With the soybean dollar, the government achieved a record one dollar sale of the bean for $ 200. AFP photo
The Enresa biodiesel plant, located in Catriló, La Pampa province, has stopped its production due to the increase in the price of soybean oil (driven by the soybean dollar), the main input for the production of biofuels.
The manager of Renewable Energy SA (Enresa), Tommaso Lorda announced the decision. “We haven’t had an answer yet and we will finally stop the implant,” she said. “I know the national government is working, but we don’t have a solution yet,” he said.
Lorda explained that the plant will remain paralyzed “until the problem is solved”, adding that “the great uncertainty is how long we will be stopped”.
He assured that in in the rest of the country’s plants “the situation is similar, some have already stopped since this week and in the next few days they will all stop. There is no system that can operate at these prices “.
plants of the country They ask for a readjustment the price of biodiesel or, failing that, the national price compensate or subsidize the value of the input they need.
In August, the state granted a raise for biodiesel. But the decision of the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, to grant a “soybean dollar” at 200 pesos for exporters, it forced them to stop buying oil at a dollar of 140 pesos and to do so pay a lot more.
The fuel cut rate has also increased. In August, the Secretary of Energy extended the validity of the biodiesel cut to 12.5%. It had been implemented two months ago to increase the supply of diesel in the local market, when the lack of fuel exploded in the middle of the harvest.
The entrepreneur from the Pampas explained how the biodiesel market works. “The price of biodiesel is at state regulated affairs. Here’s how it works around the world. Otherwise, biodiesel would not be produced just for the price. In Argentina it is regulated and the price is fixed monthly by the state, “she explained.
“For September it was set at a dollar of 140 pesos, which was what existed that day. Three days later the new regulation came out with the famous soybean dollar. our raw material, soybean oil, increases in the same proportion, “he said. The price in pesos was obsolete.” And it does not allow us to work, we are at a loss and we cannot, oil ends up being more expensive than biodiesel and it makes it impossible for us to work, “explained Lorda.
The businessman said that the interruption of production “is a factual measure”. “We ran out of oil in order to continue producing, we can’t buy more. This is reality, “she noted.
The Enresa plant was inaugurated on 13 October 2011 by the then President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
La Pampa (correspondent)
NEITHER
Gustavo Laurnagaray
Source: Clarin
