With the focus on increasing competitiveness in olive production, through economic and commercial integration, the Ministry of Agroindustry held the National Olive Chain Board, where, together with officials from the portfolio, producers, industrialists and representatives from the public and private sectors, different axes of joint work for the development of the sector were analyzed.
The meeting was headed by Minister Luis Miguel Etchevehere, who noted that “Within the three lines of work that we promote from Agroindustria, there are debureaucratization, competitiveness, and the opening of markets, competitiveness tables, where we meet with different representatives of the chains, and we try to respond to the problems of the sector, are an efficient tool" while highlighting that "this way of working is here to stay, this exercise has to be a model to see what strategies we undertake to expand, so that a sector such as the olive chain can express its potential."
The minister was accompanied in the leadership of the table by the Chief of Cabinet, Santiago del Solar; the Secretaries of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Guillermo Bernaudo; of Food and Bioeconomy, Andrés Murchinson; the Undersecretaries of Agriculture, Luis Urriza; of International Relations, Maximiliano Moreno and the National Director of Food and Beverages, Mercedes Nimo.
Adulterated oils
"It is essential that we work together to achieve the competitiveness of the chain, so that olive oil and olives can reach competitive prices and the largest number of markets possible," said Etchevehere. He added: "It is important to talk with all the representatives of the provinces and their productive actors because they have similar realities, such as The control of adulterated oils, a sensitive issue that we are tackling head on, as well as the import of capital goods with zero tariffs and logistics costs."
Energy, refunds, operations
The agenda included issues related to energy; export refunds and duties; operational issues with the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP); trade agreements reached and those under negotiation, and export promotion strategies.
Regarding energy, there was a debate about the efficiency and possibilities offered by renewable energies.A proposal was also presented by the sector to make a conversion to solar energy and the members of the Government Energy Secretariat present announced a series of Tax benefits for the conversion to renewable energy soon to be implemented.
From the private sector, it was requested to also include, in relation to the AFIP, issues linked to operational issues and the new billing system and deadlines for payment of fees.
Finally, it was agreed to frame the strategy of Promotion of Exports in the Argentina Exporta Plan to achieve greater synergy between the various national and provincial public-private institutions, with a view to the short and medium term. In a few days, the specific roundtable on trade promotion will be convened.
For the next meeting it was agreed to add as an additional point an agenda for each province, to continue raising olive development policies prioritizing the complexities of each territory.
Facts & figures
Argentina is the world's 5th exporter of table olives and the 6th of olive oil. The main producing provinces They are Salta, Catamarca, La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza, Cordoba, Buenos Aires, Rio Negro and Neuquen.
There are 90.000 hectares planted in Argentina and more than 150 companies produce 240.000 tons of olives. Currently, more than US$ 226 million are exported to 30 markets.
The Secretaries of Food and Beverages, Andrés Murchison; of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Guillermo Bernaudo, participated on behalf of the Secretariat of Government of Agroindustry, together with other officials of the agroindustrial portfolio.
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