⁍ Argentina has temporarily cut soybean export taxes by 3 percentage points to 30% to help stimulate trades.
⁍ The move might not be enough to significantly boost selling by growers and generate much-needed export dollars.
⁍ Last year Argentine soy and its derivatives fetched $15.7 billion in export dollars.
– Argentina’s economy has been in recession since last year, and the country is now turning to tax cuts to try to boost exports. The government says it will cut soybean export taxes by 3 percentage points to 30% over the next three months in an effort “to strengthen the country’s international reserves,” Reuters reports. The cut will apply to processed soymeal and soy oil, and all taxes will then rise incrementally until January. “We are seeking to strengthen the country’s international reserves,” Economy Minister Martin Guzman said at an event in Buenos Aires. But farmers and analysts say the move might not be enough to significantly boost selling by growers and generate much-needed export dollars as the government heads into debt renegotiation talks with the International Monetary Fund. Soybeans are the main cash crop of Argentina. The country, also a major exporter of corn and wheat, is the world’s top supplier of soymeal livestock feed used to fatten hogs and poultry from Europe to Southeast Asia. “The reduction of duties will lead to an improvement in producer prices,” says Gustavo Idigoras, head of Argentina’s CIARA-CEC export companies’ chamber. “It is not enough, but it is on the right path of lowering the enormous tax burden that is on the soy chain.”
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/argentina-grains-taxes/update-5-argentina-cuts-soy-export-tax-rate-in-bid-to-boost-fx-reserves-idUSL1N2GS17I