DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

CNN —At least 27 people have been killed in southeast Brazil as rainfall continues to ravage parts of the country, according to CNN affiliate CNN Brasil citing state authorities. The death toll in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo rose to 19, and at least eight people have been killed in neighboring state Rio de Janeiro, CNN Brasil reported citing each state’s respective Civil Defense. At least six people are still missing, and more than 7,000 people were forced to flee their homes in Espirito Santo, according to CNN Brasil. Construction worker Nicelio Goncalves, 52, shows the interior of his flooded house outside in Rio de Janeiro state on Sunday, March 24. Flooding and landslides remain one of the main concerns as rainfall has yet to cease through the week.

Persons: Nicelio Goncalves, Pilar Olivares, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Rio de Janeiro Governor Claudio Castro, Renato Casagrande, Allison Chinchar Organizations: CNN, CNN Brasil, Civil Defense, Reuters, Rio de Janeiro Governor, Espirito Santo Locations: Brazil, Brazilian, Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de, Rio Grande do Sul, Sao Paulo

A truck lines up to be loaded with soybeans in a farm in the city of Primavera do Leste in the central Brazilian state of Mato Grosso January 29, 2013. The crop-heavy northern section of Brazil’s top soy and corn state Mato Grosso experienced the driest October-November period in at least a quarter century. October-November precipitation in North Mato Grosso BrazilMato Grosso grows about 27% of Brazil’s soybeans and accounts for almost 30% of the country’s soybean export program, the world’s largest. The delay in the 2020-21 soybean crop reduced Mato Grosso’s second corn yields since it pushed the sensitive development period back into a historically drier time frame. Mato Grosso accounts for two-thirds of all Brazilian corn shipments.

Persons: Mato, Brazil Mato, Karen Braun Organizations: Mato Grosso, Brazil’s, European, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Primavera, Mato, NAPERVILLE , Illinois, Mato Grosso, Brazil

The Vegetation Health Index (VHI), a U.S. government product, suggests vegetation in Mato Grosso may be in the worst state since 2015, which preceded one of the state’s worst growing seasons. The other comparable one was in 2020, though the following soybean crop was normal. Soils in Mato Grosso lack in nutrients and quality as compared with the best U.S. The state is expected to grow 27% and 38% of Brazil’s total 2023-24 soy and corn crops, respectively. Nationally, Brazil’s soybean planting was 68% as of last Thursday, the lowest rate since 2019-20 and behind the year-ago 80%.

Persons: Rio, Mato Grosso, Karen Braun, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Lucas, El Nino, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Mato Grosso, Brazil, NAPERVILLE , Illinois, Mato, U.S, Mato Grosso’s

Money managers through Nov. 14 expanded their net long in CBOT soybean meal futures and options to 131,404 contracts from 111,987 a week earlier, also on new longs. January meal futures surged 21% during those five weeks and nearly 4% in the most recent week, reaching their highest ever levels for the date. The pre-2023 record open interest in meal futures and options was 594,016 contracts set in mid-2018 after drought significantly cut down top meal exporter Argentina’s soybean crop. March CBOT wheat futures rose fractionally during the week, and funds trimmed nearly 3,000 contracts from their huge net short, resulting in 89,271 futures and options contracts. wheat, funds have been very heavy sellers of spring wheat futures since late July.

Persons: Gustavo Bonato, Soyoil, Karen Braun, Diane Craft Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Campo Verde, Mato Grosso, Brazil, Rights NAPERVILLE , Illinois, United States, U.S, Kansas City, Minneapolis

Unusually hot and dry weather in Mato Grosso has caught traders’ attention. October weather in North Mato Grosso BrazilIn Brazil’s southern state of Parana, October rainfall totaled around 350 mm (13.8 inches), the most for any month in at least 25 years. It is unhelpful in this analysis that there have not been many stronger El Ninos in recent years for comparison. Soy yield was 13% below trend that year, but otherwise, soy yields rarely miss in Mato Grosso, making it difficult to detect an impending disaster. In the south, Parana’s rainiest soy-growing seasons have most often coincided with El Ninos, but actual yield outcomes are mixed.

Persons: El Nino, Mato Grosso’s, Mato, La Nina, El, Karen Braun, Rod Nickel Organizations: Mato Grosso, Farmers, El Ninos, El Nino, Iowa, La, El, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Primavera, Mato, NAPERVILLE , Illinois, Brazil, Mato Grosso, North Mato, Brazil’s, Parana, U.S, Southern, Argentina

Brazil boosted clean electricity generation capacity by more than 35% from 2017 to 2022Solar power accounted for 6.8% of Brazil's electricity generation in 2023, up from about 4.2% in 2022, according to Ember. But overall power generation in key European economies such as Germany remains well below peaks seen around 2018-19, as power generators face shortages of key power fuels such as natural gas in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In turn, restricted power output has kept energy costs elevated above long-term averages, which curbed consumption from energy-intensive industries and hobbled overall economic growth. The fact that Brazil's power sector has managed to overcome those challenges to create a world-leading clean power sector may offer counterparts in other regions clues on how to maintain growth rates. Brazil's new position as the cleanest major power sector may also help challenge assumptions that clean power expertise is concentrated in wealthier economies, and may widen the perspective of power sector developers who are trying to map out energy system expansion plans over coming years.

