Fishery Product Export Duties Reduced in Argentina

For 180 days, export taxes of three resources with a high processing degree, such as hake (Merluccius hubbsi), shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri) and squid (Illex argentinus), shall be reduced, the minister of Economy, Amado Boudou, and the head of the Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Nation, Norberto Yauhar have announced.

In this regard, the Undersecretary of Fisheries said: "In the case of processed hake, which had a deduction of 10 per cent, it has become 5 per cent; in the case of the hake subjected to other processes, the deduction has fallen from 10 per cent to 1 per cent, with an important reduction because they are products that involve high value labor and a lot of work, both on the ship and in land plants."

Regarding the reduction of the taxes applied to shrimp exports, Yauhar explained that the application of duties changed from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, since this resource is associated with "qualifying, assembly, maintenance and byproducts processing processes."

While in the case of the squid, the government decided on a drop from 10 per cent to 2.5 per cent for all the variations, except for battered and clean squid, whose export duties fell from 10 per cent to 1 per cent.

"The application of this measure is adding government's support to a sector that last year had a record of exports, with over USD 1,330 million but it is noteworthy that Argentina is not a price fixing country but a price taker," Yauhar pointed out.

He added: "Therefore, the crisis in some European countries like Spain, which imports nearly 55 per cent of the national fisheries export products, contributes to value stagnation and to a controversial situation as we are not price generators, then the sale ceiling matches the production floor."

"This is a measure intended to oxygenate the industry for 180 days, until the new markets that are being incorporated, such as Brazil, China and Korea, which are buying plenty of Argentine products for international prices, start acting as a replacement for these price reductions the European market is paying as a result of the Spanish economy crisis."

The Minister of Economy said that "the intention is to continue the discussions with the fishing sectors and so it is recommended to conduct a follow-up of what is happening with international prices."

The reduction of export duties on these three fishing resources was reached after several meetings between Boudou, the fisheries sector entrepreneurs and a technical team from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Undersecretary of Fisheries.