Head: Argentina Promises 2003 Export Tax Cut
Argentina’s government has promised farmers it will not further raise export taxes on grains, oilseeds, vegetable oils and vegetable meals, and that it will reduce them in 2003, a farm group chief said Friday. President Eduardo Duhalde met with farmers to discuss their concerns about the taxes and other economic measures.
A television network reported earlier in the week that Argentina planned to increase export taxes on grain, oilseeds and their derivatives another 10 percentage points to between 30% and 33.5%, as part of a new economic program.
Despite the promise of lower export taxes, Argentine farm groups said they planned to go ahead with a strike starting Sunday. Thousands of Argentine farmers are likely to join in the eight-day strike to protest economic policies, further disrupting local grain trade there, an industry official told Reuters News Service.
Members of the Argentine Rural Confederations (CRA) and the Argentine Agriculture Federation (FAA), two of the country’s largest farm groups, plan to halt sales of grain, oilseeds and livestock.
Editors note: Richard Brock, Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.
To see more market perspectives, visit Brock's Web site at www.brockreport.com.
