It’s clear that with the current overload of debt in the US, Europe and Japan (see Marc Faber last Monday) and the lack of growth in those markets,people are turning there eyes to other markets.
If you missed the 50 minute interview with Eike Batista on Charlie Rose: watch it now.
You cannot enter Brasil without knowing Eike Batista. His father ran Vale do Rio Doce, which is the world’s largest iron ore exporter. But none of his children could get involved in Vale, good business sense of him. Batista then did his own investments in iron ore, Brazilian infrastructure and oil and is becoming the world richest man in less than a decade.
But the interesting side of this interview is Eike Batista’s view of global growth. he points out that Brazil now has everything: a great natural resource base (huge offshore oil reserves, Batista believes that Brazil can become the 5th largest oil exporter in the world, a strong manufacturing sector).
Brazil was nearly not affected by the Western banking collapse. Why? Because only 14% of Brazil’s GDP is exported and because of Brazil’s growing booming middle class.
A lot of Batista’s business is with the Chinese. He is building ports and other facilities to ship iron ore, soy, and soon oil to China. He his great admiration for what is happening in China: “A billion-person middle class – they quickly become the low cost/high quality producer of everything: they are unstoppable.” But China is natural resource poor and they need to buy them from Brazil and other natural resource rich countries.
Also note how Batista points to the Brazilian banks being completely underleveraged today. Batista also requires respect for giving credits to Fernando Henrique (read the book on him) for Brazil’s current success.
Tags: Eike Batista
