In 2023 the main parades of the Grupo Especial in Rio de Janeiro’s carnival are currently scheduled to take place on the nights of Sunday, 19 February and Monday, 20 February 2022. The 12 schools and the order that they will parade in 2023 are:
Sunday, 19 February 2023
Monday, 20 February 2023
10 years ago in April 2012 we launched a labour of love, www.braziltheguide.com, which was followed two years later – in time for the 2014 FIFA World Cup – by the much more complete www.riotheguide.com.
The reason we launched the sites was that we were and still do get consulted about Rio and Brazil on a weekly basis and this seemed an easier way of telling people where to find the information and share it. We were also often asked when we would update “The Insider’s Guide to Rio de Janeiro”, last published in print form in 1995, and the web sites seemed the obvious answer. #brazil #riodejaneiro
According to figures from ApexBrasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, Brazil’s exports to the UK rose by 21% to hit £2.2bn by the end of 2021. The exports are Brazil’s highest by value to the UK since 2014, and contributed to Brazil registering a record global trade surplus in 2021 of £44.4bn.
In the food and drink sector, Brazilian fruit exports to the UK grew by 15% with strong demand for tropical varieties and superfruits such as mangos, papayas, peaches, nectarines, and berries. Taking advantage of post-Brexit trade between Brazil and the UK, sugar and ethanol exports surged by 67% to hit €122.6m / £105.5m, the result of a new sugar import quota agreed by the UK government which allows for higher volumes of tariff-free sugarcane from Brazil.
Exports to the European Union rose by 32% in 2021 to reach €30.8bn / £26.5bn, the highest since 2013. The total value of goods exported by Brazil in 2021 totalled €236.8bn / £203.7bn, a rise of 32% on 2020 values, and an all-time high for the country.
In the other direction Brazilian imports of UK goods rose by just 9% to £1.8bn in total for 2021, with particularly high demand in Brazil for oil and gas products (5,530% increase in value to reach £41.5m), British spirits (105% increase to £15.8m), chemicals (54% increase to £37.2m), and transport equipment (35% increase to £15.3m). Imports from the EU totalled €32.4bn / £27.8bn, a rise of 26% on 2020 levels. Brazilian demand was strongest for EU oil and petroleum products, pharmaceuticals and chemicals
As Latin America gets back to some form of normality, we have the list of what are considered to be the 100 best restaurants in Latin America “past and present”.
Due to the pandemic the organisers decided to come up with a retrospective list, which spans 12 countries and was created by aggregating the votes from all previous editions, all the way down to No.1, being crowned The Greatest Restaurant in Latin America 2013-2021. The top ten are:
Brazil has 17 restaurants listed in the Top 100 and they are:
The short video counts them down:
With a 1×0 win over Colombia on 11 November 2021, Brazil mathematically guaranteed its place at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in December 2022, and in doing so remains the only country to qualify for every single one of the 22 World Cup Finals, winning five of them.
After the finals in Russia in 2018, Brazil is tied with Germany in playing 109 games in the finals, but has won 73 games compared to Germany’s 67. Brazil has also scored 229 goals in finals, compared to Germany’s 226.
Follow the World Cup at www.worldcuptheguide.com
it has been confirmed that in September 2023 Rock in Rio will morph into “The Town”, a new music festival for São Paulo, which will take place at the Grand Prix circuit of Interlagos over two weekends.
600,000 people will be expected over the five days of the festival that has Heineken as its main sponsor and will be supported by TV Globo and Multishow. The stage set and setting will reflect the skyscrapers of São Paulo. It is probably that Brazil will see Rock in Rio and The Town on alternate years. There is certainly the demand.
For more information on The Town CLICK HERE
Given the number of restaurants in São Paulo it can be useful to know what the top three in each category of Veja São Paulo’s list of best restaurants were in the 25th edition of “Comer & Beber”. The winner listed first.
Brazil’s most popular news magazine, Veja, also produces special editions for Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and both produce and annual guide to the cities bars and restaurants, “Comer & Beber”. The guide has just published its 25th edition for both Rio and São Paulo and have also produced their list of the best in each city for 2021. They are:
RIO DE JANEIRO
SÃO PAULO
Aly Muritiba’s “Deserto Particular” (Private Desert) has been chosen as Brazil’s official selection in the Best International Film category for the Academy Awards in 2022.
It tells the story of 40-year-old Daniel (Antonio Saboia), who has been suspended from active police work in Curitiba, in the south of Brazil, and is under internal investigation for violence. When Sara, his internet love affair, stops answering his texts he decides to drive north to the interior of Bahia in search of her, starting on what is apparently a fool’s errand. He shows Sara’s picture around, but nobody seems to recognise the woman, until eventually one man says he can put the two in touch but under very specific conditions.
The film premiered and was very well received at the Venice Film Festival in September in Venice Days (Giornate degli Autori). It will open in Brazil on 25 November.
According to the latest numbers released by Apex-Brasil, Brazilian exports to, and imports from, the UK have bounced back strongly to pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter of 2021.
The total value of Brazilian exports to the UK increased by 41% year on year, which is 5% more than exported in the same period of 2019. Similarly, Brazilian imports of UK goods soared by 52% in Q2 2021, up 29% on Q2 2019 and the highest value since 2015. This equates to bilateral trade between Brazil and the UK reaching US$1.4bn (£1bn) between Brazil and the UK, a 46% increase on Q2 2020 and 15% above Q2 2019 levels.
Part of the increase is due to an upsurge in commodity prices, such as metal ores, oil and soy as well as export growth in transport equipment, chemicals and metallurgical products.
Brazil also recorded a large trade surplus with the EU of $911m (€756m, £652.1m), the highest for a quarter since 2011. This is a turnaround on the deficit of $1.4bn (€1.1bn, £1bn) Brazil had with the EU in Q1 2021.
Brazil the Guide 