Caroline Kahl

Soccer Bandwagon

For somebody who does not really care about soccer it is fascinating to see who joins the World Cup soccer bandwagon. Even Goldman Sachs who recently published a report called World Cup and Economics 2006 "switched its attention from gold, shares and the dollar to which emerging economy has the best chance of lifting the trophy in Berlin on July 9". It suggests there is a limit to how much overlap there is between the beautiful game and the murky world of finance.
Curious to learn more about the "Footballing equivalents of the Brics " or "The impact of the World Cup on trading activities"? Checkt out the FT FAQ.
If you are living in Brazil be prepared that business and life may come to a standstill on certain days. Do not forget to check out the different opening hours of your bank.

Women, Business, Brazil

Making business in this country as a woman, what a challenge!
Saia curta e justa, sentar bota.... that´s  what I´ve been taught lately. Hard job and all you need is a wide collection of high heels.
malanina.mp3

The sweet fruit of mono-culture

This man deserves standing ovations! About Sugar and Arts in a country like Brazil.
Wished I was the "rainha do açucar" and I would invest into Brazilian music. One day I will, chefe!

Hot business topics in Brazil

Reinsurance!
Still a monopoly of governmental IRB Brasil Re, Brazilian Congress is expected to open the market to privately owned national and foreign reinsurance companies soon.
Many foreign companies already keep an eye on Brazil and started to open offices in this country: Partner Re, Transamerica Re, XL and others. More

Brazilian companies in NY

ADRs from Brazilian companies are a hit at the NYSE. Never before was the negotiated volume as high as in the first quarter of this year - reaching USD 61,5 billion, twice as much as in the past year during that period. The demand for ADRs from Brazilian companies even surpassed the ones from countries like the UK and China. This makes Brazilian one of the most procured countries according to a survey by the Bank of New York.

Negotiated Brazilian ADRs rose 19,5% this year at the Wall Street, compared to the ones of Chinese companies (19,1%), Asian (9,8%) other emerging countries (12,7%), with metallurgic companies like CSN and Usiminas facing the highest demand (plus 47% and 57%). In terms of volume Petrobrás is the star with an approximate USD 7 billion. The paper of the state-owned company was the most negotiated one, leaving more than 450 other companies behind incl. British Petroleum (USD 4,5 billion).

Record Month

Agribusiness sales grew 16% in the past month when compared to the same period last year. The sector had total revenues of US$ 3.9 billion... historic record for March.

Exports numbers increased mainly due to commodities like soy, sugar and alcohol, pulp and paper, leather and leather products and meats.

Exports of the soy complex totalled US$ 928 million, 30.8% more than in the month of March 2005, when exports totalled US$ 710 million. The result was powered by sales of soy in grain, which grew 44.7% in quantity exported and 7% in prices.

Sales of sugar and alcohol reached US$ 494.3 million in March, against US$ 337.7 million in the same period in 2005. Alcohol export revenues totalled US$ 70 million in March, 4.4% more than the value exported in March last year.
More

Summer in the city

even if it is officially autumn, almost winter in Brazil.
But the temperatures, the sun and the view of Ipanema beach just compensate for so much. Feels like the good old Quincy Jones style at the peak of a business day, Summer in the City! Download quincy_jones_summer_in_the_city.mp3

Emergency Package

If you are consultant and broker dealing with Brazilian commodities, sooner or later you will face the challenging situation to explain to your foreign clients why their contract partners for Brazilian products like Sugar, Soy. Wheat, Corn etc. are foreign investment companies. And then you tell them how the agricultural sector is struggling to survive with the minimum required investments into infrastructure or covering simple operational costs of harvesting, production, refining, sales and distribution. One solution for a country with astronomic interest rates and spreads is the so called CPR -Cedula de Produto Rural Financeira, an anticipated sale of the future harvest output and production to obtain working capital. Who buys those titles mostly? Foreign Investors! Who deal with them? Brazilian banks.
Nevertheless the Brazilian government just announced on Friday to release an emergency package of up to R$ 14,6 billion to help the sector commercialize their products, pay their debts and provide private and public banks with funds to finance the sector.
Good idea, even when interest rates will still account for 8,75% p.a as part of the deal.
At least the government of the world´s 11th biggest economy keeps an eye on a sector which contributes with more than 8,4% to the country´s GDP and has a lot more growth rate potential...

Don´t cha!

Don´t cha be a fake.
Don´t cha promise what you cannot fulfill.
Don´t cha waste my time.
Don´t cha you dare to lack respect cause "Miss Sugar" has the power to cancel your deal at any moment. Sacou?!
Deliver and execute.
Think local but act global.
Be professional and play fair.
Otherwise I don´t care....
Fellows are you ready? Let´s go, just don´t cha!
Download the_pussycat_dolls_dont_cha.mp3

No time to waste

Posting low these days, partially due to the fact that business in Brazil only commences after Carnaval is over and this week everybody got back to work, and because the sugar harvest and marketing period just started.
You know what the funny thing about Brazilian commodity trading is?
Some foreign brokers contacting you, inquirying about million sugar Icumsa 45 deals, Iron Ore, all the hot commodities from Brazil, and... most of them operating from freemail accounts like hotmail, yahoo, gmail, gmx. You guys pretend to have so potential clients and cannot afford a proper email adress and domain?
Mmmhhhh.... I google after you and your companies with no search results?
Most of Brazilian commodities are in the hand of foreign investment companies and tradings?  Mmhhhh.... Strange feeling.
But anyway, if you are serious and do not inflate commissions, we can make business, otherwise you go right away to my junk mail folder. No time to waste.