Arabs the 2nd largest destination of food items from Brazil

São Paulo – Exports from the Brazilian food and beverage industry to the Arab countries were down 8.7% in 2020 from the previous year. The bloc purchased USD 6.19 billion worth in products last year. Despite the decline, the Arabs remain as the second largest purchasing market of Brazil’s food industry, only behind Asia. The figures were made public on Wednesday (24) by the Brazilian Food Industry Association (ABIA).
The Brazilian food industry’s top purchasing countries include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which ranked 6th and 8th, respectively. “There’s a major focus on Asia and the Arab countries, where we have decades-long partnerships and there’s a very fruitful, complementary economy, and we still have many opportunities to tap into,” ABIA board chair Grazielle Parenti said during a press conference.
By Thaís Sousa via Brazil-Arab News Agency
Brazil’s RecargaPay has raised $70 million in a Series C funding round to expand its payments platform for consumers and small businesses. The funding round, led by IDC Ventures and Fuel Venture Capital, brings RecargaPay’s total funding to over $100 million. Other investors include Experian, LUN Partners and ATW, according to a press release.
“Founded in Brazil in 2010, RecargaPay set out to provide a comprehensive and user-friendly financial services ecosystem that would be accessible even to people who do not have bank accounts,” the press release reads. The company’s goal is to “democratize access to digital financial services for millions of new users.” PYMNTS recently noted that more than 45 million adults in Brazil remain unbanked. The firm will also use the funding to further develop Prime+, its subscription program.
Via Pymnts
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s current account deficit in the year to January as a share of the overall economy shrank to its smallest in 13 years, official figures showed on Wednesday, thanks mainly to a decline in the primary income and services deficits in the month.
The current account deficit of 0.65% of gross domestic product in the 12 months to January was down from 0.87% the previous month and the smallest since February, 2008, central bank figures showed.
By Jamie McGeever via Reuters
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Consumer confidence in Brazil rose in February for the first time in five months, a survey indicated on Wednesday, lifted by the start of a nationwide vaccination program against COVID-19 and prospects of the government resuming emergency income transfers to the poor.
The rise was most pronounced among consumers in the lowest income bracket, although the overall level of confidence was still below that registered at the end of last year, the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s (FGV) findings showed.
By Jamie McGeever via Reuters
SAO PAULO, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Brazilian steelmaker CompanhiaSiderúrgica Nacional (CSN) said on Tuesday that itexpects to raise its prices by an average of 25% in the secondquarter as it moves to shrink its debt.
Planning is underway to build a $5.4bn green hydrogen hub in Ceará, Brazil – and it’s expected to be the first-of-its-kind in Latin America.
Set to be located at the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex (CIPP), 60km from Fortaleza, the hub will be built by Australia’s Enegix Energy.
By Joanna Sampson via H2 View
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian health regulator Anvisa has granted full approval to a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech SE, the agency said in a Tuesday statement.
By Eduardo Simões via Reuters
Twitter on Wednesday announced it is testing voice messages in direct messages (DMs) up to 140-seconds long in India.
The experiment will be rolled out in phases to the audiences, making India one of three countries to have access to the feature, alongside Brazil and Japan.
According to the company, voice messages in DMs will make it easier for people to have conversations.
Via Business Insider India
February 22 (Renewables Now) – Brazil’s Santa Catarina State Environmental Institute (IMA) granted on Friday the preliminary environmental licence (LAP) for a 256.5-MW wind project.
The Calmon Wind Complex, as it is named, will require around BRL 1 billion (USD 185.7m/EUR 153.3m) in investments for the construction of 11 wind parks in total. Installation works will take 34 months, IMA estimates.
By Lucas Morais via Renewables Now
DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The “Brazil Internet of Things Market by Platform (Device Management, Network Management and Application Management), by Component (Hardware, Services and Software), by Application, by Region, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2026” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.
The Brazilian Internet of Things Market stood at USD 5.67 Billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at CAGR of 18.99% in the next five years to reach USD 16.43 Billion by 2026 on account of increase in adoption of cloud-based platforms, development of wireless networking technologies and surge in number of connected devices.
Via Business Wire
SAO PAULO, Feb 18 (Reuters) – A group of investors led by Softbank Group has invested 450 million reais ($83 million) in Brazilian test-prep startup Descomplica, which has seen demand for its online learning services surge in the pandemic, the company said on Thursday.
Descomplica said it would use the funds to make acquisitions and develop new products, including 33 new courses by next year.
