Canadian Pacific clinches $27-bln Kansas City Southern deal as rival bows out

09/16/2021

Source: Reuters

Sept 15 (Reuters) – Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (CP.TO) inked a $27.2 billion cash-and-stock deal to buy Kansas City Southern (KSU.N) on Wednesday after Canadian National Railway Co (CNR.TO) conceded it could not save its own $29.6-billion deal for the U.S. railway.

The combination will create the first direct railway linking Canada, the United States and Mexico, with a network spanning 20,000 miles and approximately $8.7 billion of annual revenue. It marks the end of a high-stakes bidding war.

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Refugee agency pleads for more money amid flood of Haitians into Mexico

09/14/2021

Source: Mexico News Daily

As record numbers of migrants stream into the country, a government agency at the forefront of responding to the influx is facing a budget cut, prompting its chief to appeal to Congress for more money.

Almost 80,000 migrants, including large numbers of Haitians, have applied for asylum after crossing into the country via the southern border this year.

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Mexico asks US to commit $108 million a month to Central America jobs plan

09/14/2021

Source: Mexico News Daily

Mexico has asked the United States to provide US $108.4 million a month to fund the implementation of two employment programs in Central America.

As part of efforts to attend to the structural causes of migration in the region, the United States agreed last week to collaborate on the expansion of the Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) tree-planting employment program and the Youths Building the Future apprenticeship scheme.

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Mexico Tourism Spending Increased This Summer

09/13/2021

Source: Travel Pulse

New data shows that while international visitor arrival numbers in Mexico were down compared to pre-pandemic levels, those who did enter the country in July spent more money than they did in 2019.

According to Mexico News Daily, Mexico’s national statistics agency Inegi announced that an estimated 3.38 million international visitors came to Mexico in July 2021, a 19 percent decline from the 4.16 million foreign arrivals reported during July 2019.

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Citrus exports soar 28% in first seven months of the year

09/07/2021

Source: Mexico News Daily

The export of citrus fruits shot up 28.3% in the first seven months of the year in annual terms.

The value of those exports was US $912.3 million, compared to US $711 million over the same period in 2020.

Mexico is the world’s second largest exporter of lemon, with 17.7% of the value of world sales, and the fourth largest exporter of grapefruit. However, the agricultural sector commits the largest growing area of any citrus fruit to oranges.

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Record Remittances from US to Mexico Raise Money Laundering Concerns

09/01/2021

Source: Insight Crime

The Mexican government is highlighting a record number of remittances sent back to the country by citizens living in the United States this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but organized crime groups have long exploited these transfers to launder ill-gotten proceeds.

Mexico’s Central Bank (Banco de México – Banxico) reported that more than $28 billion in remittances have been sent from the United States during the first seven months of 2021, according to official data.

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Oxygen firms accused of intimidating Mexican hospitals during pandemic

08/25/201

Source: The Guardian

In March 2020, Benjamin Espinoza Zavala saw an entire floor of his small hospital in Guanajuato, central Mexico, converted into Covid-19 wards. The hospital’s need for oxygen soared.

Deliveries from CryoInfra, part of the Grupo Infra group, occasionally slowed to once every couple of days, and he had to buy in extra to cover the sudden gaps in supply. Prices increased.

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Hurricane Grace a bane to some Veracruz farmers, a boon to others

08/25/2021

Source: Mexico Daily News

Hurricane Grace was both friend and foe to farmers in Veracruz, which bore the brunt of the storm’s wrath when it carved a destructive westward path across Mexico on Saturday.

In the municipality of Papantla, community landowners in La Concha lost many hectares of orange, banana and corn crops to Grace, which slammed into the Veracruz coast as a Category 3 hurricane.

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UPDATE 1-GM workers in Mexico defeat union in first test of US trade deal

08/19/2021

Source: Yahoo! Finance

MEXICO CITY, Aug 19 (Reuters) – Workers at a General Motors pickup plant in the central Mexican city of Silao have voted to scrap their collective contract, opening the door for them to oust one of Mexico’s largest labor organizations as their union in a historic move.

The vote marked the first test of labor rules under a new trade deal that replaced the 1994 North American Free Agreement (NAFTA), with a series of safeguards agreed by Mexico and the United States to ensure a fair vote.

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June remittances up 25%; year to date they’re up 22%

08/03/2021

Source: Mexico News Daily

Remittance payments, the country’s most important source of foreign income, broke the US $4-billion mark for the fourth consecutive month in June and were up 25.5% for the month in annual terms.

The $4.43 billion was received through 11.3 million transactions.

The $23.61 billion received in remittance payments in the first six months of the year also represents the highest for the first half of any year, and was up 22.4% over last year.

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