Brazilian Business Roundup - April 14

If you have a keen interest in Brazil’s business landscape, you’ve come to the right place! We’re here to curate the most relevant business developments in Brazil and Latin America just for you. In 5 minutes, we’ll give you an overview of Brazil and Latin America's most compelling business issues. Our goal is to provide you with insights that will help you make better business decisions. So let’s dive right in!

????Brazil’s dirty list gets (much) longer. The Brazilian government updated its so-called “dirty list” of companies using slave labor. The list got 248 new entries, a record number that has taken the total tally to 654. Read the details

??Corporate financing via capital market breaks record. Capital market operations and instruments accounted for 42.4 percent of Brazilian companies' consolidated debt in 2023, double that of a decade ago. Read the details

??Brazil’s accounts court to rule on past JBS deals. In 2014, the House Financial Oversight and Control Committee asked for the Federal Accounts Court (TCU), a watchdog of public spending, to examine past agreements involving Brazil’s National Development Bank, BNDES. Read more

??Brazil seeks cocoa self-sufficiency. Record prices reached this week are also the basis for the sale of cocoa in the Brazilian market, the world's fifth-largest chocolate consumer. Read the details

???New oil discoveries. Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil and gas giant, announced in this week’s securities filing that it has discovered “an accumulation of oil in ultra-deep waters of the Potiguar Basin.” Read more

???An inclusive fitness app lands in Brazil. Accessercise, an app co-created by British Paralympian Ali Jawad, rolls out in the second half this year in Brazil, offering more than 400 video lessons for people with disabilities. Read more

??Pressure on Brazil to can remaining coal. According to a worldwide report by renewable energy NGO Global Energy Monitor, Brazil has two coal power plant projects in the pre-construction phase, making it the only country in Latin America to still have future coal plants in the pipeline. Read more

??Trade tensions rise as U.S. accuses China of using Mexico as backdoor. A trade war against the Asian giant has turned Mexico into the main source of U.S. imports, but Washington suspects Beijing is using third parties to circumvent tariffs. Read more

???The Brazilian Report at Web Summit Rio

For the second year running, The Brazilian Report will take part in one of America’s most important tech industry events: Web Summit Rio .?

Following our stellar participation at last year’s edition, the TBR team will moderate three different panels at next week's mega-conference. On April 16, our co-founder and editor-in-chief Gustavo Ribeiro will lead market discussions as moderator of a panel entitled “Is the IPO market back in business?” He will be joined by important entrepreneurs from FM/Derraik , Domo.VC and NXTP Ventures .?

Gustavo returns on April 18 to moderate another panel, “What VCs don't want you to know,” alongside Latitud co-founder Brian Requarth . The official Web Summit Rio website says the panel will explore how “finding the right investor is often more important than the money the investment brings in.”

Sandwiched between these two events, on April 17, deputy editor Fabiane Ziolla Menezes will join Emily C. Chiu , co-founder and COO of TBD at Block, and Ludmila Pontremolez , co-founder and CTO of Zippi , to moderate a panel entitled “Leading through the AI era.”

The event will discuss how leaders deal with this technological advancement and direct their teams “in this time of great change and uncertainty.”

Brazilian Report CEO Laura Quirin says that being a part of Web Summit Rio for a second year in a row is “significant and exciting.” She remembers when she first envisioned being part of the event in 2015, concluding that “dreaming small or big requires the same energy.”

???Save the date for TBR

April 16 - What VCs don't want you to know

15:30 - 16:10 - Stage 3 Pavilion 4

-

April 17 - Leading through the AI era

11:45 - 12:05 - Center Stage Pavilion 6

-

April 18 - Is the IPO market back in business?

11:25 - 11:50 - Center Stage Pavilion 6

(You can also check out our Web Summit 2023 coverage here)

See you there!?

If you’ve got this far and you like what you see, you can either consider giving one of our month-for-a-dollar offers a try (all subscriptions are $1 for the first month). Check out our plans here

??The future of nuclear power in Brazil’s diversified energy infrastructure. Brazil's nuclear energy goals may be focused more on military objectives than adding much to their ambitious sustainability agenda. Read the details

?????Crime costs hundreds of billions to Brazil’s public and private sectors. According to data from the Violence Atlas study, Brazil spends 5.9 percent of its gross domestic product (around USD 120 billion) every year on crime and violence. Looking at the private sector alone, however, the spend is equivalent to 4.2 percent of GDP. Read more

??Lula wasn’t in on dividends decision. Brazil’s Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was not involved in a decision by Petrobras to retain the state-controlled company’s so-called extraordinary dividends, directly contradicting the oil giant’s CEO Jean Paul Prates. Read the details

???NFL confirms Packers will play Eagles in Brazil game. The U.S. National Football League (NFL) has shared details about its first-ever game in Brazil. The Philadelphia Eagles were known to host their season opener in S?o Paulo, but now the @NFL has confirmed that the Green Bay Packers will be the visiting team. Read more

??Government denies raises while boosting public service numbers. Management Minister Esther Dweck reiterated during an interview for the federal government’s broadcast network that there is no planned pay raise for public service workers in 2024, as the 9 percent across-the-board increase from 2023 already has a “big impact” on this year’s budget. Read the details

??? On this week’s podcast …

Every Wednesday we bring you a new episode of the Explaining Brazil podcast — which was a finalist for the Digiday Media Awards for Best Podcast! You can find our podcast on all major podcast platforms! Subscribe today and never miss an episode.

Elon Musk has stated that Brazil is on the verge of becoming an Orwellian dystopia in which one man — Supreme Court Justice Alexandre — decides what can be said online. This week, we talked to Daniel Castro on content moderation in Brazil. You can listen to the full episode here.

If you like our podcast, we would be happy to share with you how advertising on Explaining Brazil could leverage your business to the next level. Drop us an email at [email protected]

That wraps up this week’s edition. See you next Sunday evening! Subscribe to Brazilian Business News Roundup, your essential weekly recap to never miss a beat when it comes to understanding Brazil’s business environment.?

If you want to make sure you get all the updates, there’s an even better way. Discover the benefits of our subscriptions and stay ahead of the news. Remember, today you are only getting a snippet of our content, but we offer top-notch analyses on our website. Our plans start at just $1 for the first month.?

If you have any suggestions, feedback, or topics you’d like us to cover, feel free to reach out.?

Stay informed on a daily basis – Follow us on our LinkedIn page! Bringing you closer to the heartbeat of Brazil and Latin America! Follow The Brazilian Report's WhatsApp channel for a direct line to the latest news and stories.?

-

Founded in 2017, The Brazilian Report is an English-language media outlet uniquely positioned to provide an insider’s view of current affairs in Brazil and Latin America, with a mission to make Latin Americans’ voices heard and become the reference for Latin American news worldwide. An award-winning newsroom, The Brazilian Report has just received recognition for its portfolio of newsletters at this year’s Wan Ifra Awards.

Within 6 years of existence, The Brazilian Report has gained international recognition. It has become the go-to source for several embassies, think tanks, and international news outlets, including Time Magazine, CNBC, BBC Worldwide, Vox, Axios, Radio France, CGTN, among others.