With as many as 10 percent of the estimated 600 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean lacking electricity, the executive secretary of the Latin American Energy Organization said this week projects will be started soon. OLADE's goal is to contribute to the region´s integration, sustainable development and energy security by giving advice and fostering cooperation Read More »

Following years of economic improvement in Latin America in which nearly 100 million rose above poverty, the decade of the “hyper presidents” has become the decade of “hyper participation” with greater citizen empowerment and demands, according to recent conclusions of Latinobarometro, a Chile-based think tank that every year surveys 18 countries in the region. Read More »

Cuban scientists working for the Center of Genetic and Biotechnology Engineering in Havana have come up with a medication that has proved effective in treating diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) and preventing amputations. The medication has gained patents in countries across the world, according to information sent to Latin Business Daily by an official from the organization. Read More »

Deutsche Bank also announced that it is move its trading activities in Brazil to regional hubs as part of changes in the company´s strategy. The bank said that the changes were part of a “a series of measures to reduce complexity and costs” over the next five years and that it will also eliminate 9,000 full-time positions plus approximately 6,000 external contractor positions. Read More »

Anchovy, a species key to Peruvian fisheries as well as to the South Pacific ecosystem, could once again face dangers unless it receives adequate protection, Carmen Heck, policy director at the Peruvian branch of international organization Oceana, told Latin Business Daily. “It is the main fishing resource extracted in Peru and is basic for the food chain," Heck said by telephone. Read More »

Chilean artisanal breweries have been in the country´s beer market long enough to have achieved significant brand recognition and become a key alternative to industrial beer products, with at least one artisanal brewery becoming a tourist destination. Part of what makes the artisanal brewery business difficult are the efforts by the industrial beer brands to capture markets. Read More »

For U.S. companies, Brazil can be one of the most complex countries in the world to do business with because of all of the requirements that are enforced, Larry Harding, the head of corporate development activities of Radius, told Latin Business Daily in an interview. Radius provides help to companies expanding into any country in the world by leading them through legal matters. Read More »

While Central America and Mexico lead in the use of geothermal energy in Latin America, countries along the Pacific coast of South America have great potential to tap in to this renewable energy source, Abu Dhabi Ruben Contreras, regional program officer for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), told Latin Business Daily. Read More »

Iberia has increased its passenger seats offerings in Latin America by 10 percent due to new destinations and the expansion of three existing markets. Iberia has also expanded 40 percent of the seats offered in Peru and Chile. The company has 250 weekly flights between both continents. In addition, it offers connections with 80 other destinations in Latin America. Read More »

ET Solar has solar energy projects in different stages for a total of 187 megawatts (MW) in all of Latin America and the Caribbean of which 23 MW will be completed in November. The construction stage for the remainder, which is a total of 164 MW, is scheduled to begin in 2016. Of the total projects, 125 MW are in different stages of development in Chile while 62 MW will be in Brazil. Read More »

A recently launched beauty marketplace website named Miora, which helps connect consumers with beauty products and services, aims to establish itself in Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru and then further expand across the region. The company founders recently managed to attract $4.2 million in capital from investment funds, including two from Latin America, to expand. Read More »

Latin American and Caribbean countries need to work together to be less vulnerable to potentially harmful trade accords, Alicia Bárcena, the United Nations' executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLA), said last week. Bárcena was specifically discussing the potential impact of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Latin America. Read More »

A large part of the Ecuadorean industry has started to prepare for higher production costs following a recent decision by the government to eliminate subsidies for diesel and industrial use. Since the Ecuadorean government, which depends on oil-export revenues, has been impacted by weaker commodities prices, it is struggling to cover the shortfall in revenue. Read More »

Brazil-based Embraer recently sold 19 E175 airplanes to Skywest Airlines in a transaction valued at an estimated $843.6 million.The list price for each E175 plane, which features a new wingtip that improves aerodynamic performance, is $44.4 million, and this most-recent order follows a previous one for 18 E175 units. 80 percent of Embraer's E175 orders have come from the U.S. Read More »

Exports of pork meat from Brazil have gained significantly in volume in the first nine months of 2015 when compared to the previous year; yet, revenues have still plunged in the same period. However, revenues in dollars fell 17.5 percent during the same period compared with a year earlier, accumulating a final result of $918 million in 2015 due to Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus. Read More »

Colombian officials restarted the crude processing unit of the Cartagena refinery Wednesday in the first step of making all 31 units of the upgraded plant operational that will process 165,000 barrels of crude per day. The country´s state oil company Ecopetrol separately said that the investment increased crude refining capacity to 165,000 barrels per day from 80,000 barrels per day.  Read More »

The Latin American comic strip industry is different from its U.S. and European counterparts because of its influence by political and social issues, a local comic strip creator recently told Latin Business Daily. In Europe and especially in the U.S., there historically has been a bigger emphasis on characters who have special powers, but that's not the case in Latin America.  Read More »

As Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff tried to reassure investors, the National Industry Confederation said that the entrepreneurs' confidence index had hit its lowest level since the organization began monitoring the indicator in 1999. The indexes fell 0.7 percent in October, declining for a second consecutive time and accumulating a loss of 2.1 points over two months. Read More »

Colombian coffee exporters anticipate that new export qualities that will include smaller and chipped grains offered at a discount will help reach demanding but price-sensitive markets in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. The result of changes in the administration of the country´s federation of coffee producers, the new qualities won't affect the coffee's overall taste. Read More »

Over the next decade, Latin America will see an increase in urbanization and a growing middle class, in addition to more purchasing power for women, a recent study on megatrends by Frost & Sullivan predicted. The full study will be published in November ahead of Frost & Sullivan's conference on Growth, Innovation and Leadership to be held in early December in Miami, Florida. Read More »