BrazzilMag

The Brazilian coconut water market is around 600 million liters a year. The development of machinery to extract the water from the fruit and the packaging technology has made the sector expand rapidly since the 1990's. Sales of the Brazilian product in long life packages have doubled in the last five years, rising from 60 million to 120 million units.

The participation of indigenous people in the 2004 Cry of the Excluded protest brought the issue of their presence in urban areas of the country to the surface. In Campo Grande, MS, the Cry brought together 700 people in the Água Bonita settlement, which is located on the outskirts of the capital city.

Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade minister Luiz Fernando Furlan stated yesterday, at the opening of the 34th edition of the international supermarket fair (Expo Abras) in Rio de Janeiro, that the Brazilian government wants to promote development of the domestic market, but without affecting country export.

Petrobras, Brazil's state-run oil company, reports that its production of petroleum and gas in Brazil and abroad was an average 2,041,753 barrels per day in August. That is down slightly, 0.8%, compared to July, and down 2.3%, compared to August 2003.

Renowned economist, Jeffrey Sachs, who is presently a UN consultant on the Millennium Targets project, says the proposal by Brazil to exclude government spending by poor nations on housing and basic sanitation from primary account calculations is very interesting.

Brazilian bovine meat exports have produced a revenue of US$ 1.555 billion between January and August this year, against US$ 875.3 million during the same period last year, which represents a 77.75% increase.

The BioFach América Latina 2004, the continent's biggest organic product fair, ended on Friday in Rio, Brazil, with business worth much more than expected; a reported US$2.6 million (R$8 million).

Brazil will report to the United Nations (UN) on the steps that have been taken to observe the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is the first time in 14 years that the Brazilian government has complied with this requirement.

Brazil's Ministry of Education (MEC) is sponsoring a comprehensive debate on education and indigenous communities. The purpose of the seminars and public hearings that have been held around the country by the MEC's Secretariat of Ongoing Education, Literacy Instruction, and Diversity (Secad) is to identify the progress and challenges of indigenous education.

Around nine million public school students will complete high school in 2004 in Brazil. But at least two million will be unable to attend institutions of higher education, because either they lack money to pay the entrance examination fee, or they realize that, if they pass, they will lack the means to remain in the course, even if it is in a public university.