SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO, July 26 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale
sought to reassure investors on Thursday that it is
well-positioned to weather a slowdown in Chinese demand, a day
after it posted its worst earnings results in two years.

On a conference call to discuss second-quarter results, Vale
executives said the company’s low-cost production model would
help shield it from the drop in demand for metals. They also
said the company expects the global iron ore market to rebound
soon, even though prices show no signs of an imminent recovery.

SAO PAULO, July 25 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale
became on Wednesday the latest victim of
China’s economic slowdown after second-quarter profit tumbled
because of slowing demand for iron ore that will spill over into
the coming quarters.

Net income at the world’s largest producer of the mineral
hit its lowest level in more than two years, underscoring its
dependence on Chinese purchases of its flagship product. Profit
also plummeted after a weakening Brazilian currency lifted
debt-servicing and the use of derivatives for hedging.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale (VALE5.SA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(VALE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) became on Wednesday the latest victim of China’s economic slowdown after second-quarter profit tumbled because of slowing demand for iron ore that will spill over into the coming quarters.

Net income at the world’s largest producer of the mineral hit its lowest level in more than two years, underscoring its dependence on Chinese purchases of its flagship product. Profit also plummeted after a weakening Brazilian currency lifted debt-servicing and the use of derivatives for hedging.

SAO PAULO/LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) – Brazilian sugar and
ethanol mills, which have fallen behind due to heavy rainfall,
are maximizing cane crushing ahead of the expected arrival of
spring rains late this year.

The cane crush is in full swing in the center-south, the
main sugar producing region of Brazil, the world’s top sugar
exporting country. Despite forecasts by several venerable
analysts for a major sugar surplus due to hit the market in the
second half of 2012, futures prices for the sweetener are
up 22 percent since the start of June.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The Brazilian unit of global financial and commodities firm Louis Dreyfus Corp LOUDR.UL said on Friday it will spin off its Brazil sugar and ethanol division Biosev in an initial share offering that could raise up to $548 million for expansion plans.

Louis Dreyfus was one of the first multinational corporations to enter the Brazilian cane sector, when it snapped up the Santelisa Vale milling group in 2009 at what many thought was a steal at the height of the global financial crisis.

BRASILIA, June 28 (Reuters) – Brazil will make it easier and
cheaper for its farmers to obtain loans this season, as global
credit normally available to its world-leading growers of
coffee, sugar and grains dries up.

The government will expand funds allocated to farm credit by
7.5 percent from last year to 115.2 billion reais ($55 billion)
for investments in land, machinery, planting, harvesting and
selling crops, Agriculture Minister Mendes Ribeiro said in the
announcement of the annual Farm Plan on Thursday.

SAO PAULO, June 5 (Reuters) – Brazil’s government trimmed its 2011/12
soybean crop estimate on Tuesday after drought ravaged output in the world’s
second biggest producer this season, but raised its forecast of corn output to a
record.

U.S. soybean futures rose after Brazil’s food supply agency Conab cut
its production forecast and U.S. crop ratings disappointed.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian miner Vale (VALE5.SA: Quote, Profile, Research)(VALE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it agreed to sell its thermal coal assets in Colombia for $407 million (259.9 million pounds) to a unit of Colombian Natural Resources, a mining company controlled by U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

Vale, the world’s second-biggest miner, is shifting its focus away from thermal coal mining to concentrate on its operations in coking coal, a type of coal used by steel mills,

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian miner Vale (VALE5.SA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(VALE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday it agreed to sell its thermal coal assets in Colombia for $407 million to a unit of Colombian Natural Resources, a mining company controlled by U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Vale, the world’s second-biggest miner, is shifting its focus away from thermal coal mining to concentrate on its operations in coking coal, a type of coal used by steel mills,

SAO PAULO, May 10 (Reuters) – The soybean forecast from
Brazil’s agriculture ministry on Thursday bounced back by more
than a million tonnes, after the government overshot in April
when it slashed more than 3 million tonnes from an earlier
estimate of the drought parched crop.

The ministry’s crop supply agency Conab said in its eighth
forecast of Brazil’s grain output that the 2011/12
(September-October) soybean crop would reach 66.7 million
tonnes, up 1.1 million tonnes from the agency’s April estimate
of 65.6 million tonnes.