Persons: Sao Jose da Barra, Paulo Whitaker, Ember, Gavin Maguire, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, HYDRO, National Electric Energy Agency, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Furnas, Sao Jose, Minas Gerais, Central Brazil, BRAZIL, LITTLETON , Colorado, Brazil, France, Argentina, America, Europe, Germany, Ukraine, Asia

Although China’s interest has declined, other U.S. corn export demand has been better than a year ago. USDA predicts 2023-24 U.S. corn exports to rise 23% on the year to 52.1 million tons (2.05 billion bushels). Total U.S. corn export sales for 2023-24 minus those to China are almost 40% higher than at the same point a year ago. Corn sales were closer to average over that same time frame, but both corn and soy are being limited by Brazil’s rising presence. Brazilian corn and soybean exportsIn the first eight months of 2023, some 18% of Brazil’s corn exports went to China compared with none in the previous years.

Persons: Rio, corn’s, Karen Braun, Rod Nickel Organizations: Lucas, U.S . Department of Agriculture, U.S, USDA, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Mato Grosso, Brazil, NAPERVILLE , Illinois, China, U.S, Mexico, United States

☆ Brazilian farmer's giant rooster hobby hatches into profitable business
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] FILE PHOTO-Agronomist Rubens Braz poses with his Giant Indian Urubu rooster named Galalau at the Avicultura Gigante, which breeds giant roosters for small-scale meat production and ornamental purposes, in Formosa, Goias State, Brazil September 1, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBRASILIA, Sept 13 (Reuters) - When farmer Rubens Braz started breeding Brazilian chickens, he had no idea how big the operation - or the birds - would get. Some twenty years later, he now raises giant roosters for small-scale farming and hobby purposes in central Brazil and is making a living from surging sales across the country. His birds, called "Giant Indian Roosters," can grow over 120 centimeters (47 inches) tall. As the global avian flu crisis has put a damper on business this year, limiting the transport of live animals in Brazil, Braz said he has focused on supplying fertilized eggs to nearby farmers.

Persons: Rubens Braz, Gigante, Ueslei Marcelino, Braz, Avicultura Gigante, Isadora Machado, Ana Mano, Brad Haynes, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: roosters, REUTERS, Rights, Indian Roosters, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Formosa, Goias State, Brazil, Rights BRASILIA, Goias

☆ Ancient pendants made from giant sloth bones suggest humans were in Americas earlier than thought
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

While G. phoenesis was thought to have been a relatively small species of giant sloth, some ancient sloth species were so big that their fossilized burrows are now caves in southern Brazil that humans can walk through. One of the three pendants made from giant sloth bone. However, Pansani said the team dated other material — sediment, charcoal and other giant sloth bones — from the same layer as where the artifacts were recovered. Many experts are skeptical that humans occupied the Americas any earlier than 16,000 years ago, the study noted. For the new study, Pacheco said the team hadn’t considered the possibility of trying to extract genetic material from the sloth-bone pendants.

Persons: —, Thais Pansani, Federal University of São Carlos, phoenesis, Thaís Pansani, Pierre Gueriau, Mírian Pacheco, Pacheco, ” Pansani, Pansani, “, ” Pacheco, hadn’t, ” Organizations: CNN, Federal University of São, Paleobiology, Royal Society Locations: Brazil, Santa, Americas, South America, New Mexico, Russia

Brazil has yet to publish its official annual figures for Cerrado deforestation, based on satellite analysis by the government's space research agency Inpe. The Cerrado neighbors the Amazon, occupying more than 2 million square kilometers in central Brazil – larger than Mexico. FARM-DRIVEN DEFORESTATIONThe Brazilian savanna is now a major concern for top grains traders, who have broadly pledged to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains by 2025. The sources discussed Cerrado deforestation data from Brazil's PRODES program, which produces annual data that is far more accurate than rapid alert data published on a weekly and monthly basis. An Inpe official said earlier this year that Brazil would soon stop publishing PRODES Cerrado data due to lack of funding.

☆ Brazil’s Right-Wing Leader Spends on Poor Before Elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Luciana Magalhaes | Samantha Pearson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

RIO VERDE, Brazil—Toiling on the dusty plains of central Brazil, Edilamar Caetano and her husband had long been loyal supporters of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , the leftist front-runner in next month’s presidential elections whose own family worked the land as farmhands. In April, President Jair Bolsonaro , the former army captain who took office four years ago promising fiscal restraint and a smaller state, came to town. He gave Ms. Caetano and her husband, Wagner Vieira, a title to 84 acres they had been farming as squatters, delivering the paperwork personally with an awkward hug in a local ceremony.

Search resuls for: "Central Brazil"

11 mentions found