Venezuela

Venezuela has to be described as it is rather than as it was. The economy contracted severely through the last decade, hyperinflation destroyed the bolivar as a trading currency and the US dollar now circulates informally for most commerce, oil production fell far below capacity, and United States and other sanctions apply to the government, PDVSA and a range of listed entities and individuals. EMM screens every Venezuelan enquiry against sanctions lists and end-use requirements, declines any business involving a listed counterparty or a restricted end use, and proceeds only where a lawful payment route can be established. A good deal of private-sector industrial supply falls outside those restrictions.

What is actually being bought

Rehabilitation rather than expansion is the theme. Private food manufacturers are the most active buyers - flour and maize milling for the arepa trade, pasta, bakery, edible oil, dairy, beverage bottling and water treatment - replacing plant that has been run without spares for years. Agriculture is recovering in the llanos and the Andean states and takes irrigation, grain handling, milling, coffee processing and cold storage. Fisheries along the Caribbean coast buy ice, freezing and cold storage. Construction materials, cement, block and bar processing serve a slowly reviving building market. Oil service and maintenance businesses buy pumps, valves, compressors and workshop equipment within what sanctions permit. Cargo lands at Puerto Cabello, which handles most container traffic, La Guaira for Caracas, Maracaibo for the west, or Guanta in the east.

Power is the design constraint

The grid has suffered repeated nationwide failures, and extended outages are routine in much of the country. Nothing should be specified here on the assumption of mains supply: we quote diesel generating sets, solar with battery storage, voltage stabilisers and soft starters alongside almost every machine, and we choose plant that tolerates wide voltage swing and restarts cleanly after an outage. The supply standard is 120 V and 240 V at 60 Hz, the North American pattern rather than the South American one. SENCAMER administers standards. Spanish documentation throughout.

Tell us who the buyer is, what the machine is for and how the money would move. Screening comes before any quotation, and the answer may be no.