New rules on Argentinian beef spark fears of export limits
Cattle growers are concerned that government could impose limits on international beef sales to curb domestic inflation.
Argentina on Tuesday re-established a meat export registration system, stoking fears among cattle producers of possible export limits as the government tries to hold down domestic food prices in the face of double-digit inflation.
A resolution published on Tuesday in the government’s gazette said the registration system for foreign sales was necessary to help avoid “possible imbalances in the domestic meat market in terms of supply, price and quality”.
Farmers and ranchers fear an increase in regulations aimed at limiting international shipments, after previous Peronist governments tried unsuccessfully to tame domestic food price inflation by clamping down on food exports.
The registration of beef exports and limits on shipments were imposed during the 2008-2015 administrations of former President Cristina Fernandez, but were scrapped by her successor Mauricio Macri.
“We express our most absolute rejection of the reinstatement of the export registry, in this case for meat, and other interventionist measures,” the farm sector said in a statement issued by the country’s main rural organisations.
“Behind these measures hides the mistaken view that the generalized rise in prices responds to the fact that the food market presents tensions between exports and the domestic market,” it added.
Aljazeera
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