May 26, 2008

Argentina's government in no hurry to address soy export tax issue
   

Argentine Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez, who led negotiations in the failed talks with farm leaders last week, all but said in a radio interview that the government was in no hurry to address the farmers' concerns.

Speaking an interview with Radio America, Fernandez said he did not understand why there was "so much urgency" in the farmers' demand that a sliding-scale tax on soy exports be amended.

"Yesterday we met after 16 days of a strike and the farm sector came out saying it was necessary to have a response yesterday," the cabinet chief said. "I ask myself, if there was so much urgency, why were they not speaking for 16 days?"

Addressing what he described as a wide range of various complaints raised by the farmers during Thursday's meeting, Fernadez said, "I am absolutely confused by what happened yesterday."

The pessimism was also reflected in the farmers side, raising the prospect of further strikes.

"It was a bad meeting (and) they are letting many people down," Agrarian Federation President Eduardo Buzzi told reporters after the meeting.

Farmers have complained that the sliding-scale plan's 95 percent tax on any soy value higher than US$600 per tonne effectively makes futures trading impossible.