Via Reuters
SAO PAULO, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Four Brazilian companies filed for initial public offerings on Thursday, securities filings showed, adding to a flurry of flotations expected in the coming weeks and months.
Enel Green Power Brasil has started commercial operations at a 133MW expansion of the Sao Goncalo solar photovoltaic plant which will total 864MW when fully operational later this year.
Construction of the first section, comprising 475MW, began in October 2018, connecting to the grid in January 2020.
Via Renews.biz
Corteva Agriscience and Simbiose Agro, the largest producer of microbiological technologies in Brazil, announced today a multi-year collaboration benefiting Brazilian farmers.
Working closely together, the two companies will commercialize and develop Simbiose’s portfolio and pipeline of biostimulants and biological control solutions for crops such as sugarcane, soybeans, corn and other specialties. Additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Via Horti Daily
The great technological advances of the last few decades, added to the world communication revolution with the popularisation of the internet, have resulted in an increase in data flows and the immediate transmission of information on a global scale. This scenario has allowed data to be elevated to the category of an essential economic asset, so that digitalisation has gained increasingly more space on the industrial development agenda.
Industry is extremely relevant in the Brazilian economic scenario. It currently represents 20.9% of national GDP, accounts for 70.1% of exports of goods and services, in addition to representing 72.2% of business investment in research and development (R&D) and 33% of federal taxes, not including social security revenues1.
By Bianca Kremer and Gustavo Piva de Andrade via Mondaq
Claranet, a technology multinational focused on managed cloud services, has announced an investment of $100 million in its Brazil operation.
According to Brazilian technology site Tele.Síntese, the investment will support three aims: to continue with accelerated organic growth, which is claimed to have reached 37 per cent year on year over the past five years; to invest in improving internal performance; and to enable the acquisition of other companies in the sector.
By Vaughan O’Grady via Developing Telecoms
February 16 (Renewables Now) – Faro Energy, a distributed solar company with global headquarters in London, and Brazilian retailer C&A Modas SA (BVMF:CEAB3) have signed a contract for the development of 2.5 MW of solar projects in Brazil.
Faro Energy plans to build two photovoltaic (PV) parks consisting of around 7,000 solar panels. The systems are expected to be up and running in the first half of 2021 and power 11 of C&A’s stores in the country’s capital Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro state.
By Lucas Morais via Renewables Now
February 11 (Renewables Now) – Brazil’s installed solar distributed generation (DG) capacity has surpassed 4.7 GW, statistics by power sector regulator Aneel show.
The total DG capacity across the country went over 4.9 GW, as of Wednesday night, according to Aneel’s almost real-time update, with solar power being the most popular source, counting 401,199 grid-connected systems.
By Lucas Morais via Renewables Now
Drier weather in parts of Brazil’s Center-West allowed the 2020/2021 soybean harvest to gather momentum last week after disruptions caused by excessive rainfall, according to agribusiness consultancy AgRural.
As of Feb. 4, Brazilian farmers had managed to double the area harvested to 4%, from 2% in the previous week. Yet harvesting is still way behind historical averages for this time of the season, the consultancy said.
Via Hellenic Shipping News
Lawmakers in Brazil have voted to grant autonomy to the central bank in a move aimed at improving the country’s reputation among international investors by removing the risk of political interference in monetary policy.
The legislation was approved by federal deputies in the lower house of Congress on Wednesday, after an almost year-long delay following the coronavirus crisis and local elections.
By Michael Pooler and Bryan Harris
SAO PAULO, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Credit and debit card transactions in Brazil are likely to grow between 18% and 20% in 2021, reaching 2.38 trillion reais ($442.90 billion), industry group Abecs said on Tuesday.
By Aluisio Alves via Reuters
Luiza Helena Trajano, presidente do conselho do Magazine Luiza, decidiu começar o ano unindo um grupo de empresários para tirar do papel o movimento Unidos pela Vacina. Com o objetivo de imunizar todos os brasileiros contra a Covid-19 até setembro, o grupo pretende contribuir para que não haja entraves no transporte da vacina para todos os cantos do país.
A empresária conta que a ideia surgiu no final do ano passado, com a campanha de conscientização Vacina para Todos, do Grupo Mulheres do Brasil – do qual ela também é presidente. “A partir dali, tentamos entender como poderíamos ajudar e concluímos que era preciso partir para uma ação efetiva. Foi quando esse movimento passou por uma transformação. Trouxemos mais parceiros, como empresários e executivos de diferentes setores e organizações não governamentais. Assim surgiu o Unidos pela Vacina”, explica.
