Farm Dollar: Yerba exporters have been sidelined and are demanding a higher increase than agreed in Fair Prices

The herbal sector still could not get into the so-called “agro dollar” and the millers will seek an ally in the governor of Misiones, Oscar Herrera Ahuad, to pave the way and thus be able to begin liquidating their exports at 300 pesos.

Industrialists want to recomposition of the price at the exit of the mill be able to cover the values ​​that the Ministry of Agriculture set earlier this month through a premium for the raw material, with an increase of more than 52% for the green leaf and the canchada.

Herrera Ahuad plans to meet representatives of four yabaeratwo of which sell part of their production on the foreign market.

The intention is to listen to the problems of the industrial sector and create a channel of dialogue with the Secretariat of Commerce to allow for a recomposition of the final product in the midst of a growing inflationary process.

To go fight recomposition of the value of the pack of yerba, the governor will first ask the industrialists to approach him a cost grid know the profit margin they are having after the rebalancing of the prices of green leaf and canchada.

Entrepreneurs support it they cannot accept a ceiling increase of 3.2% per month until August when inflation has a minimum that doubles that percentage. “We need a 30% restructuring,” said the leader of a cooperative that also has a strong presence on the foreign market.

The panorama is complex, because Agriculture has established that for the two-month period May-June prices will be 112,000 dollars per ton of green leaf and 425,600 dollars for yerba mate canchada; while for the July-September quarter they will be $120,000 and $456,000, respectively.

The decision to leave yerba mate out of the so-called “agro dollar” it has not been forgotten, as many initially assumed; but it was due to violation of the point which establishes that to access the benefit, businesses they must “respect price agreements for the local market set up in this regard by the Secretary of Commerce of the Ministry of the Economy”.

From the Ministry of the Economy they clarified that the program to increase exports seeks to promote productive activity, generate employment and at the same time promote domestic supply of food products at fair prices.

Until now, the activities of winemaking, olive growing, beekeeping, fishing, forestry, wool, legumes, garlic, tea, peanuts, tobacco, lemon, popcorn, plums, blueberries, cherries, dried fruit, jojoba, confectionery, sunflower, citrus, rice , pears and apples and products that have the status of ecological, organic or organic duly certified and authorized by the competent body.

The Secretary of Agriculture, Juan José Bahillo, underlined that “the initiative prepared by the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, will improve the profitability of producers, guaranteeing the supply of the internal market and strengthening the generation of employment in different parts of the Village “.

Missions and streamsthe only two provinces where yerba mate is produced, it exports about 40 million kilos a year. Last year, 39,825 tons left for foreign markets, with an average value of 2,183.3 dollars per ton, generating revenue of just over $87 million.