Loma Negra, a symbol of what is happening in the sector: there is a record of production and cost

Since being acquired by the Camargo Correa group by Amalita Fortabat in 2005, Loma Negra has maintained its leadership in the local cement business where other international players have arrived. The Brazilian group took it on the stock exchange within its cement division and in the last year it has left several countries to focus on Argentina, South Africa, Mozambique and Egypt. Here, after an investment of $ 350 million that was completed in 2021, they expanded L’Amelie in Olavarría and this year will reach an all-time high in cement production, surpassing that of 2017. The problem is the costs, as they reveal. , since cement is energy and logistics. For this reason, the managing director, Sergio Faiman, has proposed several projects for the replacement of wind energy, with a park that is about to be built in Olavarría and for the transformation of waste into energy with the plant they already have in Uribelarrea.

Considered a native plant that grows everywhere, the best jarilla in Argentina grows on approximately 18,000 hectares in the town of Chepes, La Rioja. The active ingredient of this plant combined with that of Ethiopian coffee are a solution for hair loss. Conicet researchers Claudia Anesini and Silvina Sede discovered this 12 years ago. Subsequently, with the former Roche and the former Bayer, Sergio Garré, and in what was a public-private partnership, they created Ecohair. In Villa Maipú and in what is a world-class plant with certifications from the United States, Europe and Japan, scientist Yramis Lugones directs the production process in which she sends a traceability that comes to the name of the plant’s collector. They say the importer trap has blocked them from key inputs like organic Ethiopian coffee and a decaf coffee they import from Mexico. The company pays royalties to La Rioja for jarilla and to Conicet for its discovery. Garré sold his house to found the company in 2010, they call themselves a technology-based SME. They just added new baby products and eyebrow and eyelash regeneration. They are landing in Spain with commercial offices and are growing in Chile, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Despite Argentina having a large supply of land, water and cold hours, fruit production is in intensive care. Adolfo Storni, of the Bulgheroni Extraberries family company, is one of the main promoters of the unification of the various branches of activity in a coalition called Frutti d’Argentina. According to a study conducted together with Ernesto Saade, the diagnosis is the following: lack of profitability, high tax burden, distorting taxes with anti-export and anti-employment bias, a problem of access to markets due to the lack of trade agreements and the existence of import duties at destination that take away our competitiveness compared to other origins that do not have them. They also point out that there are other countries that are very competitive compared to Argentina (Chile, Peru, South Africa, Colombia, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand). One problem is the lack of access to credit and work due to competition with informality, social plans and training. This resulted in a decline in production and exports.

The creation of a smart city that will become the headquarters of Cologne’s technology companies and universities del Sacramento already has the approval of the Uruguayan government. The initiative led by Eduardo Bastitta, who is the CEO of Plaza Logística, one of the leaders in transport solutions. Bastitta is the son of the owner of the property where the urbanization will be built on about 500 hectares. The project is known as + Cologne. The first neighborhood is called Genesis and the idea is that it is a hub of life for both banks, Buenos Aires and Colonia, which are 50 minutes away. They have the interest of Uruguayan and Argentine real estate developers, global technology companies, educational institutions and transportation companies. The initial investment is $ 100 million and has the attractiveness of a free zone for companies to settle down. “+ Cologne is not trying to compete with Argentina, but rather the opposite. We want an alliance to be created. There is a City project to revitalize downtown Buenos Aires and the idea of ​​offering businesses to generate districts on both sides, ”says Bastitta.

The economic crisis resulting from the pandemic has put Latin America in difficulty to cope with the payment of its debt with its creditors, including China. The IMF seems to have taken note and in a recent document talks about the possibility of trading the debt with nature. The initiative can make debt manageable by protecting the environment. This is what Oscar Soria, campaign director of Avaaz, the NGO that took its name from Sanskrit and which means voice, proposes. Soria met with the governors on a tour of several provinces. He admits it’s hard to make but remembers they’re not new tools. In the 1990s, organizations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) bought some of Bolivia and Ecuador’s debt and, in return, countries pledged to protect endangered species or reduce deforestation. Between 1991 and 2003, nearly $ 1.1 billion was generated for conservation through environmental debt swaps.