By Beatriz Calais via Forbes Brasil
São Paulo – Poultry exports from Brazil slid in January 2021. Nevertheless, some of the leading Arab importers stepped up their purchases. The Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) reported 35,800 tons shipped to Saudi Arabia, up 2%, with revenue climbing 4% to USD 58.5 million year-on-year in January.
Saudi Arabia was the premier Arab importer of poultry from Brazil in January. The UAE ranked second at 21,700 tons, up 3%, fetching USD 32.8 million, down 2%.
Via Brazil-Arab News Agency
BRASILIA, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Monthly inflation in Brazilslowed in January as a sharp fall in electricity prices draggeddown housing costs, official figures showed on Tuesday, but theannual rate of inflation remained high and significantly abovethe central bank’s year-end goal.
It was the third month in a row the benchmark annual IPCAconsumer inflation rate has been above 4%, having more thandoubled from the record low below 2% last May.
By Jamie McGeever via Yahoo Finance
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian biomedical institute Butantan plans to vaccinate a city’s entire adult population of about 30,000 people against COVID-19 to test whether it lowers the infection rate, institute and government officials said on Monday.
Butantan, which is overseen by the Sao Paulo state government, will carry out the mass vaccination study in Serrana, a city in the interior of the state that has a high infection rate, according to a statement and news briefing.
By Reuters
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A first shipment of 88 liters of active ingredients to make AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in Brazil arrived from China on Saturday, essential input to speed the country’s troubled vaccination program.
With those supplies flown into Rio de Janeiro on a cargo plane, the Fiocruz biomedical center can begin filling and finishing 2.8 million doses. The federally funded center expects to receive more ingredients this month to make a total of 15 million shots of the vaccine developed with Oxford University.
By Sergio Queiroz via Reuters
A Matera, empresa de desenvolvimento de tecnologia para o mercado financeiro, fintechs e gestão de riscos, realiza a live “Open Banking Intro” logo mais, às10h30, com a participação especial do Banco Central. O objetivo é reunir especialistas para esclarecer as principais características do open banking, para que seus impactos e oportunidades sejam visualizados com mais clareza. Entre os speakers, estarão Carlos Netto, CEO da Matera, João André Pereira, chefe do Departamento de Regulação do Sistema Financeiro do Banco Central, Márcio Alexandre, superintendente de governança de TI e segurança cibernética do Sicoob, e Fabiano Amaro, consultor de negócios da Matera. A mediação da conversa fica a cargo de Alexandre Pinto, diretor de inovação e novos negócios da empresa. A inscrição é gratuita.
Via Forbes Brazil
Even if you lived in Brazil for 10 lifetimes and explored ceaselessly, you’d never see it all. What you can do though, is to try and see some of the most beautiful spots spread across the vastness. As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the definition of beauty varies greatly, I have chosen a mix of a little bit of every kind of beauty for you to pick and choose to visit next time you get down to Brazil.
By Ulrike Lemmin-Woolfrey
São Paulo – Vehicle exports from Brazil were up 21.9% year on year in January, National Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association (Anfavea) reported on Thursday (4). Car sales reached 25,000 units last month. Month on month, though, they declined by 35.8%.
The same occurred with Brazilian vehicle production in January: it climbed year on year, but slid month on month. It was down 4.6% in January, from 209,300 to 1997,700 units. Year on year, it climbed by 4.3%.
Via Brazil-Arab News Agency
Brazilian electricity company Neoenergia is modernising its communication networks with MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching).
Neoenergia is to adopt MPLS in the networks of its four distribution concessionaries, Celpe in Pernambuco state, Coelba in Bahia, Cosern in Rio Grande do Norte and Elektro in São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul.
Via Smart Energy
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. January 28, 2021 – Greenspoon Marder is pleased to announce that the firm is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2021.
Founded in 1981 with a handshake over a kitchen table between Gerald Greenspoon and Michael Marder, Greenspoon Marder today is a leading Am Law 200 law firm. The firm first opened its doors in North Miami, and has since expanded to 11 offices in Florida, and more than a dozen additional locations including New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Las Vegas, and Portland.
Greenspoon Marder first gained national attention in real estate development, resort and timeshare development, condominium conversions, and finance and transactions. The firm has grown to offer a wide array of legal services with core strengths in real estate, litigation, timeshare & resort, corporate, tax, and regulatory compliance.
The economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic has hit especially hard in Brazil’s favelas, but the country’s 10 biggest slums now have a plan to fight back: they are launching their own bank.
