WTO complaint or taxing the products we import from Brazil." South America is the biggest source of U.S. imports of steel. Trump raised steel and aluminum tariffs by...

The Brazilian miner Vale announced on Wednesday that it would announce a 70 billion real investment ($12.2 billion), on Friday, to expand its copper and iron ore mining operations in the Carajas Complex located in the north of Brazil. The presidential palace announced that the investments would be completed by 2030. It added that the announcement would be made during an event attended by Brazilian President Luiz inacio Lula Da Silva and his cabinet. Vale, the world's largest iron ore producer, didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. Carajas is Vale's biggest iron ore production facility, located in Brazil's...

Brazil's Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin called on Wednesday for "caution", and said that the South American nation would seek dialogue after President Donald Trump decided to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Alckmin told reporters in Brasilia that Brazil is open to dialogue, and will reach out to Trump's administration. He suggested that quotas might be an alternative. Alckmin said that the U.S. trades with Brazil in a surplus, which means that the country's biggest economy is "not the issue". Trump, who was sworn in last month to his second term non-consecutive, is the first target. Steel and Aluminum...

There are two ways of looking at the 1.7% decrease in China's steel output last year. The very first is that it verifies that the world's biggest manufacturer of the crucial industrial metal is now in an established downtrend, and even more weakness is likely this year. The second is that the steel industry is really remarkably resilient in the face of significant financial obstacles, which output has actually been essentially flat at incredibly strong levels for the previous five years. Both are basically accurate, and reflect the traditional glass half-full or half-empty problem. On the half-empty side of the...

Rio Tinto on Thursday reported its least expensive annual iron ore shipments in two years, partly as heavy rains in Western Australia impacted output in the December quarter, but said the international economy was showing signs of strength. Its fourth-quarter iron ore shipments decreased 1%, falling somewhat short of market expectations. For the calendar year, Rio Tinto delivered 328.6 million metric tons of iron ore from Pilbara, the lowest since 2022. It is under hazard of Brazilian competing Vale possibly retaking its crown as the world's greatest manufacturer. Vale expects to produce 323-330 million tonnes for 2024. The international economy...

A collapse in the rate of battery metal cobalt has actually forced fledging producer Jervois Global Ltd to delist and reorganise, the company stated on Thursday, after struggling for years to compete with Chinese rivals. The relocation highlights an excess in cobalt, a key ingredient in electric vehicle batteries, as dominant Chinese producers continue to drain the product while EV sales have actually stopped working to fulfill bullish forecasts. The cost of cobalt, which is likewise utilized in electronic devices and a series of weapons, to name a few items, has tumbled 72% since striking a peak in April 2022....

China's Jinjiang Group is in the spotlight after Brazil's labour authorities stated employees at a factory it is building for electrical automobile maker BYD were victims of human trafficking operating in slaverylike conditions. Jinjiang has rejected the claim about workers in slavery-like conditions and not reacted to an ask for talk about the trafficking accusation. China's foreign ministry said it is interaction with Brazil which China needs Chinese companies to operate in compliance with the law. Here is more about Jinjiang Group: THE COMPANY Independently held Jinjiang - the name indicates gold craftsman - was established in 2002 and is...

Chinese workers found at a building site for a factory owned by China's electric automobile manufacturer BYD in Brazil's Bahia state are victims of human trafficking, Brazilian labor authorities said on Thursday. BYD and specialist Jinjiang Group have agreed to assist and house the 163 employees in hotels up until a. offer to end their contracts is reached, Brazil's Labor. District attorney's Workplace stated in a declaration provided after meeting. agents from both firms. BYD did not instantly reply to an ask for remark. Reuters was unable to reach Jinjiang for comment outside normal. working hours. However, the business have...

Brazilian authorities found 163 Chinese nationals working in slaverylike conditions at a construction website for a factory owned by Chinese electric lorry manufacturer BYD in Brazil's Bahia state, the local labor district attorney's office said throughout a news conference on Monday. According to the authorities, the employees were worked with in China by another firm and brought to Brazil irregularly. They were laboring for long hours, in excess of what is allowed by Brazilian law, often for seven days a week straight, while being kept in what authorities referred to as degrading conditions in their accommodations, among other labor offenses....

Sugarcane yields in India are decreasing due to in 2015's dry spell and this year's extreme rains, which could decrease the country's sugar production below usage levels for the first time in eight years, farmers and market officials said on Monday. Lower-than-expected output by the world's second-largest sugar producer might eliminate the possibility of India permitting exports in the existing season ending in September 2025, supporting worldwide sugar prices. Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh account for more than 80% of the nation's total sugar production, with lower walking cane yields in these states prompting trade homes to decrease their output...