Dollar taxes on soy confront Argentine gov't, farmers

While the international prices of grains soar due to the conflict in Ukraine, Argentine farmers are retaining their stock of soybeans to avoid the high taxation on the dollar exchange, also preventing the government's expected earnings.

Earlier this week, President Alberto Fernández decried the agricultural sector, the country's main source of foreign currency, has withheld soybeans for the equivalent of 20,000 billion dollars, forcing the government to devaluate the peso.

Soy exporters in Argentina receive only a quarter of the value of farmers in neighboring countries, because of Argentina's taxes on exports and currency controls.

So, the government has just appointed a new "super minister" with extended powers to oversee economic, agricultural, and manufacturing policies, which were previously managed by three ministries.