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Latin America’s New Downside Risk: Competitiveness

October 16, 2007

Analysis of:PRC trade and Latin America's paradox | www.taipeitimes.com

By shrinking government, professionalizing monetary policy, floating currencies and freeing capital markets, the money entering the region is staying put. The eight of ten unfinished reforms in the original Washington Consensus represent the to-do list for Latin America if it is to raise its competitiveness and long term economic standard of living.

Latin America: Friend or Foe to American Agribusiness?

October 4, 2007

Analysis of:U.S., Latin American Ports Must Prepare for Increased Trade | usinfo.state.gov

As US exports have stalled, South American food exports have grown upwards of ten times faster than US competitors in key agrifood segments such as soybeans, rice, corn and wheat. Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, the Caribbean and parts of Central America together are net importers of agricultural products and are faithful customers of American food exports, to the tune of $15 billion per year. Besides being a growing market for US agrifood that can divert exports southward instead of westward, Latin America may also provide US agrifood shippers with new options that will help to lower US Pacific coast port congestion and lower shipping costs and delivery times.

Mexico’s “Top-Of-Mind” Transportation And Warehousing Providers

October 4, 2007

Analysis of:Logistics providers increase focus on Mexico | www.purchasing.com

A recent market study conducted by InfoAmericas included telephone interviews with 50 manufacturing company executives in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara and San Luís Potosí (22% of them decision makers for logistic providers contracting) revealed that, in Mexico, the “top-of-mind” leaders for transportation and warehousing companies are: FedEx, followed by DHL and K+N tied for second, and UPS in third place. Due to entry-barriers regarding regulation and high capital investments required for needed technology and fourth-party logistics providers (4PLs), the logistics services market functions as an oligopoly. In value-added by transport, storage and communications as a share of GDP (a proxy for logistics costs), Mexico is among the worst in the OECD, only ahead of Finland, the Czech Republic and Turkey.

Navigating Latin American Distribution Channels

October 4, 2007

Analysis of:Brazil, Chile Ride Out Rout; Local Investment Steadies Markets | www.bloomberg.com

Developing a profitable go-to-market strategy in Latin America is no easy task given the multitude of consumer sales channels at work. In urban areas, the arrival of modern retailers in the form of global supermarket, hypermarket and club stores has shaken up traditional channels made up of owner-operated independent retailers built upon inefficient layers of intermediaries. However, marketers would be mistaken to abandon independent and informal channels of retail that still represent more than three-quarters of Latin American retail for fast moving consumer goods. Instead, successful marketers must master multiple channels, even at the risk of cannibalizing their own sales in a single channel.

Latin consumers find their niche – why the region’s affluent want something new

September 20, 2007

Analysis of:Adios to Poverty, Hola to Consumption | www.economist.com

The $90 billion net gain by the lowest 90% of the population since 2002 represents the first economic victory for the middle class in Latin America since the 1970s. There are twice as many households today in both Brazil and Mexico earning above $15,000 per year than in China. The democratization of credit in Latin America opens up a mass market for many consumer goods that previously could only be marketed to the affluent. The combination of an expanding viable middle class and a more segmented affluent class has opened the door for more product differentiation, a trend that is likely to deepen in coming years.

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