Hello! This is The Brazilian Report‘s Weekly Report. In this issue: How Brazilian markets have performed. Confidence levels v. economic growth. A closer look at the Mercosur-EU trade deal.
The week in review
China 1. Despite Jair Bolsonaro’s historical anti-Beijing stances, his administration intends to facilitate the entry of Chinese citizens to Brazil. The idea, sponsored by the Tourism Ministry, is to eliminate visa requirements for Chinese citizens who already hold visas for the U.S., Japan, Canada, or Australia. The Brazilian government lifted visa requirements for citizens of the five countries in March.
China 2. After three straight years in the red, meat giant BRF should be back in the black in 2019, thanks to a swine fever outbreak in China. The Asian country’s hog herds, the world’s largest, has shrunk by 26% from June 2018, according to a survey of pig farms in 400 Chinese counties. Negative effects may be felt there for the next decade. That scenario has pushed BRF stocks up 50% since January—and the company projects BRL 170m in new investments to boost exports.
Truckers’ strike? Infrastructure Minister Tarcísio de Freitas will meet next...