Maximilian Heath
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine soybean growers holding more than 5% of production stocks will face higher-than-normal benchmarks Funding costs for interest rates, the South American central bank said on Thursday as part of a broader push to encourage sales.
Soybean growers above a certain size hoarding inventories will face “an equivalent of 120 % of the latest monetary policy rate,” the central bank said.
The benchmark interest rate in Argentina is 69.5%.
Thursday’s announcement was designed to “make credit more expensive so that it’s easier to sell (soybeans) than to get credit,” a person familiar with the matter explained.
The source added that for soybean producers now “the rate on any line of credit will become more expensive” and under the new policy, their minimum rate will be changed from 120.4% to start. Say.
The move is part of an effort by authorities to replenish dwindling foreign exchange reserves by pressuring soybean growers to increase exports.
On Sunday, Economy Minister Sergio Massa set a preferential exchange rate for soybean producers after soybean exports surged earlier in the week.
Argentina is the world’s largest exporter of processed soybean oil and soybean meal and the third largest exporter of raw soybeans, but farmers have been holding inventories to hedge against inflation and potential depreciation of the local peso currency.
