February 2012
Losses in livestock, grain production are anticipated
The Poultry Site - Mexico is currently facing the worst drought on record in 70 years. Out of 31 states, about 19 have been affected. Significant losses for both grain and livestock production are anticipated.
www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/24867/mexico-anticipates-losses-for-grain-livestock-production
International reserves fall to $147.9 billion
Bloomberg - Mexico’s international reserves fell to $147.9 billion in the week ended Feb. 10, the nation’s central bank reported on its website. The reserves registered a net decrease of $194 million, the central bank said.
www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-14/mexico-international-reserves-fell-to-147-9-billion-bank-says.html
January auto production rises 1.2 percent
Bloomberg - Mexican production of cars and light trucks reached 202,701 units in January, a 1.2 percent increase from the same month a year earlier. Exports of vehicles fell 4.1 percent last month to 158,342 units.
www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-14/mexico-january-auto-production-rose-1-2-from-2011-amia-says.html
Mexico's Roman Catholic Church draws fire for issuing voting "guidelines"
Submitted by mexbiznews on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 7:27am
By Associated Press
Mexico’s Roman Catholic Church drew fire Tuesday for releasing a set of voting “guidelines” for the faithful ahead of the July 1 presidential elections.
All religious groups in Mexico are banned from engaging in electoral politics, or supporting or opposing any candidate or party. The guidelines published by the Archdiocese of Mexico on its web site appear to closely skirt the restriction.
But the issue is a sensitive one in Mexico, where harsh anti-clerical laws sparked the 1926-1929 Cristero war, an uprising by Roman Catholic rebels against Mexico’s secular government in which tens of thousands of people died. While loosened in the 1990s, many restrictions on church activities in Mexico remain.
Barclays, Black Rock, Deutsch Bank compete for $9.3 billion in pension funds in Mexico
Submitted by mexbiznews on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 7:04amBy Carlos Manuel Rodriguez
Bloomberg
Barclays, BlackRock Inc. and Deutsche Bank are vying to tap as much as $9.3 billion in Mexican regulated pension assets that are poised to invest in commodities following regulatory changes.
Mexican pension funds, the nation’s largest institutional investors with 1.57 trillion pesos ($123.5 billion) under management, are allowed from this year to invest as much as 10 percent of assets in commodities. The funds known as Afores, barred from such investments since the system was privatized in 1997, allocated most of their holdings to Mexican debt markets.
“We’ve seen globally a great deal of interest in this phase” when pension funds start to invest in commodities, Philippe J.J. Comer, head of commodity structuring for the Americas in Barclays, said in an interview from New York. Mexico’s pension assets are important for commodity asset managers because they’re “going to grow quite significantly.”
Afores may hire investment banks to manage funds, according to regulations published Dec. 7. Pension funds may invest from 5 percent to 10 percent of some of their portfolios in commodity-linked securities and use a larger percentage of assets to buy stocks, under the revised rules.
Mexican pension funds have been wooed by firms such as Barclays, BlackRock and Schroders to manage some of their assets, said Sergio Mendez, who manages 200 billion pesos as money manager at Afore XXI Banorte.
Spokesmen for Deutsche Bank and Schroders didn’t respond to requests for comments.
Donaldson adds third filtration plant in Aguascalientes
Sentido Comun - Donaldson, a filtration solutions company, inaugurated a new air filter and fluid plant in Aguascalientes with an investment of $17 million. The new plant will create over 1,000 jobs and manufacture more than 19 million products.
Scientists develop olive production in Sonora desert
Sentido Comun - Scientists from the National Institute for Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock have developed olive groves in the desert of Sonora with yields of 10 tons per hectare.
www.sentidocomun.com.mx/breves.phtml
Hotel Posadas opens hotels in Chile, Mexico
entido Comun - Hotel Posadas, a subsidiary of Grupo Posadas, announced the opening of three new hotels, one in Chile and two in Mexico, one in Culican and one in Ciudad del Carmen, with an investment of $19 million.
Program to validate blue agave tequila initiated
Sentido Comun - Mexico's Ministry of Agriculture opened the first program to validate the authenticity of agave tequila and to improve pest control and prevention in the industry.
Urbi expects 2011 revenue of nearly $1.3 billion
Bloomberg - Urbi Desarrollos Urbanos, Mexico’s third largest homebuilder by sales, said 2011 revenue was 16.3 billion pesos ($1.276 billion) to 16.5 billion pesos, or 9 percent to 10 percent higher than the previous year.
www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-14/urbi-says-2011-revenue-was-as-much-as-16-5-billion-pesos.html
