Monsanto executives said they’re hopeful that Sunday’s presidential election vote in Argentina will lead to an overhaul of agricultural policies that have been blamed for a slump in production and exports from one of the biggest producers of corn and soybeans.
Mauricio Macri, the opposition candidate and the frontrunner in voter surveys, has pledged for months to end export taxes of 23 per cent on corn and 35 per cent on soybeans. His rival in the runoff, Daniel Scioli, who’s backed by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, said in October he’ll do the same.
Such a change would almost certainly be welcomed by most if not all the farmers who have protested for years over the taxes, hoarding production rather than pay up. For Monsanto, the world’s largest supplier of seeds, the Latin American country is an important growth market that could help it reach a target for higher earnings over the next four years. Ending the tariffs would incentivize sowing more acres, Chief Executive Officer Hugh Grant said.
"Growers in Argentina at the moment think twice before they plant, because the first piece of that harvest goes to the government,” he said in an interview Wednesday in St. Louis after the conclusion of two days of investor presentations.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
