Peanut Market News September 12, 2018

The Argentine Peanut Industry

The Argentine Peanut Industry estimate that the EXPORT TAXES will cut USD 80 million in the resources generated by the peanut exports

For the BLANCHED PEANUT (NCM 2008.11.00), PASTE & PEANUT BUTTER (NCM 2008.11) and for the PEANUT OIL (NCM 2923.20.00), the EXPORT TAXES shall be of Pesos 3 for each US Dollar Exported.

Decree 793/2018 on the New Export Taxes:

ARTICLE 1. - Set, until December 31, 2020, an export duty of TWELVE PERCENT (12%) on the export of all merchandise included in the tariff positions of the COMMON NOMENCLATURE OF MERCOSUR (NCM).

ARTICLE 2.- The export duty established in Article 1 may not exceed PESOS FOUR ($ 4) for each US Dollar of the taxable value or the official FOB price, as applicable.

For the merchandises included in the MERCOSUR COMMON NOMENCLATURE (NCM) tariff positions detailed in Annex I (IF-2018-43170212-APN-SSPT # MHA) that forms part of this decree (includes the BLANCHED PEANUT NCM 2008.11.00, the PEANUT BUTTER & PASTE NCM 2008.11 and the PEANUT OIL NCM 2923.20.00), that limit shall be THREE PESOS ($ 3) for each US Dollar of the taxable value or the official FOB price, as applicable.

The announcement of the EXPORT TAXES to the PEANUTS added one more difficulty to the competitive cluster of the Argentine Peanut Industry that is processed in Córdoba. It is added to the impact of the REDUCTION of the INDIRECT TAX REFUND to the PEANUT EXPORTS, recently implemented.

In addition, the harvest was SEVERELY IMPACTED first by the DROUGHT in January and February and then by the HIGHLY ADVERSE WEATHER SYSTEM in April, which REDUCED the PRODUCTION and deteriorated the QUALITY.

The 2017/2018 season had strong losses first caused by the DROUGHT, which generated aflatoxin content problems in the peanut kernels: then the HIGHLY ADVERSE WEATHER SYSTEM took place, which added other problems to the quality, since the peanuts sprouted, stained and internal and external mold was generated.

ARGENTINA exports for a value between USD 800 and 950 million, depending on the volume of each crop.

For this reason, the Argentine Peanut Chamber estimates that the EXPORT TAXES will cut some USD 80 million and the REDUCTION of the INDIRECT TAX REFUNDS, some USD 16 million in the resources generated by the peanut exports, and it will depend on the evolution of the exchange rate.

Source: GEORGALOS PEANUT WORLD