Blogs

By Brendan Case / Bloomberg

Heineken might build a new brewery in Mexico as it wins back market share lost after its 2010 purchase of the nation’s second-largest brewer, said Marc Busain, the company’s top executive in the country.

The Amsterdam-based brewer, the world’s third-largest, boosted its Mexican market share last year to about 42 percent after a decline in 2011, Busain said.

The gain is bolstering Heineken as Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, completes a $20.1 billion purchase of Corona maker Grupo Modelo and Mexico’s antitrust regulator decides whether to allow more competition in beer.

Heineken, with brands including Tecate and Sol, is studying plans to build its seventh brewery in Mexico by 2016, assuming growth continues and the government doesn’t raise beer taxes.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-17/heineken-weighs-new-brewery-for-mexico-comeback-in-ab-inbev-duel.html

By Juan Montes
Wall Street Journal

President Enrique Peña Nieto will seek in the coming months to end a taboo of nearly eight decades by opening the state-run oil-and-gas industry to private investment and competition, a move the government hopes will attract billions of dollars in investment.

Peña Nieto's government wants to allow private energy firms to share the risks involved in developing increasingly complex energy reserves such as deep-water oil deposits by letting them produce oil and gas through profit-sharing deals and joint ventures with state monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, according to three high-level government and ruling party officials who gave details of the proposed reform for the first time.

The proposal, which would involve amending several articles of Mexico's Constitution, will need two-thirds support from Mexico's Congress. But officials say they are optimistic they can get at least one of the two main opposition parties to back the plan without drastic changes.

Formal negotiations will likely start after local elections on July 7, with a bill presented to Congress as early as August, the officials said.

The plan calls for opening up exploration and production in deep water where more than half of Mexico's prospective oil resources are thought to lie, and for oil and gas found in shale-rock formations.

Shallow water and onshore oil, where Pemex has expertise and its lowest-cost production, would remain the exclusive domain of the state firm, the people said.

"We want an in-depth reform that gives legal certainty to companies, not another partial step. We want to make it crystal clear in the constitution how they [private firms] can participate," said a high-level Energy Ministry official.

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324520904578551810770396702.html

By Campbell Clark
The Globe and Mail

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto wants ties with Canada to be a priority in the country’s foreign policy, rather than the on-again, off-again interest of two countries distracted by relations with the United States, Mexico’s ambassador says.

Ambassador Francisco Suarez Davila arrived in Ottawa a week ago with a mandate to pursue a new deepening of relations between the two countries – not just for dealing with the U.S., but also as direct trading partners, and potential diplomatic allies on the world stage.

“I think I have arrived at a very opportune time. The political stars are aligned,” Suarez said in an interview with The Globe and Mail. “That’s the indication I have received from President Pena, to go beyond the rhetoric to really establish that Canada is a priority for Mexico’s foreign policy. It’s a real priority: Canada, itself, apart from the North American [regional dynamic].”

It is a simple but important signal in Canada-Mexico relations: that the two countries should see each other as important for more than just what that means in dealing with the United States.

They have been trade partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement since 1993, and from time to time expressed a desire for stronger ties. But the interest has blown hot and cold. Both countries’ perspectives on North America are, of course, dominated by relations with the U.S.

“It’s a fact of life that we have this big elephant in between. It’s there. But we don’t at all like the idea of an off and on approach,” Suarez said. “Sort of, you know, oh now Mexico is important, but until that time, no, it’s more important for us just to have a relationship with the United States.”

www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/mexico-pushes-for-closer-direct-ties-with-canada-apart-from-us-influence/article12594783/

By Allen Ramsey / Goal.com

A change in competitions couldn't change Mexico's fortunes for the better.

El Tri stepped away from World Cup qualifying and took a 2-1 loss to Italy to open up the 2013 Confederations Cup campaign for both nations.

Mario Balotelli was the hero for the Italians by scoring the game-winning goal in the 78th minute. Andrea Pirlo had the opening goal of the match off a free kick early in the first half.

Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez capitalized on a penalty kick for the equalizer in the 34th minute.

The Italians got off to a flying start and exposed a shaky Mexican defense in the early stages. Balotelli, Emanuele Giaccherini and Claudio Marchisio all tested Mexican goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona in the opening 10 minutes.

prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/16/mexico-italy-confederations-cup-chepo-de-la-torre/

By Allen Ramsey / Goal.com

A change in competitions couldn't change Mexico's fortunes for the better.

El Tri stepped away from World Cup qualifying and took a 2-1 loss to Italy to open up the 2013 Confederations Cup campaign for both nations.

Mario Balotelli was the hero for the Italians by scoring the game-winning goal in the 78th minute. Andrea Pirlo had the opening goal of the match off a free kick early in the first half.

Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez capitalized on a penalty kick for the equalizer in the 34th minute.

