MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina increases export tax on biodiesel to 15% from 8%
Argentina is one of the world's top providers of biodiesel fuel, exporting 1.65 million tons in 2017, but it has been hit by retaliatory tariffs in recent years. The Argentine government is raising an export tax on biodiesel to 15% from 8%, effective July 1, according to a decree published in the official Gazette on Monday. Argentina is one of the world's top providers of biodiesel fuel, exporting 1.65 million tons in 2017, but it has been hit by retaliatory tariffs in recent years.
The U.S. International Trade Commission has added anti-dumping duties of 60.44% to 276.65% to already steep anti-subsidy duties on imported biodiesel from
Argentina and Indonesia.
The CIARA-CEC exporters' chamber anticipated this month it also expected the European Union to stop importing biodiesel by imposing new tariffs in September or October. The Chamber sees exports falling to around 700,000 tons this year.
The decree, signed by President Mauricio Macri, is meant to “continue fostering convergence” between biodiesel export taxes and soy oil export taxes.
The country is the world's top supplier of soy-oil used for cooking and making biodiesel. Local bio-fuels industry group Carbio declined comment on the new taxes.
When Macri won office on a business-friendly platform in 2015, the soybean export tax stood at 35%. The tax started the year at 30% and is being cut by a half percentage point every month for two years. It currently stands at 27.5% while the tax on soy oil and soy-meal exports stands at 25.5%.
Macri outright eliminated export taxes on corn and wheat soon after his inauguration in December 2015 - a boon for farmers but not for Argentina's fiscal accounts.
Top Comments
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Read all commentsBrazil does not WANT to produce Biodiesel or any alternative, sustainable “Green Energy” [of course; for the most obvious reasons].
May 29th, 2018 - 12:27 pm 0In fact Brazil is the 2nd largest biodiesel producer in the world, vastly bigger than Argentina. It doesn't say why other countries have been putting tariffs on the Argentine biodiesel, but I expect EM will be pleased about the increased export tax.
May 29th, 2018 - 03:26 pm 0Seems to me they should lower the tax on soy oil and other soy products and leave it high on the raw beans to encourage processing within the country.
Of course, the export taxes make sense and may help reduce dumping accusations that close doors to biodiesel.
May 30th, 2018 - 05:10 pm 0Cornered by a situation of his own creation, the Macri government is beginning to realize that helping the richest and make pay the poor has its limits. Of course, the detonant of this change in direction is the IMF and conditions the organization will put before releasing any 'standby' loan money.
As a sign of times, Macri and his star team even thought of reintroducing export taxes on corn and wheat, but quickly backtracked when representatives of the sector strongly reacted against the initiative.
DT's idea of designing the taxes to encourage domestic processing makes sense and one would wish that such were the criteria applied to every single government's decision.
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