Argentina’s president opened the 138th Palermo Rural Exhibition on Sunday without the immediate announcement producers had been expecting, but with a medium-term promise: to lower export duties as other export sectors in the country expand.
With the stands packed and during a speech lasting nearly 40 minutes, Milei addressed as soon as he took the podium the demand made minutes earlier by Argentine Rural Society president Nicolás Pino that export taxes “cease to exist by law and forever.”
“And they will continue to fall,” the president said, prompting an immediate ovation in the main arena. As a result, steer beef exports will continue to be taxed at 5%, as they are currently.
No concrete announcement was made, but Milei was explicit about how he intends to finance future reductions. “The growth of those sectors is what will finance the elimination of export taxes,” he said, referring to the expansion of energy and mining as new export drivers.
He also referred directly to soybeans. “Today, producers receive 75%, and that will continue to rise until they receive the full 100% price” generated by their production, he said.
The president insisted that the transition of the past two years “is becoming consolidated” and that Argentina’s agricultural sector is on course to become “radically different” from what it was before his administration.
He reviewed the export duty reduction schedule announced in May, stressing that, for the first time, producers know in advance what their future tax burden will be, something he attributed to the fiscal surplus.
He also projected grain production of 300 million tonnes and defended the need for new logistics infrastructure and a further expansion of irrigation.
Before the president’s speech, Pino had reiterated another longstanding demand from the sector: infrastructure. He criticised the condition of roads, rural tracks, railways and ports, and called for progress on pending works in the Salado River basin to prevent flooding, as well as improved financing conditions for new productive investment.
Those attending the event included Economy Minister Luis Caputo; Cabinet Chief Diego Santilli; the heads of the main farm organisations grouped under the Mesa de Enlace; and Agriculture Secretary Sergio Iraeta.
