New Argentina President Kicks Off Term by Cutting Ag Taxes

Argentine President Mauricio Macri carried through on a campaign pledge by eliminating export taxes on agricultural goods including beef, wheat, and corn, while also cutting a tariff on soybeans by 5 percentage points, Bloomberg reported.

"There are no more excuses to not produce more," Macri told farmers gathered in a city west of Buenos Aires. "I will sign the decree today for the end of punitive export taxes and government regulations."

The unwinding of taxes on agricultural exports comes as Macri, who took office last week, is trying to rebuild international reserves that are at a nine-year low.

The export tariff on soybeans will now be 30%, the Bloomberg story said. The taxes on beef, wheat and corn were previously 15%, 23% and 20%, respectively.

The day before Macri took office, the USDA released its monthly report on global
agricultural supply and demand, which included numbers that raise expectations on global wheat exports.

The department bumped up its forecast of Argentine wheat exports by 1 million tons, which it expects in response to Macri cutting taxes and administrative controls on the country's exported agricultural products.

The revised number brings the forecast for wheat exports in Argentina to 6 million tons. S