The Argentine Oil Industry Chamber (Ciara) urged on Thursday (05.03.2020) to defend the industrialization of soybeans by establishing export duties that do not penalize transformation and employment in Argentina, in reference to the increase in withholdings ordered today.
He indicated that Decree 230/2020 published today "It raises the duty rates not only for soybeans but also for soybean flour and oil, punishing, through a value-added tax on exports, industrialization, employment and the greater generation of foreign currency for the country as the first national export sector and world leader in these processed products.«.
In this regard, he pointed out that the government has established lower export duties than those for raw materials, for wheat flour, corn, processed peanuts, processed fish, among others, "aiming to generate employment and greater exports of industrialized products."
"That is why - he added - we propose that the government apply a equal tax treatment "in order to recover the strength of soybean industrialization in our country."
For Ciara, "the government is facing the challenge of achieving a sustainable external debt," although she considered "that it must be done with a logic of building and defending the national industry."
"Competitor countries welcome this measure because it will allow Argentina to be displaced from buyer markets, install milling plants in other countries, and increase exports of unprocessed soybeans," Ciara warned in a statement.
He mentioned as an example that "the process of primary production of soybeans, which meant that their sale as unprocessed beans abroad grew by 140% last year - according to data from Indec - is detrimental to the development of employment, industrialization in the country and depresses local prices for producers, thereby reducing the export of products with higher added value and consequently the greater income of foreign currency."
He indicated that "this tax inequality, established two years ago after decades of promoting industrialization in Argentina, It harms the diversification of exports to more than 60 markets«.
It also affects "the possibility of annualized delivery of soybeans by producers, more flexible quality and price criteria in favor of local farmers; the international evaluation of the quality of Argentine industrialized products, the loyalty of buyers around the world, and the country's preponderance as the leading exporter of protein flours and oils in a reliable and permanent manner."
Ciara stressed that “The chain of industrialization and export of soy products generates positive effects in other industrial links, in investments in ports and land, rail and maritime infrastructure, as well as in the national territorial roots.«.
Ciara urged the government to "review this measure in light of defending a national industry that seeks to increase exports, diversify markets, expand investments and protect qualified employment.
Finally, the entity considered that "the sustainable development of the country must be based on an agro-industrial export expansion plan on which we want to work with the national government from now on."
Source: Telam
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