Key Points —President Sheinbaum signed the Agreement for the Promotion of the National Steel Industry, requiring all government steel purchases to be sourced from domestic producers. —The pact covers 19 federal agencies and three industry chambers, with over $8 billion in investment commitments and 90,000 direct jobs at stake. —Mexico produced 14 million tonnes of […]

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Key Points —Mexico’s mining and metallurgical production rose 5.5% month-on-month in February 2026, according to INEGI data, recovering from a 6.5% annual contraction in 2025. —Gold extraction fell 1.9% year-on-year and silver declined 0.7%, but copper and zinc posted gains amid strong global prices driven by the energy transition and war-related demand. —Mexico jumped from […]

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Key Points —Russia set a quota of 20 million tonnes of fertilizer exports from June through November, extending restrictions in place since 2021. —Brazil is Russia’s single largest fertilizer customer, sourcing 32.2% of its total fertilizer imports from Moscow — roughly 14.7 million tonnes in 2025. —The caps compound a triple supply shock: Hormuz has […]

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Key Points —Morgan Stanley Investment Management is avoiding local-currency government bonds from Brazil and Colombia due to fiscal deficits and election uncertainty. —Fund manager Patrick Campbell described the policy direction under both left-wing governments as mediocre, despite high bond yields. —Brazil faces an 8.5% fiscal deficit ahead of October presidential elections, while Colombia holds its […]

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Key Points —Haiti and the Dominican Republic agreed on April 17 to reopen shared airspace starting May 1, 2026, ending a suspension that began in March 2024. —Flights will connect Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti with three Dominican airports, but Port-au-Prince remains excluded due to ongoing gang control. —The United Nations welcomed the agreement as a […]

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Key Points —The United States, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago signed a joint statement backing Panama’s sovereignty against Chinese economic pressure. —China detained 91 Panama-flagged ships in March alone, up from 25 in January, after Panama revoked CK Hutchison’s canal port concession. —Beijing dismissed the statement as a smear, accusing Washington […]

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The Rio Times — Asia Pulse Covering: SK Hynix · Samsung · KOSPI · China · PBoC · Yuan · SoftBank · OpenAI · BOJ · Nikkei · Sensex · Reliance · Modi · Hormuz · UAE OPEC Exit · ASX · Vietnam · Philippines What Matters Today 1 Korea — SK Hynix Posts ₩37.61T […]

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Key Points — Chile’s state copper miner Codelco entered a $12 million Codelco Pedernales lithium exploration project into environmental evaluation Monday April 27, 2026. The plan filed with Chile’s Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental (SEA) covers 114 boreholes across Codelco’s existing land claims in the Salar de Pedernales, Atacama Region. — The Pedernales filing opens a […]

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3 Key Points —WEG (WEGE3) reported Q1 2026 net income of R$1.457 billion ($277M), down 5.7% year-over-year and 8.2% quarter-over-quarter, missing the Bloomberg consensus of R$1.56 billion by approximately 7% — the fifth disappointment in the last six quarters for Brazil’s most internationally followed industrial blue-chip, with EBITDA of R$2.10 billion ($399M) declining 3.2% and […]

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Key Points — Argentina’s Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni presented his first gestión informe to the Cámara de Diputados Wednesday April 29 at 10:40 a.m. local time, with President Javier Milei, Karina Milei, Economy Minister Luis Caputo, Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, and Capital Humano Minister Sandra Pettovello watching from the central gallery palco. — The Adorni […]

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Key Points — Brazil tax revenue hit R$229.249 billion in March 2026, Receita Federal reported Tuesday April 28 — the highest March result since the historical series began in 1995. Real terms growth (IPCA-adjusted): 4.99 percent year-on-year. Q1 2026 cumulative total: R$777.12 billion nominal, R$784.24 billion in real terms (+4.6% YoY) — also the strongest […]

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Key Points — Cosan SA (B3:CSAN3, NYSE:CSAN) is preparing the Compass IPO Brazil — taking subsidiary Compass Gás e Energia public on B3 at an estimated R$25 billion valuation (US$5 billion) — in what would be the first major Brazilian IPO in over five years. Cosan filed the registration request with CVM on March 5 […]

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