Originally posted in the Prensa Latina.
Bogota, Dec 15 (Prensa Latina) The construction of a highway, electrical interconnection and joint fight against border crime will strengthen integration between Colombia and Brazil, fruit of the meeting between the nations´ presidents.
Giant brewer SABMiller bought an additional 62.37 million shares in Colombian brewer Bavaria for $1.215 billion in a tender, the Colombian Stock Exchange said.
SABMiller now owns 96.97 percent of South America’s second-biggest brewer, Bavaria’s president, Ricardo Obregon, told a news conference. (Original Story)
Story taken from Forbes.com
Colombian coffee export revenue rose 58 percent to US$1.6 billion (euro1.36 billion) in the 2004-2005 coffee season – the highest in seven years – due to higher global prices and increased production of organic and gourmet beans, officials said Wednesday.
“It was a year of recovery for the coffee sector,” Gabriel Silva, head of Colombia’s National Coffee Federation, said at the organization’s annual conference in Bogota.
Prices averaged US$1.14 per pound in the 2004-2005 coffee season, which runs from October to September, up from 77 cents per pound in the 2003-2004 season.
The increase follows a five-year price slump due to global overproduction that impoverished coffee farmers worldwide.
Silva said Colombia is increasingly focusing on producing high-quality organic beans that earn a greater profit.
Despite the revenue increase, Colombian coffee producers lost US$120 million (euro102 million) this year because of the weakness of the U.S. dollar against the Colombian peso, Silva said.
Coffee is Colombia’s third-largest export after oil and coal.
