The Mexican government's push to wean itself off a massive dependence on genetically modified corn imports would upend the country's food supply, including its big livestock sector, industry officials warn. Both the agriculture and economy ministries held high-level meeting with industry representatives this week, according to several participants.
Brazil's real bucked a three-day winning
streak on Friday after data showed the first decline in retail
sales in seven months, although the currency is set to
outperform its Latin American peers ...
SÃO PAULO--Brazil retail sales fell slightly in November as shoppers spent less at supermarkets and hypermarkets and cut back on purchases of new furniture and home appliances. Sales fell a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in the month, the first decline in seven months, and rose 3.4% from a year earlier, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE said Thursday. In October, sales climbed a revised 0.8% in the month and rose a revised 8.4% from a year earlier.
Brazilian retail sales surprisingly fell in November, official figures showed on Friday, the first decline in seven months mainly driven by a sizeable fall in sales of food products. Retail activity had rebounded to record levels in October from the depths of the COVID-19 crisis earlier last year, which Economy Ministry officials said reflected the wider economic rebound.
Retail sales volumes excluding cars and building materials in Brazil fell 0.1% in November from October, government statistics agency IBGE said on Friday, a weaker performance than the 0.4% rise forecast by a Reuters poll of economists. Sales grew 3.4% from the year-earlier period, compared to expectations for a 4.9% increase in the Reuters poll.
Argentine consumer prices rose 4.0% in December, the highest monthly rate of 2020, bringing the country's full-year inflation to 36.1%, the government's Indec statistics agency said on Thursday.
Lawyers for Venezuela's central bank on Thursday said opposition leader Juan Guaido rejected a proposed deal to buy coronavirus vaccines in Britain, an assertion the opposition dismissed as false.
Britain will ban arrivals from South American countries and Portugal because of concerns over a new Brazilian variant of the coronavirus, transport minister Grant Shapps said on Thursday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed concern about the Brazilian variant on Wednesday and Britain is already trying to contain a UK variant behind a surge in cases at the end of last year.
Britain's transport minister said on Thursday he was banning arrivals from Brazil, other South American states and Portugal due to concerns over a new coronavirus variant.
Continued delays in Brazil rolling out a vaccine against the coronavirus will increase the risks to the expected economic recovery this year, ratings agency Moody's lead sovereign analyst for Brazil said on Wednesday. Brazil's government is under pressure amid the slow pace of the country's vaccine rollout.
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