The Italians got off to a flying start and exposed a shaky Mexican defense in the early stages. Balotelli, Emanuele Giaccherini and Claudio Marchisio all tested Mexican goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona in the opening 10 minutes.

prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/16/mexico-italy-confederations-cup-chepo-de-la-torre/

MercoPress

Paraguay and Mexico on Wednesday moved forward on reaching a complete free trade agreement.

The countries agreed to hold talks on the creation of an Economic Complementation Accord within the framework of the Latam Integration Association, ALADI.

The move is considered the “step previous to a full free trade treaty”, reported Paraguay’s foreign ministry said.

“With the purpose of accelerating the process, it was agreed to continue negotiations on rules of origin and customs procedures, via videoconferences” added the release saying that the next round of talks is to be held next July in Mexico City.

The trade agreement is a requisite for incorporation to the Alliance of the Pacific (Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico), where Paraguay is about to the granted observer status.

Paraguay is a founding and full member of Mercosur but has become increasingly disappointed with the results of the block that also includes Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay and, since a year ago, Venezuela.

A year ago, Paraguay was suspended from the group, reportedly for political reasons.

Argentina’s protectionist attitudes and Brazil’s barriers to market access have not been encouraging for the small economies of Paraguay and Uruguay.

http://en.mercopress.com/2013/06/13/paraguay-and-mexico-advancing-towards-an-economic-complementation-accord

By Ioan Grillo / Time

When President Obama visited Mexico in May, he spoke a few words of Spanish, praised the paintings of Frida Kahlo and quoted author Octavio Paz. Then he hit his key message: “Because of the sacrifices of generations, a majority of Mexicans now call themselves middle class, with a quality of life that your parents and grandparents could only dream of.”

Mexico’s “new middle class” is also a big theme for its new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, who wants his neighbors to think of Mexico as more than just a place of beautiful beaches and violent crime.

Obama’s speech dovetailed neatly with Pena Nieto’s agenda, but it has sparked a national debate here, about what makes someone middle class in Mexico, and whether the middle class are really thriving or just surviving. After a disappointing first-quarter, the worst performance since the end of 2009, that debate has renewed urgency.

world.time.com/2013/06/13/mexico-is-on-the-rise-but-what-about-its-middle-class/

By Miguel Gutierrez
Reuters

Congressional leaders of Mexico's main parties said on Wednesday they had agreed to hold two special sessions of Congress in July and August to tackle outstanding initiatives, paving the way for key energy and fiscal reforms to move forward in the autumn.

President Enrique Pena Nieto plans to send measures aimed at boosting Mexico's paltry tax take and overhauling ailing state-oil monopoly Pemex to Congress during the second regular session of Congress, which begins in September.

But an overhang of outstanding initiatives from the first congressional session, which ended in April, threatened to push back the much anticipated reforms.

The two extraordinary sessions agreed to on Wednesday would be held in the second halves of July and August respectively, said Emilio Gamboa, who heads the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the Senate.

Representatives of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and the conservative National Action Part (PAN) also agreed to the plan.

Both special sessions are due to take place after charged regional elections in 14 states slated for July 7.

www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/13/us-mexico-congress-idUSBRE95C03320130613

By Mike Slane / Sporting News

It was the type of performance that left the home fans throwing objects at opposing players and chanting for the team's head coach to be fired.

Mexico once again played to a draw and failed to score in an important World Cup qualifying match as Costa Rica held El Tri to a 0-0 draw at Azteca Stadium on Tuesday night.

Mexico, the highest-ranked nation in the CONCACAF region, has played to nine draws in 10 games in 2013. The team has gone scoreless in three of its five Hexagonal matches.

With their side's offense continuing its offensive struggle, the game took an ugly turn as the home fans tossed objects at Costa Rica captain Carlos Ruiz late in the second half. They ended the match by calling for the firing of coach José Manuel de la Torre.

www.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2013-06-11/mexico-costa-rica-world-cup-qualifier-chicharito

By Ivan Castano
Forbes

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim says a new Mexican telecoms law – a law that seeks to break up monopolies - won’t hurt his large telecom holding.

Slim, the world’s second richest man and controlling shareholder of Latin American cellphone empire America Movil, told CNBC in an interview that he does not expect the reform will hit the company’s profits.

“I don’t think the profitability is any problem,” Slim said. “Profitability is coming from productivity, efficiency, management, austerity, and the way to manage the business.”

Despite Slim’s reassurances, investors seem concerned about the telecoms overhaul. America Movil’s shares have dropped about 15 percent in dollar terms since new President Enrique Pena Nieto took office on Dec. 1, 2012.

Under the reform, Mexico will create a new and much more powerful telecoms regulator called IFETEL, which will employ an asymmetric system more developed countries have used to break down monopolies.

Asymmetric regulations are used to reduce a dominant operator’s market share by introducing new and temporary restrictions to their operating licenses or forcing them to lower inter-connection and consumer prices to boost competition.

www.forbes.com/sites/ivancastano/2013/06/11/mexicos-carlos-slim-says-sweeping-mexican-telecom-law-wont-hurt-america-movils-profits/