Companies importing from Brazil have added their complaints to foreign trade stocks

In the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, US Ambassador Marc Stanley called for trade barriers that continue to hinder foreign private sector investment in Argentina to be eased.

More complaints from the private sector were added this Thursday. this time they were businessmen grouped in the Argentine-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of the Argentine Republic (CAMBRAS) those who have exposed the difficulties they have to operate in the Argentine market. Difficulties that have worsened ten days ago with communication 7532 from the Central Bank.

Subsequently, the already contracted quotas available to companies requesting access to the foreign exchange market to pay for imports were further limited. In other words, it included all businesses with non-automatic licenses within those limits and exempted SMEs that do not exceed 15% of their imports in 2021.

The seminar was sponsored by the executive director of CAMBRAS, Analía Canale, the former Brazilian secretary of trade, Welber Barral, and the international analyst Gustavo Segré. And it exposed a very tough landscape for the industry.

One of the car manufacturers recalled this his company’s production decreased by 60% in 2020, during quarantine from the Coronavirus pandemic and if in 2021 the average production “improved” with an average drop of 20%. today the situation is given to return to the levels of 2020.

“The new regulation it holds us back because we can’t find suppliers that we accept that we pay them in 180 days and that we have not obtained funding even in 180 days, with which we see once again how we adapt our production to the regulation “, said while another Cambras partner, who imports, completed the a landscape that seemed bleak on this cold morning.

This partner must matter covers that are not produced here. They import Goodyear tires for the agricultural market and in Argentina there is only one manufacturer for that market that cannot make it. The importer cannot carry even one if he does not take on a debt abroad by assuming the costs that it may entail in a country with a hyper-unstable currency market such as Argentina or by paying with the equity dollar.

With this new regulation, importers are finally forced not to continue working for a prolonged period and not to produce with the expectations they had because everything they would have above their production will have to wait at least 180 days.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Bodegas Salentein, of CNP, of Cotia Comex, of Daltosur, DHL, Durax, of Farben and Fecovitaamong others.

The Argentine Embassy in Brazil has been left without leadership since Daniel Scioli became Minister of Productive Development. Many of the decisions now go through the consulate general of San Pablo headed by Luis María Kreckler, but the measures are decided in Buenos Aires.

Leonardo Moroziuk, vice president of the Chamber, as well as administrative manager of the Agricultural Company, declared at the opening of the speech that “the electoral scenario in Brazil is the ideal moment to give this speech”.

There were different predictions on the elections. A first round victory for Lula da Silva with center-right deputy Geraldo Alckmin or a possible second round where the victory of the former president and still leader of the PT was not guaranteed against the re-election aspirations of today’s president Jair Bolsonaro.

In any case, on an economic level, although the neighboring giant presents a much more stable scenario than Argentina, Welber Barral spoke of common challenges. “As far as the economy is concerned, the focus is on growth, inflation and the problem of inequality. Furthermore, there is a problem of institutional challenge regarding corruption, and compared to the international scenario the scenario is very unstable ”.

He also considered that “Lula Da Silva would win in the first round but I’m not sure in the second”.

Segré, meanwhile, said that “Brazil is quite solid despite global problems, but it is impossible to work in a local currency due to the economic differences that exist in Latin American countries,” he said. And referring to the elections in Brazil, he said: “Bolsonaro has a better chance of winning”.

In any case, they both agreed that a worrying fact for the historical society that Argentina and Brazil built in the past was the loss of share of Argentine exports in total imported from Brazil.

According to the balance sheet data of the Special Secretariat for Foreign Trade and International Affairs, while Argentine exports to that market represented 4.7% of the total foreign goods entered in the first half, in the period of 2021 they reached 5.3 %.

Five months of deficit with Brazil of about 250 million dollars. It is a red from 1.355 million dollars in the first half of the year in exchange with the neighbors.