Dubbed the “G10 Bank,” the new financial institution is set to open later this month, offering micro-loans to small business owners struggling to survive the pandemic and debit cards to slum-dwellers excluded from the traditional banking system.
By Florence Goisnard via Yahoo Finance
A campanha Prefeito Presente reforça o nosso objetivo de construir um Brasil onde todas as crianças e todos os adolescentes tenham seus direitos respeitados.
Sabemos que muitas vezes o Estado* é ausente na garantia de necessidades básicas. Por isso, queremos convocar os prefeitos de todo o país a fazerem parte do Programa Prefeito Amigo da Criança, implementando ações que garantam e permitam que as crianças e os adolescentes sejam protagonistas de suas próprias histórias.
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilian pharmaceutical company that will make Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 expects regulatory approval for Phase III tests by this week or early next at the latest, its Chief Executive Officer Fernando Marques said on Tuesday.
Marques said the strong efficacy results from late stage trials in Russia, published on Tuesday by The Lancet – 91.6% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 – will help speed up approval in Brazil sought by his firm União Quimica.
By Anthony Boadle and Tatiana Bautzer via Reuters
Brasília – The number of new businesses in Brazil was up 6% in 2020 from 2019, according to the annual Business Map bulleting from the Brazilian Ministry of Economy. Last year saw 3,359,750 enterprises open in Brazil. The number of companies that went out of business is 1,044,696, resulting in 2.3 million active enterprises in the country. The number of companies that ceased to exist was down 11.3%.
According to the Ministry, the number reflects government measures designed to facilitate startups amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which led many to seek an income through entrepreneurship. The majority of active enterprises in Brazil – nearly 50% – are in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro.
Via Brazil-Arab News Agency
Today (1) the first of four phases of Brazil’s Open Banking implementation has started, as part of the country’s broader agenda of modernization of the national financial ecosystem.
The initiative, led by the Central Bank of Brazil, also aims to boost market competition and increase financial education in the Latin American country. Under the model, use of open application programming interfaces (APIs) enable third-party developers to build applications and services around the participating financial institutions, with consumer data shared with their consent.
By Angelica Mari via ZD Net
Fitch Ratings-New York/London-01 February 2021: Brazil’s large deficit and high public debt burden underscore its continuing fiscal challenges notwithstanding last year’s somewhat better-than-expected performance, Fitch Ratings says. With general elections due in October 2022, this year is a key year to revitalize the government’s fiscal reform agenda for boosting budgetary flexibility and maintaining the credibility of the spending cap.
Data on Friday showed Brazil’s general government deficit more than doubled to 14% of GDP from about 6% in 2019. This was better than our forecast of 16.4% primarily due to under-execution of budgeted spending, which improved the central government outturn, and higher regional government surpluses. Central government revenue contracted by a nominal 10.2%, while primary spending grew 35% as Brazil implemented one of Latin America’s biggest Covid-19 support packages.
By Shelly Shetty and Mark Brown via Fitch Ratings
Brazilian state-owned oil firm Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) has made a hydrocarbon discovery in the wildcat well of block C-M-411 in the pre-salt Campos Basin offshore in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state.
The hydrocarbon discovery was made at the well 1-BRSA-1377-RJS, informally known as Urissanê. It is located approximately 200km from the coast and at a water depth of 2,950m.
Via Offshore Technology
São Paulo – Brazil’s railway sector expects a BRL 30 billion (USD 6 billion) in investments. This figure is particularly due to the renewal of concessions in some important lines. “It’s actually a conservative forecast, due to the renewal of contracts,” Brazil’s National Association of Rail Carriers (ANTF) executive director Fernando Paes told ANBA.
ANTF points out that these early contract extensions only could yield around BRL 30 billion. The renewals approved by the Investment Partnership Program (PPI) are expected to increase the share of the rail sector from 15% to 31% of all transportation in the country. “On one hand, we have this schedule of contract extensions. On the other, many of these companies are publicly traded,” Paes explained on other possibilities of new investors.
By Thais Sousa via Brazil-Arab News Agency
Editor’s Note: *Due to the current Covid-19 outbreak, international travel is discouraged at the moment – this article is meant to serve as inspiration for a future trip once the pandemic has come to an end.*
A nation rich in culture, biodiversity, and natural beauty, there’s no shortage of spectacular destinations to visit all throughout Brazil. While many visitors choose to spend time celebrating Carnival in the streets of Rio, those who wish to experience the wild side of Brazil may be interested in a trek across some of the country’s most stunning national parks. From surging rivers to colossal canyons, the natural beauty of Brazil is truly a sight to behold.
By Jared Ranahan via Forbes