Close Menu
Invest Intellect
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Invest Intellect
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Home
    • Commodities
    • Cryptocurrency
    • Fintech
    • Investments
    • Precious Metal
    • Property
    • Stock Market
    Invest Intellect
    Home»Commodities»President Milei renews his vow to scrap export taxes as Argentina’s powerful farmers get impatient
    Commodities

    President Milei renews his vow to scrap export taxes as Argentina’s powerful farmers get impatient

    July 29, 20244 Mins Read


    BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Addressing crowds of struggling farmers in flat caps and home-knit sweaters who helped vault him to power but have grown increasingly impatient with his progress, President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to scrap export taxes and rescue Argentina’s key agricultural industry.

    The country’s powerful agricultural producers say they’re willing to give the libertarian more time to deliver on his free-market promises. But many farmers are disillusioned that seven months into Milei’s presidency, they remain hobbled by labyrinth currency controls, crushing export taxes and an uncompetitive exchange rate.

    “We said we were going to lift the restrictions and every day we do,” Milei said at Argentina’s annual La Rural convention, where for one week the huge Buenos Aires exposition ground becomes one vast farmyard teeming with sleepy cows and whinnying horses. “No one is as eager as we, and me in particular, are to get out of this disastrous model where the state, through withholdings and restrictions, expropriates 70% of what the countryside produces.”

    The crowds whooped and cheered. As the farmers tell it, that model of budget-busting populism confiscated their wealth for redistribution among the unproductive masses and devastated the lush grain belt that made Argentina among the world’s richest economies a century ago.

    Today, Argentina remains one of the biggest livestock and grain producers but its more dubious distinctions include being beset with one of the world’s highest debt burdens and highest annual inflation rates.

    Successive left-leaning Peronist administrations in recent decades took an estimated $200 billion from the agricultural sector into state coffers, banning meat exports to stem inflation and levying sky-high export taxes on agricultural commodities to pay for bloated budgets.

    So far under Milei, Argentina’s agricultural industry — which accounts for some 20% of the country’s gross domestic product — is “hopeful but realistic,” said Nicolás Pino, head of the Argentine Rural Society, the country’s agribusiness lobby.

    “There are sufficient reasons to complain, but we prefer at this time to appeal to the patience of the men and women of the countryside,” Pino said. “We believe it’s useful to give the government some space for trust.”

    But already there are signs that patience in Argentina’s fertile Pampas is wearing thin.

    Earlier this week, the Argentine Rural Confederation, one of the country’s main producers’ groups, turned up the pressure on Milei with a harsh statement lamenting the government’s failure to eliminate the “unfair, arbitrary and distortive tax” on agricultural exports” that it said, “suffocates our producers.”

    President Milei has prioritized balancing the government’s books and quelling inflation — key campaign promises that he hopes can keep public opinion from swinging against him as his austerity drive hits Argentines hard.

    But agricultural leaders say these goals have come at the cost of other campaign pledges to unleash the free market and end heavy-handed state intervention.

    “We need clarification about some of these recent economic measures,” said Elbio Laucirica, the head of another agribusiness group.

    In recent weeks, Milei has moved to hike up taxes and tighten his grip on the exchange rate, contradicting his libertarian orthodoxy and stoking frustration among farmers.

    Because Milei’s plans to prop up the peso have reduced export competitiveness, Argentine farmers whose sales are linked to the U.S. dollar are hanging on to their harvests, stockpiling billions of dollars worth of exportable grain and soybeans so they don’t have to surrender their dollars for less than what they are worth.

    At the rural expo on Sunday, the grumbling was audible among the gauchos, or Argentine cowboys.

    “Every decision like this affects us so much, and an overvalued exchange rate is not what we need from a government that promised us something different,” said Maurro Berrra, a 34-year-old farmer wearing a trademark poncho and bombachas (trousers) who had hoped Milei’s policies would prompt a gush of exports to his Chinese buyers. “We have more stability than last year, that is something, but we’re still facing huge obstacles.”

    A drop in local demand has also hurt Argentine producers. With poor and middle-class Argentines staggering under the government’s extreme austerity measures and 270% annual inflation, beef consumption has dropped to its lowest recorded level in history, according to the Rosario Board of Trade.

    “The economy has never been good to us, but this drop in consumption has really hit us hard,” said 67-year-old rancher Jorge De Marcos. “It’s tragic because steak here isn’t just steak, it’s a way of life.”



    Source link

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    Related Posts

    Crude oil prices rise despite Trump’s tariffs on trading partners 

    Commodities

    What Happened to Neve Campbell in Twisted Metal Season 2? That Raven Twist Explained

    Commodities

    Hideo Kojima Says He Won’t Play Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Laughs

    Commodities

    IIT-M develops biodegradable packaging from agricultural waste | Chennai News

    Commodities

    Hideo Kojima Refuses To Play Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake

    Commodities

    Order your exclusive Scars On Broadway t-shirt and Daron Malakian Metal Hammer cover now

    Commodities
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Top Picks
    Cryptocurrency

    Bengaluru Auto Driver’s Cryptocurrency Payment Option Leaves Internet Amazed

    Commodities

    Voici une bonne nouvelle pour la recharge de voitures électriques en Belgique

    Commodities

    Pennsylvania Lags Many Other States in Adoption of Renewable Energy, Report Says

    Editors Picks

    Samvardhana Motherson, Dalmia Bharat to HUL: 8 key stocks to trade ex-dividend today

    June 22, 2025

    Silver price today: falls on October 11

    October 11, 2024

    Gold, Silver Rates Today: Precious metals remain volatile on MCX | Check city-wise rates on June 26

    June 25, 2025

    Four Corners Property Trust augmente et prolonge sa facilité de crédit -Le 31 janvier 2025 à 16:42

    January 31, 2025
    What's Hot

    Trump’s ‘cyber summit’ gives digital currency new prominence and a large US role

    March 7, 2025

    10 Dividend Stocks to Double Up On Right Now – The Motley Fool

    July 15, 2025

    Une entreprise suisse licencie près de 300 employés aux Etats-Unis

    May 29, 2025
    Our Picks

    Temenos launches enterprise service to power faster, lower-cost cross border payments

    October 22, 2024

    Upcoming dividend announcement, stock split this week: Watch out for these 5 stocks – Market News

    April 13, 2025

    Commercial property: is it time to invest?

    June 27, 2025
    Weekly Top

    The Case for Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL)

    July 31, 2025

    Currency dominance in the digital age – Academia

    July 31, 2025

    Adam Silver takes major step toward new European League

    July 31, 2025
    Editor's Pick

    Evergrande Property Services Group affiche un revenu net de 1 032 millions de RMB pour l’année fiscale

    March 31, 2025

    Berenberg : Les bénéfices de PSP Swiss Property pour l’année fiscale 24 démontrent la solidité des revenus -Le 26 février 2025 à 05:29

    February 25, 2025

    UK retail property is finally priced for a sale

    July 13, 2024
    © 2025 Invest Intellect
    • Contact us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.