October 30, 2012

Argentina's second- biggest exporter, Bunge Ltd. was excluded from the Cereals Register by the Argentinean government amid a tax probe.

This is according to the Official Gazette on Monday (Oct.29), without elaborating.

Being excluded will postpone Bunge's readmission later, a tax agency official who asked not to be identified because of the agency's communications policy, said in a telephone interview from Buenos Aires.

Bunge's local subsidiary was suspended from the register October 1, forcing the company to pay a tax rate of 25% to export grain, up from a previous 10%. Argentina's tax agency said then it was investigating Bunge because of unpaid income taxes since 2006.

Susan Burns, a Bunge spokeswoman at company headquarters in White Plains, New York, did not reply to a call and an e-mail seeking comment.

Argentina's tax agency, known as AFIP, last year said that four of the South American country's 10 biggest exporters and cereals and soy processors underpaid taxes. Cereal-producing companies use the register to expedite exporting and reduce export taxes.

Argentina is the world's largest exporter of soyoil, the second-largest of corn and third of soy.