Archive for the ‘Economies’ Category

Smart Money going in to Growing

June 2nd, 2010 Posted by Admin in Economies

Global populations are growing faster than ever before and due to urbanisation and degradation, the amount of available arable land in the world has actually been diminishing since 2005!! Combined with the effects of climate change, with wilder weather patterns causing floods hurricanes and droughts, these phenomena will have an enormous impact on the global economy in the years to come. With food being one of our staple requirements, global crop demand is destined to surge throughout the century, making agriculture a safe haven for any mid/long-term investor.

UK farmland has increased by 18% in the past 6 months according to property consultants Strutt & Parker and strong growth rates are expected to continue into this decade. As demand increases faster and faster worldwide, expect crop prices to increase driving investor yields and pushing capital appreciation for farmland owners. Also of course watch food prices rise ….

UK Agriculture Farmland

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Brazil Energy Industries Boom

May 19th, 2009 Posted by Admin in Economies, Renewable Energy

In the past decade Brazil has succeeded where most of the industrialized world has failed, in producing a fully-deployed cost-effective alternative to fossil-fuels for the automotive industry. Being the 5th largest land mass in the World, in an unequalled eco-system with good soil, warm climate and plenty of rain, Brazil is perfect for mass production of ethanol from sugar-cane. As a result ethanol can be produced and consumed cheaper/mile than gasoline, and so by 2009 the majority of “petrol stations” in Brazil are now “fuel stations” providing ethanol for flex-fuel cars.

Despite the abundance of land in Brazil, and the extremely agreeable climate, the fight for food and ethanol crops have until recently affected an otherwise rapid progress in both solar and wind energy developments. This year things are set to change with the governments first renewable energy auction on November 25th. Some projects include the Rio do Fogo wind farm in Rio Grande do Norte by Iberdrola, four wind parks in Ceara by Citigroup to generate 342MW, Ventania plan to offer another 10 projects with a capacity of 350MW and Brazilian firm Bioenergy plan to invest $1bn to deliver 4 more wind farms of up to 530MW in the north east.

Despite all the above, Brazil’s economic wealth continues with the oil industry itself still growing - having recently successfully extracted oil from what is considered potentially the largest offshore oil field ever discovered, the Tupi oil-field off Rio do Janeiro. Petrobas, the state-run company, is now drilling in over 2km of water and will continue test new holes for 15 months, whilst commercial production of up to 15,000 barrels/day is expected to commence imminently, reaching 1m barrels/day once all Tupi’s fields are up and running. Not only a further significant boost to the Brazil economy, one still strengthening despite the global crisis, Brazil will also re-inforce the oil industry with heavy future demands on drillships and drill equipment.

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Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 09

May 11th, 2009 Posted by Admin in Economies, Real Estate

Knight Frank’s “Wealth Report 2009″ in conjunction with Citi Private Bank rates Brazil in the World’s Top 10 for current real estate investment. According to survey’s conducted via Citi Private Bank’s wealth managers acting for 2000 of the world’s wealthiest individuals globally, over 54% of global HNWI’s plan to INCREASE their exposure to residential property in the next 2 years. This shows a large amount of confidence by the savviest of the worlds investors in residential real estate, in sharp contrast to equities of which 55% HNWI’s already decreased their equity exposure in 2008. These results show that when times get tough, even the wealthiest still take the view that you should only invest in things you understand… property, we can see it, we can touch it, and we still want it!

As to where they would invest, Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank also reveal the top ten Worldwide sectors forecast as the wisest real estate investments of 2009. Unsurprisingly following the credit crunch distressed real estate (struggling developers and owners) in the US and UK are both highly recommended, with the best discounts over 50% below their 2008 peak. In the luxury lifestyle markets Knight Frank forecasts best opportunities in marina projects such as Porto Montenegro in Kotor Bay, Tuscany Italy, and Northern Brazil due to Brazils improving infrastructure, booming tourism, shortage of luxury resort projects and also the strong economy most recently boosted by the Tupi offshore oil-field and surging bio-fuel markets.

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Brazil, Rio Olympic Bid

May 10th, 2009 Posted by Admin in Economies

Already revelling in the glory and honour of hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil is now one step closer to fulfilling its last great dream – of hosting the Olympics. The 13 members of the International Olympic Committee visited Rio do Janeiro last week and left with a resounding nod of confidence to the Latin American hotspot. “Everything we saw here was positive” said Nawal El Moutawakel.

Escorted by footballing legend Pele and Brazil President Lula da Silva, the Olympic committee only have Madrid left to visit before casting their deciding votes in the next few months.

For Brazil it would be the greatest achievement and honour to host the two most prestigious global sporting events within 2 years; the FIFA World Cup and then the  Olympics. More than this, success will only finally prove to the World that not only is Brazil now capable of handling such major events, but more importantly will give proof of the country’s continually surging popularity, importance and power on the global stage.

Brazil’s time as a leading global player certainly seems to be coming.

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Brazil and China primary trading partners

May 3rd, 2009 Posted by Admin in Economies

Brazil is the World’s leading exporter in many extremely vital goods such as coffee, soya and iron ore. Due to being the Worlds 5th largest land mass and with a moderate climate apt for agriculture, these and other natural resources have increased Brazil’s trading relationship with China.

Total trade with China for April 2009 reached an all-time high of $3.2bn, topping Brazil’s trade with the US for the first time. China’s demand for soya beans, iron ore and also now fuel are expected to continue this excessive trade increase over the coming years. It is now truly evident that the “global credit crunch” is affecting these two future super-powers far less than more “developed” economies.

Indeed following the recent primary drilling by Petrobas, the Brazil state-owned petroleum company, in to what is believed the largest off-shore oil field, China’s demand for fossil fuels from Brazil is expected to rally also. President Lula de Silva visits Beijing this month to meet the Chinese Premier in the hope of acquiring funding for further solar and wind projects, with oil exploration in the Brazilian Santos Basin is expected sure to be high on Mr Lula’s agenda.

Either way the future trading relationship between Brazil and China is now secured and the countries are now certain to grow together with increased trade over the coming years.

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Brazil’s Resilient Economy

March 26th, 2009 Posted by Admin in Economies

Brazil has long been a country of immense attractiveness to Willow Rivers for its investment opportunities in real estate and renewable energy.  Here are just a few significant facts outlining why Brazil’s economy has fared much better during the recent economic crisis;

- Current account deficit to remain low at 2% of GDP throughout 2009 and over $200bn in cash reserves

- Less than 15% of trade with the US, ensuring minimum credit crunch fall-out

- Less than 15% of the real estate market value is mortgaged or geared, resulting in no toxic debt and much less volatile real estate pricing

- FDI in 2007 doubled to $34.7bn, eclipsing both India and Japan

- 9th largest economy with $1.3trn GDP, predicted 5th by 2030 by Goldman Sachs

- Leading exporter in sugar, coffee, beef, aircraft, mobile phones, vehicles, footwear and iron ore

- Brazil is completely self-sufficient in oil and bio-fuels and as the 5th largest land mass has enormous resources for alternative energies

- A recent discovery of what is believed to be the world’s largest offshore oilfield “Tupi”, where Petrobas recently started drilling

- Unemployment down to 8% over the past 6 years

- Tourism is a major contributor to the economy, with some 5.2 million visitors arriving in 2008 alone, and host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup will continue to help things

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