Daily Archives: August 23, 2011

Heinz: playing ketchup in EM

August 23, 2011 9:39 pm by Jude Webber

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Emerging markets are already the source of much of the world’s food commodities. Ironically, they are now an attractive target for the “value-added” processed foods popular in richer nations.

Heinz, the global ketchup king and packaged food giant with a self-styled mission to provide “great-tasting, convenient, and healthy foods every day”, saw a record share of its first quarter sales coming from emerging markets and it wants a full quarter of its revenues to come from such fast-growing markets in five years, and 40 per cent in the longer term, compared with 16 per cent last year, according to this Forbes report. Continue reading »

Tags: consumer, food & drink Posted in Global | Permalink

All quiet on the convertibility front

August 23, 2011 7:30 pm by Samantha Pearson

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Remember when Brazil used to talk about making its currency convertible?

Until a few months ago Brazilian officials would get misty-eyed about the thought of the real trading one day like the US dollar – a new international currency representing a new economic power.

Now things have changed. You may not have noticed unless you’re close follower of Brazilian central banking, but the country has slammed on the brakes on the road to convertibility. Continue reading »

Tags: currencies Posted in Brazil, LatAm | Permalink

Blame the telly for Russia’s dollar run

August 23, 2011 6:30 pm by Charles Clover

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A Russian TV “mockumentary” which described the fictional collapse of the world economy sent thousands of Russians rushing to sell dollars early on Tuesday, apparently believing that that they were watching real television coverage of a global run on the dollar.

“The End of the Dollar Epoch”, an hour long programe aired on Russia’s state channel 1, caused the dollar to dip slightly in morning trading after the programme aired late Monday night, and foreign exchange kiosks reported heavy dollar sales before word got out that the dollar was still in good stead on financial markets. Continue reading »

Tags: currencies, Russia economy Posted in Europe, Russia | Permalink

From Money Supply August 23, 2011

Sarb’s Marcus to world leaders: get a grip

Gill Marcus. Image by Getty.

Central bankers tend to pull their punches when it comes to criticising their political masters. In public, at least.

Not so Gill Marcus, the governor of the South African Reserve Bank. In one of the most gloomy – and forthright – speeches I’ve read from a central banker, Ms Marcus attacked politicians for “a lack of strong, unified and credible leadership”, which she said was leading to a loss of confidence and trust in officials and, potentially, the system as a whole. Continue reading »

Posted in Africa, South Africa | Permalink

Czech ice hockey star in corporate debut

August 23, 2011 4:32 pm by Ivana Kottasová

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The saga of the financially-troubled Czech betting company Sazka is long and complicated. So when the Prague Municipal Court, which put the Sazka into bankruptcy in May, last week approved creditors’ plans to sell the business, hopes soared that this would finally put Sazka back on the straight and narrow. The company even hired a superstar as its new face – Czech hockey champion Jaromir Jagr.

But it is already clear that things aren’t going as planned. Continue reading »

Tags: sports Posted in Czech Republic, Europe | Permalink

Russian privatisations: turbulence ahead

August 23, 2011 3:07 pm by Courtney Weaver

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As September approaches, Russian companies are being forced to make a hard decision about going ahead - or pulling the plug – on autumn initial public offerings. And they aren’t the only ones.

While the Kremlin originally planned to privatise 300bn roubles ($10.4bn) worth of assets this year it may be forced to delay planned offerings, such as Sberbank’s, if market volatility brings a drastic discount to valuations. Continue reading »

Tags: IPOs, privatisation Posted in Europe, Russia | Permalink

What Asia’s poor need: more jobs in the formal sector

August 23, 2011 1:32 pm by Kevin Brown

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Developing Asia’s storming growth has astonished the world, averaging just under 8 per cent since 1990. But has the region been as successful at getting people out of absolute poverty? New figures from the Asian Development Bank suggest it has not.

Research by the ADB suggests that while the total number of people living on less than $2 a day in emerging Asia fell from 899m to 880m between 2005 and 2008, this still leaves the region with 66 per cent of the world’s poorest people. Continue reading »

Posted in Asia, Global | Permalink

BYD comes down to earth

August 23, 2011 11:56 am by Patti Waldmeir

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BYD, the Chinese protégé of Warren Buffett, is nothing if not over-ambitious – much like China itself. The Shenzhen based carmaker was meant to teach the world how to mass produce electric cars, while Beijing was meant to teach other governments how to wean their drivers off Big Oil.

Now Beijing is questioning the whole direction of its green car policy, and BYD is disappointing the market, yet again, with another profit warning: time for a dose of realism all around. Continue reading »

Tags: China car market, vehicles Posted in China | Permalink

New York headlines

August 23, 2011 11:47 am by beyondbrics

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Stocks rally on hopes for China growth

Battle rages as Gaddafi son reappears

CCB looks to Hong Kong in fundraising

G4S targets emerging markets

India to construct seven new ports for $7.6 bn to help triple exports Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

G4S looks to secure EM business

August 23, 2011 10:51 am by Ivana Kottasová

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Here is another British company that is increasing its bet on emerging markets. With 29 per cent of group revenues already coming from EM, security company G4S on Tuesday set a target of 50 per cent by 2018.

With 625,000 staff already on its books, we will be seeing a lot more of those black-uniformed security men with the G4S logo on their chests in India, China and Middle East.

Tags: security Posted in Global | Permalink

What China now outsources to the US: fruit-picking

August 23, 2011 10:33 am by Josh Noble

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Those worrying about jobs being shipped out of Wyoming and over to Kunming can take heart. China is starting to create more jobs in ‘land-rich’ countries (like the US) in the form of fruit-pickers.

In fact, China is heading straight into a deficit – at least when it comes to the balance of trade in fruit. Continue reading »

Tags: agriculture Posted in China | Permalink

London headlines

August 23, 2011 5:59 am by beyondbrics

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* Libya rebels battle to control Tripoli

* CCB looks to Hong Kong in fundraising

* India to construct seven new ports for $7.6 bn to help triple exports

* China’s manufacturing may contract at slower pace this month Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

Mexico: finding opportunities in the financial storm

August 23, 2011 12:24 am by Adam Thomson

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Trust Gerardo Rodríguez to look for opportunities where others encounter only chaos.

On Monday, Mexico’s deputy finance minister and the man who insiders credit with Mexico’s masterly oil hedge in 2009 – the government bought options to sell its production of crude oil at US$70 a barrel shortly before the international price collapsed to US$29 – said that today’s market volatility held potential for countries such as Mexico.

“We are looking for windows of opportunity in these extraordinary conditions to secure and improve the profile of our long-term debt,” he told beyondbrics. “The [international] economic perspectives are deteriorating, and interest rates are once again reaching historical minimal levels. That is not good news for the [global] economy but it is an opportunity for issuers like us.” Continue reading »

Tags: debt, Mexican economy, sovereign debt Posted in LatAm, Mexico | Permalink

beyondbrics

Daily Archives: August 23, 2011

Heinz: playing ketchup in EM

All quiet on the convertibility front

Blame the telly for Russia’s dollar run

Sarb’s Marcus to world leaders: get a grip

Czech ice hockey star in corporate debut

Russian privatisations: turbulence ahead

What Asia’s poor need: more jobs in the formal sector

BYD comes down to earth

New York headlines

G4S looks to secure EM business

What China now outsources to the US: fruit-picking

Further reading: cricket money

London headlines

Mexico: finding opportunities in the financial storm

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