Search Results for: Brazilian

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

SINCE biotech oil crops were first commercialised over a decade ago, their use has experienced yearly double-digit growth worldwide, with Latin America being something of a nursery for this growth. Globally, the area of biotech crops grew by 13%, or by 12 million hectares, in 2006, to reach 102 million hectares, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

INTERNATIONAL standards are crucial for the trade in goods, because they allow

importers to have confidence that the foreign product they are buying meets the

specifications they are familiar with at home. So, it may come as some surprise that no

such global standard currently exists as regards the technical definition of biofuels.…

BY LUCY JONES, in Dallas; ALAN OSBORN, in London; KARRYN CARTELLE, in Tokyo; BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg; PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut; RACHEL JONES, in Caracas; MARK ROWE; and KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round being slow to proceed since its 2001 launch – and only this year approaching something resembling and end game – free traders wanting to encourage global commerce have looked to bilateral and regional trade deals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is to ban all Brazilian beef imports following concerns about Brazil’s handling of its latest foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. The European Commission had not wanted a blanket ban and instead offered Brazil a jointly-agreed list of FMD-safe producers, exporting to Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is moving to ban all Brazilian beef imports from today (Jan 31) following concerns about Brazil’s handling of its latest foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. The European Commission had not wanted to impose a blanket ban and had instead offered Brazil a jointly-agreed list of FMD-safe producers, who would export to Europe.…

BY MARK ROWE

CONCERNS over the way in which soybean production takes place have led to calls for the Brazilian government to dramatically escalate its efforts to clean up the industry. Groups campaigning for a socially and environmentally responsible approach to soy production have called on the Brazilian government to speed up the process of providing satellite images that can map the scale of soy-related deforestation, and regulate the ownership of land earmarked for soy production.…

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

A NUMBER of factors have contributed to a booming Latin American market in soap, perfume and cosmetics – most importantly, regional economic growth and a healthy overall GDP. Hair care is the region’s biggest seller, but an increase in life expectancy has created a growing demand for skin care products, especially those related to anti-aging and sun protection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

INCREASED demand for bio-fuels could drive up world prices for many farm products, notably sugar, according to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UN Food and Agriculture Organisation report. It predicted that Brazilian annual ethanol production alone would reach 44 billion litres by 2016 from around 21 billion today.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has struck an important deal with Algeria, ensuring it supplies gas to European markets competitively, scrapping restrictive profit sharing contracts. Algeria is a key gas exporter in the EU’s fight to secure energy security without relying on Russia, and Algiers has now agreed with the European Commission that pipeline gas can be sold-on within Europe, without a cut going to Algerian gas producer Sonatrach.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is being pressured to scrap or lower duties on biofuels as the European Commission drafts a law to promote this key energy sector. EU member states promised in March to replace 10% of standard transport fuel with biofuels by 2020, working from today’s 1.8% share of the market commanded by these green fuels.…