Argentine President-elect Mauricio Macri's proposed tax cuts on soyabean exports will also apply to shipments of soyameal and soyaoil, the head of a leading grains trade group said in an interview. Macri, who won the November 22 presidential runoff election, promises to reduce the 35 percent tax on soya by 5 percentage points each year from 2016 but had not made clear if this would be the case for soya derivatives.
Alberto Rodriguez, president of CIARA-CEC, representing leading grains exporters and crushers, told Reuters late on Wednesday that Macri's team had discussed the tax cuts with the industry group. "In the case of soya, the same reduction in tax due for the grain will apply for soyaoil and soyameal," Rodriguez said. Exports of Argentina soyaoil and soyameal are currently taxed at 32 percent.
Multinational giants like Cargill Ltd, Bunge Ltd and Louis Dreyfus Commodities BV have soya crushing plants and ports in Argentina. An aide to incoming agriculture minister, Ricardo Buryaile, would not confirm or deny Rodriguez's comments. Argentina is already the world's top exporter of soyaoil and soyameal but crushing plants are only operating at about 70 percent capacity over the year, with periods of relative inactivity outside of harvest period. Rodriguez expressed confidence Macri's government would lift restrictions on soyabean imports from neighbouring producers such as Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.