The reduction in the aliquot of the rights to peanut exports will allow around 40 million dollars to remain in Córdoba.
Last Tuesday, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Nation announced the rise in withholdings on soybean exports, from 30 to 33 percent, with reductions to other products, such as peanuts, which will go from 12 to seven percent.
The measure has a direct impact on Córdoba, since the province concentrates more than 95 percent of the production and industrial processing of peanuts.
The chain of the sector is the 14th export complex in the country, above aluminum and dairy, with sales in 2019 of 841 million dollars to more than one hundred countries, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec).
Market data indicates that the sector has a thousand producers and some 30 processing companies.
According to preliminary calculations by the Córdoba Cereal Exchange, the drop of five points in withholdings will reduce payments, from almost 94 million to 55 million dollars, which implies that almost 40 million dollars will remain in the province.
The estimate takes as reference a performance exporter of 850 million dollars, according to the average of the last 10 years. On average, a container of the peanut chain leaves Córdoba for the world every 20 minutes.
Data from the provincial Ministry of Agriculture indicate that this year more than 300 thousand hectares were planted and that the harvest, which begins at the end of April, would leave a production of 850 thousand tons. After industrial processing, some 600,000 tons would remain to sell abroad.
To this – indicates the Cereal Exchange – it is necessary to add one million dollars more of the chickpea, which also benefits from a reduction of the aliquot from nine to five percent, with which another 40 million dollars are added. “These are preliminary calculations. We must wait for the official resolution to see if they will pay the same for raw peanuts, blanched (peeled), flour and peanut oil, ”explained Gonzalo Agusto, economist at the Córdoba Cereal Exchange.
According to its projections, even with these and other reductions in withholdings (including sunflower, corn and wheat flours, rice and some varieties of corn), the Government will raise its collection by 200 million dollars.
Relief for the sector
“As serious as having retentions is, it is good news, because the financial situation of the sector is complicated,” said Eduardo Nervi, president of the Argentine Chamber of Peanuts.
The director stressed that the efforts from Córdoba of the minister and the secretary of Industry of the Province, Eduardo Accastello and Fernando Sibilla, respectively, were key.
“The dialogue that was achieved opens up the possibility of a new work agenda. It must be considered a regional economy and improve logistics, market opening and access to financing to improve technology in the sector, “he said.
Luis Macario, director of Gastaldi Hnos., Added that the measure will not generate an increase in future planting, but “it means an improvement in the sector, which starts from a very low level of profitability, especially among producers.”
Pig production: It also achieved sales
It benefits the export of pork from Córdoba.
5%. Under the new withholding scheme, pork will go from paying a nine percent aliquot to paying five percent. The measure benefits many projects in Córdoba that are entering foreign trade, such as the Qualitá refrigerator, authorized for shipments of pork to China. Piamontesa is another firm authorized to export pork cuts to the Asian giant.
The original text of this article was published on 03/05/2020 in our printed edition.
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