Weekly Report - 18 September 2008 (ISSN 1741-7422)

PARAGUAY | Soya. President Fernando Lugo is considering introducing a tax on soya after Capeco, the grains exporting chamber, revealed that soya production jumped to 6.8m tonnes this year, more than double the figure in 2000. The agriculture minister, Cándido Vera Bejarano, said there was “no trickle down effect" from the big profits of soya producers, and that rural communities would disappear unless something was done. He said the government would seek consensus on any new tax on soya rather than unilaterally imposing a tax increase as in Argentina, which led to massive protests by farming unions. Capeco expressed a willingness to discuss a tax on profits, but emphatically ruled out agreeing to a levy on exports. Vera Bejarano also said the government was considering prohibiting the cultivation of soya in certain areas, as part of a wider agrarian reform.

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