Despite the interventions, agriculture represented 7 currencies out of 10 entries into the country in the first half of the year.

There is no longer any doubt that agro-industry is the fundamental basis and the great engine of the Argentine economy, not only because of its dynamic capacity and because it is one of the main sources of work on almost the whole national territory, but also because of its inescapable importance on the external plan, being a net generator of dollars like no other activity. Today, in a context of deep economic crisis and in a scenario of open conflict with the government on interventionist measures, it continues to provide the country with the currency necessary for its sustainability.

According to a report by the Fundación Agropecuaria para el Desarrollo de Argentina (FADA) in the first half of the year, the agro-industrial sector as a whole was responsible for the revenues of $ 25,650 million from exports out of a national total of 35. $ 338 million. This means that the agribusiness exported 72% of the total shipped by the country in value, or, in other words, it generated 7 out of 10 dollars that went into our economy.

Of the total exports of agro-industrial sectors, 74.8% were generated in those corresponding to cereals and by-products, 11.6% in regional economies, 7.4% in meats, 1.9% in dairy products and the remaining 4.3% in other sector activities.

Compared to the first half of 2020, “Argentina’s total exports increased by 30%, measured in dollars, which is partly explained because during 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic affected nationally and global. In the case of agrifood chains, growth was 28% ”, indicated the work of FADA.

Now alright This good performance of agribusiness does not necessarily respond to the impulses of the national government, but rather to questions of international prices and efficiency of the sector itself. Even for the entity, the opposite question arises: Argentina does not stimulate its production, but rather discourages it. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) “our country is one of three in the world that does not support production and, according to the World Bank, one of the few that collects export duties ( DEX) important ”.

On the basis of this OECD report, included by FADA in its work, Argentina with India and Vietnam are the brakes in terms of income that producers receive as a result of withholdings, unlike what happens. happening in countries like United States, China, Europe countries, Brazil, Canada, among others. Likewise, for the World Bank in these countries, only less than 1% is invoiced in DEX, while in our country, this withholding reaches up to 15% and 25% on average with four other countries. However, ours is the only one to have an agro-export profile. This means that “It was not until the first half of the year that the agro-industrial chains contributed DEX $ 4,808 million, or 92.2% of the total collected by AFIP for this concept “.

As FADA’s chief economist pointed out, David miazzo, “Most countries encourage exports, they go out of their way to negotiate and open markets, because they understand that exporting is good for their people. The opposite directly prohibits exports, as in the case of meat and as at other times has happened with corn, wheat and milk. “. In this sense, he placed particular emphasis on the issue of restrictions on beef exports, since he considers that “exporting means more production, investments in the field and in meat processing plants, jobs , dollars, taxes, freight and many other perks ”. .

“With the continued export restrictions, we are all losers, thousands of families lose their livelihoods, the country loses $ 100 million a month, chain workers lose jobs and income, producers , the meat packers, the recipients lose, the transporters, but above all, we Argentines, we lose not to see a lasting impact on the prices of meat and we will only have less production and another economic sector in crisis. It is as if Argentina plucked its own goose that lays golden eggs, “concluded Miazzo.

Numbers

Out of the total of $ 25,650 million exported by the agro-industrial sector as a whole, the complex responsible for the highest foreign exchange earnings was soybeans, which reached a share of 46.4% with $ 11,890 million and a contribution to withholding taxes of $ 3,654 million. This means an increase in the interannual export comparison of 55%. The fundamental reason for this exponential growth was due to the fact that the FOB values ​​of the main products in the chain, with growth of 52% in the case of soybeans, 60% in oil and 37% in flour and pellets with regarding exchanges in the first semester of 2020.

In second position was the corn complex, accounting for 15% of total exports by value with 3,738 million USD. This represents a 13% year-on-year increase, despite the fact that shipments in volume fell 12% to 17.7 million tonnes. Despite this decline, Argentina ranked second among the world’s largest grain suppliers. The third largest was wheat, with a 7% share contributing $ 1.8 billion. In this case, the amount of dollars entered decreased by 2%, while in volume the decrease was 21% to 7 million tonnes.

In fourth position was the bovine complex, today impacted by the strong intervention of the national government. Beyond that, and having occurred since the end of May, exports increased by 8% to add 1,596 million USD, reaching an importance of 6.2% in Argentina’s external sector. The volume shipped jumped 22% to 555,272 tonnes, ranking fifth among world exporters. Fifth place was for the fishery, which had a 3.3% stake with $ 836.5 million.

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