The warning launched by the president Javier Milei to the field on the Return of withholdings generated a tension with the agricultural entities that now threws to move to Congress, where Deputies of Córdoba They answered with a project that seeks stop the climb planned for July and force any change to be made by law.
Since the remembered conflict of 2008 for the attempt by the government of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner of raising agricultural exports, with special focus on soybeans, the issue became delicate for every non -Peronist government. And in addition to the economic discussion and sectoral interest it generates, it has political edges that are not minor.
The governors of the center region usually make common cause with the claims of the sector due to the weight it has in the internal economy of their provinces. This time the first step was taken by the Cordoba Martín Llaryora. Deputies Carlos Gutiérrez and Alejandra Torres are their voice in the lower house and since last week they are active in the Agriculture Commission to claim that “there are no more withholdings.”
Within that framework, were the First to react to the warning that Milei launched to the field on the last Monday – first post -stock day – so that they “liquidate now” exports because “in June they return to retentions”, in their eagerness to get the dollars that the government needs to sustain the exchange stability of these days.
They did it with an inciative that specifically points to stop the increase of the withholdings planned for July 1, when the Aliquot for soybean, for example, will go from 26% to 33% for the expiration of the temporary reduction that the government established last January and now tries to use as a pressure element.
Does the fight for withholdings return after the end of the stocks?: The project of the Cordoba deputies
The Gutiérrez y Torres project, members of the Federal Meeting Block coordinated cannot increase, restore or create new export rights on agricultural and agro -industrial products that have been reduced or eliminated by decree or administrative resolution during the 2024 and 2025 “.
With that article they point directly to Decree 38 that signed Milei in January of this year and that cut until June 31 the percentage of retentions on the main exportable crops: soybeans went from 33 to 26% and its derivatives from 31 to 24.5%, while wheat fell from 12 to 9.5% like barley, corn and sorghum. Sunflower went from 7 to 5.5% percent.
From July that decline will be reversed and the aliquots will return to the previous level. That is what the project tries to stop. “This responds directly to what the president said, but I had already raised it at the last meeting of the Agriculture Commission providing that some of this was going to happen within the framework of the undercover devaluation or exit of the stocks, as you want to call it,” said Gutiérrez in dialogue with iprofesional.
But the initiative has another key point that seeks to condition the Gobiero in the future, because it establishes that “any modification of the export rights aliquots applicable to the agricultural and agribusiness sector It must be approved by the Honorable Congress of the Nation by express law. “
If approved, this would limit a lot to a management such as Milei that, without its own majority, frequently resorts to the decree tool to take measures especially in economic matters.
An response to Javier Milei’s warning: Can the initiative in deputies advance?
Gutiérrez told this media that in the Agriculture Commission they achieved a “Commitment of all blocks” to try to sign the opinion favorable to this project “except for freedom advances” That, he said, he was absent in the previous meeting where the issue of withholdings was raised in advance.
The idea is to gather the “as soon as possible” commission to seek the opinion. They already talked to the president of that body, the radical Atilio Benedetti, of Entre Ríos. However, the project must also be treated by the Budget and Finance Commission headed by the Iberian José Luis Espert, always reluctant to discuss opposition initiatives.
In this context, the deputies of Córdoba do not rule out promoting in some of the session to come a “Site” to that commission, which would force Espert to open the debate dated and time approved by the Plenary of the Chamber. The opposition already appealed to this resource with other issues.
According to the Cordoba deputy, “in the man and the field woman there is conviction that it is good news to have left the stocks, but on the other hand they think why The president spoils it with a threat like that “in reference to the warning he launched last Monday. “That has also bothered,” said Gutiérrez.
The Government expects the dollars from the field and is confident that the pressure takes effect
Indeed, the entities of the agricultural link table They took as an “extortion” The president’s sayings and let him know at the meeting they held on Monday – and that was scheduled beforehand – with the Secretary of Agriculture, Sergio Iraeta.
As he knew iprofesional of official sources, In the government they affirm that what Milei said “was not a warning or a threat” because “everyone knows that the decline is until June 30”. Now, they expect the export field to liquidate, especially since the dollar at $ 1,230 is somewhat higher than the now extinct Blend dollar.
However, in the sector the way in which Milei pointed them out and that humor could be infected to governors who have their own votes and pressure power in Congress fell badly. In fact, last January were Llaryora and his peers from Santa Fe, Maximiliano Pullaroand between rivers, Rogelio Frigeriowho warned that the field “does not give more” and if “urgent” retentions were not lowered, the field can melt. “
The governors of the provinces where agricultural chambers have the most power were expressed in a joint statement, to try to exhibit political strength and in less than 20 days the government announced the temporary decline of the tax through the decree signed Milei.
A TRUST IN TAKEN, WITH OPEN FINAL
While the three governors were moving as allies of the Casa Rosada, In recent times they also gave signs of independence. For example, several of their deputies gave quorum and supported the assembly of the scandal investigative commission for the Libra Creiptomoned that complicates Milei, when the ruling one trusted that the session would fall.
At the moment Llaryora’s are the ones that are most active to open the discussion about withholdings, but if Frigerio and Pullaro felt the Agricultural sector pressure In its provinces the issue could begin to climb in the Chamber of Deputies.
Agricultural entities understand that, in principle, there is little what they can do to stop the increase scheduled for June 30. In the Casa Rosada they are inflexible. They need exports and trust that it will be achieved by the devaluation and additional pressure of the imminent return of the retentions of 33% for soybeans.
However, the project that seeks to suspend that increase in withholdings It is already on the agenda and will depend a lot on what the Deputies aligned with the governors From here to June 30. For now it works as the first reaction to the warning he launched Javier Milei, But Congress has become unpredictable land for the government.
