March 2012
Mexico will get its own clothing sizes
Submitted by mexbiznews on Wed, 03/28/2012 - 4:15am
By Charlotte Cowles / New York Magazine
Apparently Mexico has a sizing problem. Many international retailers say that Mexican customers often complain that clothes don't fit properly, and there's a high rate of returned merchandise, which causes retailers to lose money.
So a bunch of stores banded together to do a survey of average weight and height across fourteen cities and several regions of the country.
The survey, which found an average Mexican female is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 138 pounds, will help retailers develop a new "Mexican molde" that will be more flattering to the physical proportions of the average Mexican.
nymag.com/daily/fashion/2012/03/mexico-will-get-its-own-special-clothing-sizes.html
Mexico regulator confirms dominance of mobile company Telcel, opening door for specific rules
Submitted by mexbiznews on Wed, 03/28/2012 - 3:54amBy Anthony Harrup
Dow Jones Newswires
Mexico's antitrust agency confirmed Tuesday a decision declaring the country's leading mobile phone company Telcel dominant in mobile call termination, opening the door for the telecommunications regulator to apply asymmetric regulation on the company.
The five-member Federal Competition Commission, or CFC, voted unanimously to uphold on appeal the ruling on Telcel, the local unit of telecommunications giant America Movil, which is controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim.
The commission reversed, however, its earlier decisions declaring competitors Telefonica and Grupo Iusacell also dominant in mobile call termination, saying that the commission hadn't considered in its initial decision the disparity in the power of negotiation, given the smaller size of their networks. Those votes weren't unanimous.
Telcel has about 70 percent of Mexico's mobile phone subscribers, Telefonica around 20 percent and Iusacell less than 5 percent.
Representatives for the companies involved said they were analyzing the decision, but didn't have any immediate comments.
The CFC said the decision is similar to one made last year in which the country's biggest fixed-line company, America Movil unit Telmex, was ruled to be dominant in termination of calls given the size of its network.
Banks supply only 40% of borrowers' credit needs
Milenio - Mexico's financial institutions do not meet even half the credit needs of agriculture, although loans to the field are indispensable to the country's development. Banks cover only 40 percent of the credit requirements in the country.
Presidential candidate says government taping calls
CBSNews - A top campaign worker for presidential aspirant Josefina Vazquez Mota filed a criminal complaint Monday asking for an investigation into an illegally made recording in which a woman said to be the candidate mocks the government for tapping her phone.
www.cbsnews.com/8301-501715_162-57404920/caller-govt-taps-mexico-pres-candidates-calls/
Report says Mexico murders go largely unpunished
Submitted by mexbiznews on Tue, 03/27/2012 - 6:15am
By Mark Stevenson / Huffington Post
Four out of five homicides go unpunished in Mexico, in part because prosecutors and police focus on less serious cases that are easier to solve, a Mexican think tank's report said Monday.
That leads to extreme situations like the northern border state of Chihuahua, where researchers found 96.4 percent of killings go unpunished, based on comparisons of the annual rates for murders and convictions in 2010.
The study said that of all sentences handed down in state courts nationwide between 2009 and 2011, only 12 percent were for serious crimes like homicide, rape, extortion or kidnapping.
www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/mexico-murders-unpunished_n_1380701.html
Mexico to defend WTO ruling on U.S. meat labeling
MarketWatch - Mexico plans to defend a World Trade Organization ruling against meat-labeling requirements after the U.S. appealed the decision on Friday, the Economy Ministry said. The final decision is expected to come by the end of June. www.marketwatch.com/story/mexico-will-defend-wto-meat-labeling-decision-2012-03-26
ICA names chairman's son as next CEO
Bloomberg - Empresas ICA, Mexico’s biggest construction company, named Chief Operating Officer Alonso Quintana, 38, the son of Chairman Bernardo Quintana, as its next chief executive officer, replacing Jose Luis Guerrero Alvarez.
Mexico registers $442 million February trade surplus
Dow Jones - Mexico registered a trade surplus in February, its second in three months, as exports rose sharply from a year earlier and from the previous month, backed by strong manufacturing exports and high crude oil prices.
online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120326-709326.html
Tri-Tech wins contract for equipment for steel plant
PRNewswire - Tri-Tech Holding Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Tri-Tech Infrastructure, was awarded a contract to provide equipment for a Mexican steel plant in Monterrey. The contract is valued at $3.63 million.
Nissan expects Mexico auto exports to rise 2.2%
Reuters - Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor Co. expects its total exports from Mexico to rise 2.2 percent to 420,000 units in 2012, the company's chief in Mexico said, adding the company expects auto exports to Brazil from Mexico to fall "significantly."
www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/27/mexico-nissan-idUSL2E8ER2N420120327
