Search Results for: Venezuela

Even during the desperate economic times currently afflicting Venezuela, quality personal care products remain vital to its consumers: “Beauty is part of the culture,” said Jean Clauteaux, president of L’Oréal’s Venezuela section. Unlike neighbouring markets, he said a key characteristic of Venezuelan consumers is their strong demand for high-end products.…

Food manufacturers based in Venezuela have long struggled to supply the country’s oil-fuelled economy amidst strict government controls and shortages of many key industry inputs. And recent changes to the country’s currency regime could – say analysts and business leaders – intensify existing problems in the industry.…

THE COUNTRIES of Latin America may have strong cultural links, but their politics and economies have always varied and this is still the case with the paint and coatings sector. Whilst the whole region has experienced rising incomes over the past decade, this growth has been far from even and is currently under threat – for instance in Venezuela and Argentina, where interventionist governments have impeded trade.…

THE DIRECTOR general of the European Apparel and Textile Confederation (EURATEX) has called on the European Union (EU) to keep pushing for a free trade deal between the EU and the Mercosur trade bloc, notably because it is dominated by Brazil (also including Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela), which today remains a tough market for the European textile industry.…

Venezuela’s economic woes are weighing heavily on its steel sector, which was already buckling from longstanding labour disputes and related financial problems.

The government in March effectively weakened its currency, the Venezuelan bolivar (VEF) by more than 80% against the US dollar for most transactions, unveiling a new currency market, to combat chronic shortages of key industrial inputs and consumer goods.…

VENEZUELA’S current financial turmoil is compounding problems for the meat industry, where cattlemen and traders alike say they have been severely buffeted by 15 years of socialist rule. “The sector has been bankrupted,” said Rubén Darío Barboza, president of the National Cattle Rancher’s Federation (FEDENAGA).…

Venezuela’s pharma sector is in critical condition as medicine manufacturers and traders are struggling to get their hands on hard currency, hindering them from importing medicines and manufacturing ingredients and materials. US dollars are crucial for most industries in the country’s import-reliant country, which earns most hard currency from oil exports.…

Colombia has perhaps the strongest reputation in Latin America for playing host to powerful illicit drug cartels and their related money laundering. As a result, it is perhaps reassuring that over the past three years, the Colombian government, through the country’s Attorney General’s Office, seized between USD1 billion and USD1.2 billion, according Luis Edmundo Suárez, Colombia’s Unidad de Información y Análisis Financiero – financial information and analysis unit (UIAF).…

While grappling with chronic shortages of many consumer staples, Venezuela is now looking to boost its supply of medicines and strengthen national healthcare system through its role in as president of the South American trade block, Mercosur.

The government journal El Correo del Orinoco, reported last month that Esperanza Briceño, president of the Rafael Rangel National Institute of Hygiene, would work with Mercosur members to “guarantee medicine access for the entire population.”…

ALTHOUGH Colombia’s pharmaceutical sector has enjoyed growth over the past few years, new price controls could disrupt the sector’s expansion if they are poorly planned, industry representatives claim.

Their concerns focus on the reaction to maximum price controls on medication recently approved by the government.…