Brazil exports leather worth $1.1 billion to July
According to the national newspaper Valor Economico, Brazil exported leather and leather goods worth $1.1 billion in the first half of 2001.
A devaluation in the Brazilian Real, combined with a 16% increase in international leather prices - brought about by the European cattle disease situation - were said to be the main reasons. Beef sales for the whole of the year were also expected to top $1.1 billion – rising from $800 million last year – mainly on the back of reduced Argentine and European exports.
It was also reported last week that between January 2000 and June 2001, Brazil’s power regulator, Aneel, authorised 71 licenses for the construction of small hydro-electric plants – twice as many than in 1998-99. Along with the rest of the manufacturing sector, Brazil’s leather trade has been badly hit by power blackouts and rationing in recent months. The main cause has been a prolonged drought that has drastically reduced output of the country’s larger hydroelectric plants, which provide the bulk of the national power requirement. Aneel says 70% of the new construction will take place in the southern and southeastern regions of Brazil, with investment in the new plants rising as high as $1 billion by 2003.
