Argentine Farmers to Halt Sales in Third Export-Tax Protest
Argentina's farmers will stop selling crops and livestock until next week in the third protest in two months over export taxes, after the government canceled talks.
Farmers will start withholding newly harvested corn and soybeans today, and livestock producers will stop sending cattle to slaughterhouses tomorrow, Mario Llambias, president of the Argentine Rural Confederation, said yesterday at a press conference in Buenos Aires. The sales disruptions are slated to end June 2, he said.
Protesters will also prevent trucks carrying grain to export terminals and disrupt domestic livestock and meat shipments, Llambias said. Blockades in March led to food shortages and increased consumer prices. The government called off talks May 26, a day after farm leaders threatened new protests during a rally by more than 300,000 supporters in the port town of Rosario, 300 kilometers (188 miles) north of Buenos Aires.
“We wouldn't be restarting this new protest if the government was willing to solve the problem,'' Eduardo Buzzi, president of the Argentine Agrarian Federation, said yesterday.
Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez said he canceled the meeting May 26 because farmers were trying to “impose'' their agenda instead of negotiate.
Argentina is the world's third-largest soybean exporter behind the U.S. and Brazil and is second only to the U.S. for corn.
Increased Taxes
The tax system announced March 11 levies soybeans and sunflower seeds at more than 40 percent, depending on market prices, compared with a previous fixed rate of 35 percent. The top tax rate is 95 percent.
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, whose public support has plunged during the dispute, has defended the increased export tax. She says it will curtail inflation and allow the government to redistribute wealth to poorer regions and people.
The ruling Peronist party, headed by President Fernandez's husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, yesterday called the farm protest “anti-democratic.'' The party said in a statement that it supports the government's economic policies.
“We have had a lot of patience,'' Alfredo De Angeli, president of the Agrarian Federation in the province of Entre Rios, said in an interview with Todo Noticias television channel fastcash payday loan. “We thought that after the rally with 300,000 people the President would reconsider her decision and would be willing to dialogue, but it didn't happen.''
Failed Negotiations
Farmers began their protests after the new tax system was announced in March. They suspended their first protests on April 2 to clear the way for talks with the government. When that failed to produce an agreement, the demonstrations resumed May 8, with farmers blocking only shipments of grains and oilseeds headed for export markets.
The second protest ended on May 21, again to revive talks, which stalled the following day.
In March, the 21-day blockades led to food shortages and increases in consumer prices. The National Statistics Institute said that prices rose 1.1 percent in March from the previous month, compared with a 0.5 percent increase in February.
Doubts about the institute's consumer-price index arose in January 2007 when agency personnel were replaced to “improve operations,'' according to then President Kirchner. Economists including Claudio Mauro at M&S Consultores said prices rose 4 percent in March.
“They are proud of causing shortages and don't care if they make food prices more expensive,'' said Jorge Capitanich, governor of the northern province of Chaco, reading from a statement by the ruling Peronist party yesterday. “It's surprising that under these conditions they want to go to a negotiation table.''
Declining Popularity
There's no risk of food shortages because slaughterhouses are fully supplied to meet domestic demand until the end of the protests on June 2, Llambias said yesterday.
The dispute has eroded the president's popularity, according to a survey released by Poliarquia Consultores last week. Fernandez's positive standing dropped to 26 percent in May from 47 percent in March, while her negative rating rose to 34 percent from 19 percent in the same period, Poliarquia said.
Kirchner on May 23 called the polls that show a decline in her popularity “fake.''