Saturday, October 24, 2015

Bilateral trade between China, CAN tops $40 billion in 2014: report

Certains ont critiqué sur le Forum de Haiti Connexion le gouvernement haitien du fait qu'il commence à entretenir une certaine relation avec la Chine, arguant: sa Ayiti ap fè ak peyi kominis sa a. En effet, la Chine a offert son son assistance à Haiti dans l'élaboration de certains projets d'infrastructure. Quelle tristesse de voir que des compatriotes conservent un esprit arriéré quant au développement d'Haiti! Puisse l'article ci-dessous éclairer leur lanterne et corriger leur vision sclérosée du monde et du développement économique réel d'Haiti!

Carl Gilbert
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Bilateral trade between China, CAN tops $40 billion in 2014: report

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2015-10-24 14:54:34
LIMA - Bilateral trade between China and the Andean Community (CAN) reached $40.32 billion in 2014, up 6.5 percent from the previous year, the regional trade bloc said Friday.

The bilateral trade has seen two growth phases since 2005, the Lima-based CAN, a customs union comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, said in a report.
The first rise took place between 2005 and 2008, followed by a fall in 2009 due to the international financial crisis, before a return to prolonged growth between 2010 and 2014.
Last year, China became the third-largest destination for CAN exports, accounting for 10.3 percent of the total, according to the report.
The principal exporter was Peru, which exported 6.68 billion dollars worth of goods to China, or 50.5 percent of the total. Colombia came second with 42.5 percent of exports to China, with Ecuador and Bolivia far behind, with 3.8 and 3.2 percent respectively.
CAN's main exports to China include crude oil and bitumen products 38.7 percent, as well as copper and its derivatives 25.3 percent.
China was CAN's second-largest source of imports, which ranged from cellphones, telecommunications equipment to heavy machinery, accounting for 18.4 percent of its total.
Colombia imported 11.79 billion dollars worth of products from China, accounting for 43.5 percent of CAN's total imports from China, the largest share. Peru came second with 32.9 percent, followed by Ecuador (16.9 percent) and Bolivia (6.7 percent).

Friday, October 23, 2015

Blow for Ecuadorian banana exports

L'économie d'Haiti peut-elle dépendre seulement de l'exportation de bananes?

Cet article ci-dessous édifiera un peu sur la matière (anglais)

Blow for Ecuadorian banana exports


So far, the current economic crisis affecting Ecuador has not negatively affected the country's banana production, in part because there have not been any considerable climate changes or natural disasters in the producing provinces.

However, Jorge Alex Serrano, president of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), states that the market has been affected, as even though the price for 2015 was set at 6.55 dollars per box by Ministerial Decision No. 598 25/11/14, nobody is currently adhering to it.

"Neither producers or exporters are adhering to the law; I have heard that boxes are being sold for three dollars and fifty cents, almost half of the official price," he explained.

Exports
This is mainly the result of a banana surplus worldwide. The North American market is acquiring bananas grown in Guatemala at a lower price and with the same quality as that of the Ecuadorian product.

"There are big companies that are planting more bananas in Guatemala and Costa Rica, and that is driving us away from the U.S. market, because it is cheaper to buy them there."

El Niño
The imminent arrival of this climate phenomenon to Ecuador is also another factor that banana producers and exporters are on the lookout for, as in case it hit in the same way as in 1997-1998, it would affect a large amount of hectares and cause significant economic losses.

The phenomenon would also affect Central America's banana production and have an impact on the international price of the product. "We'll see how the phenomenon of El Niño develops in our country; it may or may not be very strong, so we'll have to wait and see what lies ahead."

Price for a banana box in 2016
The president of the AEBE said that the banana advisory committee held one of its first meetings at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries (MAGAP) to set the new price of a box of bananas for 2016. If a consensus is not reached, the Minister of Agriculture, Javier Ponce, would be in charge of setting the price for next year.


Source: elproductor.com