Read more articles authored by Descartes Datamyne

Guar Is Thicker than Water

In demand for fracking, supplies of the Asian beans are thin on the ground The new “black gold” isn’t oil, but guar, a bean whose seeds are made into a gum used to thicken sauces, ice cream, yogurts – and now “proppants,” the materials that are forced into fractured...

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Brazilian Spirit

Cachaça is in a class by itself, USTR says (and, please, don’t call it rum) UK distiller Diageo is set to pay $450 million to Ypióca Agroindustrial Limitada to acquire the leading premium cachaça brand, Ypióca, the Financial Times reports. The acquisition, Diageo...

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Getting Out of Detention

Clearing red-listed seafood through the FDA? There’s a procedure for that. by Peter Quinter, guest columnist The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issues “Import Alerts” almost daily. A recent one that affects many seafood importers is Import Alert #16-81, issued...

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Argentine Perishables to Wilt

Brazil retaliates in response to Mercosur partner’s protectionist policies Reuters reports that Brazil will end automatic import licensing for 10 perishable products from Argentina, including apples, raisins, potatoes, wheat flour, and some cheeses and wines. The...

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Vanilla Price Watch

Speculative rumors produce real increases, although not nearly as big as 2003 Last month, a flurry of headlines, starting with a report in the UK’s Telegraph, warned that the wholesale price of vanilla was set to rise sharply – adding as much as 10% to the retail...

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Coffee Perks up Fair Trade Stats

Fair trade coffee gains ground among fine, specialty brews As Bill Armbruster notes in Fair Trade: Sustainable Trend?, imported coffee accounted for 78% of all the fair trade premiums paid by US companies in 2011. Fair Trade USA reports that 2011 was a banner year for...

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Fair Trade: Sustainable Trend?

Consumers are willing, but divorce divides the movement by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Poverty has historically been the lot of small-holding farmers in developing countries. The fair trade movement seeks to change that by appealing to global consumers to pay a...

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Uruguay’s Rising Star

S&P restores Uruguay to investment grade, while Fitch boosts outlook to positive After raising its sovereign credit rating on Uruguay to BBB-/A-3 from BB+/B1 on April 3, S&P followed up with the same  boost to Citibank Uruguay’s global scale counterparty...

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