SAO PAULO, May 9 (Reuters) – Brazil’s record 2012/13 soy
crop will turn out slightly smaller than the government crop
supply agency Conab forecast in April, but the agency sees
exports of the commodity holding firm at a record 36.78 million
tonnes.

In its eighth estimate of the season’s grain output released
on Thursday, Conab also raised its view of the corn crop from
last month and issued its first forecast of the 2013 wheat crop,
which is expected to recover from last year’s poor showing.

SAO PAULO, May 6 (Reuters) – While Brazil is marketing its
largest ever soybean crop, many producers and traders will
register smaller-than-expected profits as logjams across the
nation’s roads, railways and ports triggered a sharp drop in
local cash prices.

To be sure, it will be a good year for the local soy sector
given the strong demand, still attractive prices and massive
crop, but it will not be as sweet as it looked late in 2012.

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO, April 23 (Reuters) – Brazil’s government
threw its sugar-ethanol industry a lifeline on Tuesday, by
cutting taxes and sweetening credit for the struggling sector it
hopes will resume investments in new biofuel plants to bolster
output.

Finance Minister Guido Mantega, who announced the measures,
said he expected a recovery in the ethanol industry could also
help curb stubborn consumer inflation by bringing down fuel
prices and reducing Brazil’s dependence on gasoline imports.

SAO PAULO, March 20 (Reuters) – Sugar will likely flow out
of Brazil with less trouble than the country’s record soybean
crop now clogging roads and ports, thanks to a longer export
season and less concentrated demand, traders and analysts say.

Brazil’s stature as a top provider of the world’s sugar,
coffee, soybeans, corn, orange juice, beef and poultry would be
even more impressive if not for its notorious transport
infrastructure through which these commodities are stuffed every
year, to be sure.

SAO PAULO, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale,
which reported a massive fourth-quarter loss a day earlier,
expects higher iron ore prices and gold output to bolster profit
this year, executives said on Thursday.

As more of the company’s projects start up in 2013, Vale’s
costs would be diluted over a greater stream of revenue, which
will improve earnings, Murilo Ferreira, chief executive of the
world’s biggest iron ore miner, said on a conference call with
analysts.

SAO PAULO, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Brazilian dock workers in
Santos on Tuesday ended a two-day occupation of a Chinese ship
in protest at port modernization plans, as unions threatened a
national port strike over the government plan which they fear
will cost jobs and cut wages.

About 60 stevedores boarded the Zhen Hua 10 early on Monday,
stopping it from unloading cranes manufactured by the Shanghai
Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co.

SAO PAULO, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Brazilian dock workers in
Santos on Tuesday left a Chinese ship they occupied for two days
in protest against a government port modernization drive they
fear will cost them jobs and cut wages.

About 60 stevedores boarded the Zhen Hua 10 early on Monday,
stopping it from unloading cranes manufactured by the Shanghai
Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. The cranes will be installed at
Embraport, a new $1.2 billion private container terminal in
Santos that does not use established union procedures to hire
workers.

SAO PAULO, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Brazilian dock workers,
protesting a government port modernization drive that they fear
will cost them jobs, stood fast for a second day on Tuesday,
refusing to let nonunion workers unload a Chinese ship at Santos
Port.

About 60 stevedores boarded the Zhen Hua 10 early on Monday,
stopping it from unloading cranes manufactured by the Shanghai
Zhenhua Heavy Industry Company. The cranes are to be installed
at Embraport, a new private container terminal in Santos that
does not use established union procedures to hire workers.

SAO PAULO, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Brazilian port workers in
Santos occupied a Chinese ship on Monday in protest against the
government’s plan to modernize the country’s ports, the head of
the main labor union representing the protesters said.

The protest underscores the headwinds President Dilma
Rousseff faces in her plan to dislodge infrastructure log jams
that have helped keep Brazil from growing as quickly as other
large emerging economies such as China, Russia and India.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian workers at the port of Santos occupied the Chinese ship Zhen Hua 10 early on Monday in protest against the government’s plan to modernize Brazil’s ports, the head of the main labor union representing the protesters said.

The Zhen Hua 10 is carrying cranes that will be deployed at the private container terminal Embraport, owned by local conglomerate Odebrecht, trading company Coimex and the United Arab Emirates’ DP World.