CUBA: Slowly Evolving Socialist Economy Now Under Pressure By China.

BBC / R. PLUMMER / Overview /

   Cuba's struggling socialist system is slowly getting a dose of economic evolution.
   The centrally planned economy is changing but without large-scale market reforms...while still heavily in debt.
    The Paris Club lists Cuba as its second-biggest debtor...owing $30.4bn as of 2009.
    China, one of the island's biggest recent benefactors, is now pushing Cuba to modernize because Beijing is tired of its continual loan repayment failures.

CHILE: Riding Surging Copper And China's Needs Risks Dependency.

M.PRESS/SANTIAGO TIMES/
     All that glitters is not gold. Sometime it's copper.
     Chile has seen its dependency on copper surge to 55% of the nation’s exports in the second quarter of 2010 because of booming demand, especially from China and India.
      Experts would prefer to see a more diversified export mix for a safer, more stable economy.
    Chile's copper production in 1996 was 5.6% of Chile’s GNP, while today it is 16.3%.

ARGENTINA: China Opens Its Market For Beef, Soybeans, Dairy, and Wine.

M.PRESS/     China has finally agreed to open its market to Argentine beef in January. It's ban against Argentine soy-oil importation “on sanitary reasons” was only lifted last month.
   “For Argentina the opening of the Chinese market is most significant, the problem is we don’t have what to export. In the last few years government policies have seen the national herd loose 12 million head of cattle”, complained ag expert Javier Jayo.

EASTERN EUROPE: Chinese Increasing Investments In Poland And Hungary.

NYTIMES/ By JUDY DEMPSEY :
   "From the Baltic states to the Balkans, Chinese companies, flush with money, are buying real estate and competing for public infrastructure contracts, especially as Poland and Ukraine work at breakneck speed to jointly play host to the 2012 European soccer championship. They are also investing in the manufacturing of products like electronics and chemicals to gain a foothold inside Europe’s expansive single market.
Chinese companies are becoming increasingly active in Poland, where the work force is well educated and still relatively inexpensive compared with those in Western European countries.  Trade flows have also changed. “China used to mainly export textiles, shoes and tea to Poland,” said Tomasz Ostaszewicz, director of the bilateral economic cooperation department at the Polish Economy Ministry. “Now China is our main supplier of electronic goods."

BRASIL: China, The Econovore, Consumes Commodities And Now Infrastructure.

REUTERS/    Backed by cheap state financing, China is now Brasil's biggest foreign direct investor with purchases of iron ore mines, farmland and even the electrical grid. "China's interest in Brasil has gone from looking for assets in resources to infrastructure. Its aim is to create a stronger middle class so Brasil becomes a stronger customer and partner for China," said banker Eduardo Centola. Chinese investments announced this year are not all confirmed, but compare to just $83 million in 2009. "The Chinese investment is welcome, but not with much enthusiasm because it is creating hardly any jobs and not having much impact on increasing our exports," said researcher Roberto Giannetti da Fonseca.

PERU: Free Trade Accord With China Begins March 1st.

MERCO PRESS/  China's position as Peru's second largest trading partner behind the US will undoubtedly change as a new free trade accord with it comes into effect on March first. Peru's exports to China are expected to increase 17% to 4.7 billion USD from 4 billion in 2009.

COSTA RICA: Opening-up Free Trade With China.

GLOBAL POST/
Costa Rica has entered the fifth round of negotiations for a free-trade agreement(FTA) with China. The treaty could be wrapped up in late February.
Costa Rica represents an important diplomatic move for China, strengthening its presence in Central America while providing Costa Rican consumers with Chinese-made goods and helping it diversify its exports. But fierce opposition is mounting.

Blame China For Low U.S. Interest Rates.

HUFFINGTON POST/DEAN BAKER
Are you sick and tired of your bank's miserable CD rates?
Yesterday, JP Morgan/Chase was still offering a 24-month CD...for 2% APY!
Remember money market accounts. Forget them!
Is it all the Fed's fault? Much of the blame belongs to...China.

Economist Dean Baker explains that "we absolutely do not need the Chinese government to keep buying U.S. debt and would almost certainly be better off if it stopped tomorrow. Citigroup and the other big banks do need the Chinese government to keep the money flowing if they are to have a chance of getting back on their feet."

China To Build New Dam In Ecuador's Amazon.

LAHT/
The Ecuadorian government signed a contract with Chinese firm Sinohydro to build the massive Coca-Codo-Sinclaire hydroelectric dam in the Amazon region.The dam will be constructed in the Amazon province of Napo, in the east-central part of the country, and it is predicted that it will provide electricity to 75 percent of Ecuador and have a power generation capacity of 1,500 MW.
The dam is the largest investment project in Ecuador and forecast to be finished in about five years, costing an estimated $2 billion.

Overview Of Latin American Economic Rebound.

McCLATCHY/
"A year after the global financial crisis exploded, most Latin American countries are putting the tough times in the rearview mirror during the final three months of 2009. Brazil, the region's giant and the world's ninth largest economy, is leading the way, along with such other market-friendly countries as Peru, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay and Panama."

China Cultivates Cuban Economic Ties.

MIAMI HERALD/
A series of deals by China with Cuba are the result from Chinese economic expansion across the world. Trade between China and Latin America grew from $10 billion in 2000 to $140 billion in 2008.
"The growing relationship suggests that China's financial clout has put it in a position to cultivate something like client states, in the case of Cuba at least, among smaller countries that receive relatively large amounts of Chinese funding and in return toe the line when it comes to issues such as Beijing's controversial policies toward Tibet and Taiwan."

Economic Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere. Which Will Last?

NYTIMES/
"Bubbles are episodes of collective human madness — euphoria over investments whose skyrocketing values are unsustainable.
They tend to arise from perceptions of pending shortages (as happened last year, with the oil bubble); from glamorized new technologies or investment frontiers (like the dot-com bubble of the 1990s, the radio bubble of the 1920s or the multiple railroad bubbles of the 19th century); or from faddish cultural obsessions (like the Dutch tulip bubble of the 17th century, or the more recent Beanie Babies bubble).
Often they are based on legitimate expectations of high growth that are “extrapolated into the stratosphere,” as the economist Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS-Cambridge Energy Research Associates, put it. Such is the fear over investment in emerging markets like China."

China Loans Cuba $600 Million.

AFP.
China signed agreements with Cuba that include a loan of 260 million dollars for the purchase of 10 grain shipments and a 300-million-dollar loan to help improve Cuba's telecommunications network.

Brasil Profits From Aussie/China Iron Ore Dispute.

From MercoPress.

China Pushes Using Its Currency In Trade Deals.

China is stepping-up exclusive use of its currency in recent trade deals... replacing the USD.

For the $USD...this is an important...and disturbing development.

Are Recent Commodity Price Rises...False Hopes?

Wall Street believes the worst may be over... with much recent blather about "green shoots," etc.

Optimism abounds especially among the China bulls who argue that gains in commodity prices will continue for years because of that government's spending.

Other experts voice their disagreement...in a Bloomberg column ...by William Pesek.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aLp2En_IU43E

China's Recent Commodities Buying Spree...Not Sustainable

China's recent commodities buying spree...that has sent prices higher this spring... is not sustainable...say experts.

Could that finally slow the price rise of oil and other commodities?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/business/economy/11commodity.html?scp=6&sq=china&st=cse