Online Business Blog

Venezuelan state aluminum wheel company Rialca is adjusting its processes to the iron-rich aluminum that state reducer Venalum is producing, Rialca president Leslie Turmero told BNamericas.

“We have made attempts to get lower quality material and, depending on what it will be used for, the maximum range for taking advantage of the high iron content is determined,” Turmero said.

There are clients that have strict requirements on the iron content of aluminum, so Rialca had to carry out tests to increase the percentage of iron content it could handle, she said.

Read Full Post…

Brazilian petrochemicals company Braskem (NYSE: BAK) will require reserves of 6Tf3 (169Bm3) of natural gas if it is to go ahead with its US$3.5bn olefins project in southern Peru, Sergio Thiesen, the company’s director for South America, told Reuters in an interview.

Thiesen said this amount of gas would be needed for feedstock to produce 1.2Mt/y of polyethylene for 20 years.

If the go-ahead is given, the proposed plant in Peru could begin operating in 2018.

Thiesen added that the size of the stake that Peruvian oil company Petroperъ would take in the project has still not been determined.

Read Full Post…

Mining and energy projects to be carried out over the next five years will drive a significant increase in steel demand in Chile, local steel institute ICHA’s communications office told BNamericas.

A total of US$92bn will be invested in the country over the next five years in several projects, mainly in mining, energy, housing and public works, according to ICHA.

“The largest amount of the estimated investment will be located in northern regions II and III, with US$22.5bn and US$21.6bn, respectively. Most of the investments are related to state-owned and private mining projects being or to be developed,” a press official said.

Read Full Post…

Brazilian banks are about to face “the most challenging operating environment ever,” according to a report from Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS).

Recent local press reports regarding government pressure for large, state-owned banks to cut interest rates on loans are adding on to an already weak operating outlook for the country’s banking system, the report said.

Credit Suisse believes that federal institutions Banco do Brasil (BB) and Caixa Econômica Federal (CEF) will lead decreases in credit spreads, a trend that will lead to market share losses by private banks if they don’t follow suit, according to the report.

Read Full Post…

The Colombian government is working on a public proposal for the construction of the Carare rail line, the national planning department’s (DNP) deputy transport director, Cйsar Augusto Peсaloza, told BNamericas.

“The government is putting all its efforts into this rail line, because of the importance of the coal industry in the region. We have two options at the moment: one is a private initiative, and the other is a public initiative, currently in the preliminary stages,” Peсaloza said.

The public sector proposal will move forward only if the private initiative fails to go ahead, the official added.

Read Full Post…

Brazil’s Vitopel, the largest plastic film producer in Latin America, cut its output to 100,000t last year from 108,000t in 2010 as a result of increased competition from imported products.

Imports of plastic products into Brazil increased by 7.5% in 2011, financial daily Valor Econфmico reported CFO Josй Ricardo Roriz Coelho as saying.

One in four tons of flexible plastic packaging currently used in Brazil is imported, the report said, adding that the strength of the Brazilian real has made imports more competitive in the domestic market. <

Read Full Post…

Brazil’s composites industry sales totaled US$1.66bn in 2011, up 10.4% over the prior year, according to a survey conducted by consultancy MaxiQuim for Latin American composite materials association Almaco.

In volumes terms, sales rose 1.5% to 208,000t.

“With last year’s GDP growth confirmed at below 3%, we consider the performance very good,” said Almaco president Gilmar Lima.

In 2011, the best markets for composites were those that demanded higher value-added parts, such as the automotive and the wind energy sectors, which is why revenue increased much more than the volume processed, according to the executive.

Read Full Post…