Sawmills in Brazil have become more competitive in the export market the past few years because of lower sawlog costs as a result mainly of a depreciation of the Brazilian industry, an expert told Latin Business Daily. Read More »

The Colombia-based junior oil company Petrolatina will manage to increase its sales revenue this year following fast growth from past years even amid sharply lower crude oil prices. Read More »

Lorenzo Ortiz, a Puerto Rican filmmaker and comic series creator, has produced an animated version in Spanish language of “The Little Prince” by combining animations with recorded audios of the late renowned Puerto Rican reciter David Ortiz Anglero, his father. Read More »

Metso, a Finnish company involved in the mining, aggregates and processing industries, opened a new technology center in Arequipa, Peru, in early October to support its customers in Latin America. Read More »

A bilateral trade agreement signed Thursday between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Belize aims to attract investments from UAE and reinforce Belize as a regional energy leader in Central America and the Caribbean. Belize Natural Energy Limited, which believes that the country can have a similar development history as the UAE, highlighted the importance of the recent agreement. Read More »

Morgan Stanley Capital gave Peruvian officials nine months to raise trading volumes in the Lima stock exchange or else it will move the exchange out of the emerging markets category. The initial reaction in the Lima stock exchange after the Morgan Stanley announcement on Thursday was a “shy” 0.84 percent increase of the stock exchange main index to 10,114.65 points. Read More »

Merck said it expects its consumer health business in Latin America to continue to at a presentation at the Financial Times Latin America Healthcare and Life Sciences Summit. “Our business is well positioned to anticipating the region’s rapidly changing demographics and responding to consumers’ healthcare needs," Merck Consumer Health President Uta Kemmerich-Keil said. Read More »

Benjamin Salinas Sada, an entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience in media and related enterprises, recently was named the new CEO of TV Azteca based in Mexico. Sara will replace Mario San Roman, who is now the vice chairman of the board, and has the responsibility of executing strategic projects and advising the CEO. Roman had held the position of CEO since 2004. Read More »

Mussulo Resort by Mantra near Conde in the state of Paraiba, Brazil, is now part of the Interval International network, a worldwide provider of vacation services and an operating business of Interval Leisure Group, Interval International said Sept. 30. The all-inclusive Mussulo Resort is located on 24 acres near Carapibus Beach, an area surrounded by barrier reefs. Read More »

Aeromexico and MEXICO2, an independent platform for trading carbon credits, recently signed an agreement that enables the airline to purchase certified emission reductions in order to meet international carbon guidelines. The international guidelines to offset carbon emissions call for carbon-neutral growth by 2020 with a 50 percent reduction by 2050 relative to 2005 levels. Read More »

ForeverGreen Worldwide Corp. (FG) announced Thursday it was granted sanitary registration for PowerStrips as a medical device risk 1 by the National Institute of Food and Drug Monitoring in Colombia.The registration represents a significant advance for the company in Colombia. FG also announced its company's MLM license application has been approved in Thailand. Read More »

Travelers Companies, Inc. recently purchased a majority interest in its property casualty joint venture J. Malucelli Participações em Seguros e Resseguros S.A. in Brazil. Based in Hartford, Connecticut, Travelers now owns 95 percent of the property casualty division of J. Malucelli. Paraná Banco, the parent company of J. Malucelli, retains the other 5 percent interest. Read More »

Grupo Kaltex recently selected Lectra Fashion PLM to assist the company in connecting design and product development teams at its U.S. subsidiary Revman International and its Mexican manufacturing division Kaltex Home. Both subsidiaries will adopt Lectra's platform to improve its structure and to align the process across its different design and development teams. Read More »

Element Financial Corporation recently purchased General Electric Capital Corporation's fleet management operations in Mexico, New Zealand and Australia. Element previously acquired the Canadian and U.S. operations of GE Capital's fleet management businesses. The combined fleet management business now accounts for approximately $13 billion of Element's total earning assets. Read More »

Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean declined to 5.6 percent of its population in 2014 compared with 6.2 percent in 2012, according to data released this week by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim who is in Peru for the World Bank-IMF annual meetings. The Latin American and Caribbean population in 2014 was about 525 million, according to figures from the World Bank. Read More »

Ituran Location and Control's Brazil subsidiary announced  a four-year association with a global automaker to offer telematics services in Brazil through a joint venture called Ituran Road Track (IRT). The venture is expected to become profitable in 2017. Ituran offers location-based services, most of them to recover stolen vehicle and tracking services. Read More »

Corporacion Lindley-Arca Continental Alliance launched its new plant in Pucusana district, Peru, last week. The facility is a $200 million investment and features the newest technology to produce both sparkling and still beverages. The structure enables the company to expand operations, reduce its environmental impact and contribute to the region's economic developmentn. Read More »

Neogás, a provider of natural gas services to energy consumers who lack access to a natural gas pipeline in the United States, Columbia, Peru, Mexico and Brazil, named R. Paul Grady as its new CEO on Thursday. Grady replaces João Bezzera, who was responsible for risk management projects across the organization. Grady previously was chief operating officer at AmeriGas. Read More »

The Ecuadorean state oil company Petroecuador will eliminate longstanding subsidies to premium gasoline in a gradual way while it reduces personnel and sells gasoline stations, all amid pressure from lower crude oil export revenue, the company´s chief official Carlos Pareja said. There will be an increase of 2 cents per gallon per month, so as to reach the $2.30 per gallon. Read More »

China's Haitong Bank S.A., the international investment bank of Haitong Securities, was recently honored as 2015 Bond of the Year in Latin Finance's Project and Infrastructure Finance Awards. Haitong Bank (formerly BESI) was recognized for its part in the Red Dorsal Finance Ltd. transaction, a 16-year, $274 million, 5.875 percent variable funding note. Read More »