The Export Increase Program (PIE)launched by the national government in early September and completed this Friday, was considered a success both by the Ministry of Economy and by the export and agribusiness sector, with record revenues of US$ 8,125 million.
The also named “Soy dollar” exceeded the initial expectations stipulated by the Minister of EconomySergio Massa, when on September 5 he announced a differential exchange rate of $200 per dollar for the soybean complex for September only, with which the foreign exchange income of US$ 5,000 million was intended.
“We have results that are more than satisfactory, that excite us and allow us to show results and numbers of a forcefulness that constitutes a record in settlements and exports in Argentine history”expressed Massa at the press conference given yesterday in which he announced the final numbers.
The objective pursued by Massa and his economic team was to swell the international reserves of the Central Bank (BCRA) from the rapid entry of dollars by the soybean complex, whose leaders warned a few months ago about the slow and low marketing of the grain by of the producers.
In fact, according to a report from the Chamber of the Oil Industry and the Cereal Exporters Center (Ciara-CEC) from the beginning of September, in the period January-August of this year, the commercialization of the 2021/22 harvest presented a delay of 6 million tons compared to the same period in 2021.
That difference should have been settled considerably, since the same business chamber maintained this Friday at the end of the PIE that “The volume of soybeans traded was 427% higher than that registered in September of last year.”
For businessmen, the results were “very positive”
Thus, Ciara-CEC reported that In September, the companies in the sector settled the sum of US$ 8,120,315,975which meant an increase of 140% compared to what was entered last August, and 198% above what was registered in September 2021.
In this way, the business entity highlighted that “Foreign exchange income for the month of September is the highest in the last 20 years”and pointed out that “if the necessary conditions and stimuli are given, lowering the high tax burden and/or with a competitive exchange rate, the soybean chain has a response capacity and rapid growth.”
“The result of September must be taken into account by all the political parties to establish a permanent policy in favor of the chain,” concluded the business entity.
In a dialogue with Télam, the president of Ciara-CEC, Gustavo Idígoras, maintained that the results generated by the measure “were very positive in that it has significantly changed the trend of grain sales by producers, obtaining a historical record for the month”.
“Foreign exchange income for the month of September is the highest in the last 20 years”Ciara-CEC
On the other hand, he said that “regarding the registration of export contracts, specifically in beans and soybean meal, there has been substantial growth, which results in more than US$ 6,000 million.”
For his part, the president of the Association of the Argentine Soybean Chain (Acosja), Luis Zubizarreta, told Télam that it was evident that “the measure was a success”and that “this demonstrates the ability of this sector to react, which, given reasonable signals, generates a notable foreign exchange income.”
“The underlying message for us is that we have to work on a different strategy in Argentina, one that makes the cake grow. We are far below our potential, with a 30% drop in soybean production in the last 10 years”, for which he considered that “this sector must produce much more, which is going to imply that we kill the dilemma of the country in recent years, which is the lack of dollars”.
The numbers
According to the Treasury portfolio, the amount of merchandise negotiated in the 25 days that the “soybean dollar” lasted by the producers was 13,725,198 tonsa record figure, especially if one takes into account that September is historically not a month where large volumes of sales are recorded.
These 13.7 million tons were sold by 44,622 individuals and legal entities, of which 30,000 are agricultural producers.
Based on this tonnage, the economic results were more than convincing: the income from registered exports was US$ 8,125 millionof which US$ 7,646 million have already been settled, while the remaining balance is expected to enter until Tuesday of next week.
“In terms of results from the process of accumulating reserves and strengthening our Central Bank, this has been extremely important and had an impact that gives us peace of mind in a context where we came with a high level of concern and anxiety,” Massa said.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Juan José Bahillo, also emphasized the success of the PIE, which “It made it possible to strengthen the reserves and improve the income of the producers.”
Now Bahillo will be in charge of the administration of the Strengthening Plan for Small and Medium Producers, which is financed with the proceeds of the PIE.
This fund will have $40,000 million to boost the competitiveness of producers who have planted up to 200 hectares of soybeans and/or 100 hectares of corn in the 2021/22 campaign, which have marketed up to 85% of their harvest and have not been able to participate in the PIE.
“In terms of results from the process of accumulating reserves and strengthening our Central Bank, this has been extremely important and had an impact that gives us peace of mind in a context where we came with a high level of concern and anxiety”Serge Massa
Among other goals, this Strengthening Plan will also seek to achieve an expansion in the planted area of 300,000 hectaresin a context where the drought continues to persevere, giving rise to large cuts in the estimate of wheat production (3 million tons to 17.5 million) and cutting the harvest forecasts for coarse grains.
There will also be a fund for regional economies of $32,000 million, as indicated by Massa this Friday at a conference, although further details are not yet known about it, as well as assistance to the most vulnerable sectors of society.
Despite these figures, Massa made it clear that this “does not qualify us for any extraordinary situation, but ratheror that what we are doing is recomposing a situation of weak reserves in Argentina And now we have to take care of every dollar that came in”.
That is why next week “a new system will be announced so that those who cheated and managed to get some judges to enable import mechanisms for things that Argentina does not need see that precautionary right dropped, and we have the opportunity to start a new stage”.
“We are going to control those who intend to violate the capacity of care and accumulation of reserves, because the dollars that we get through the efforts of the State and the Argentine agribusiness sector, now begins the time to care for them,” he concluded.
