Argentina May Launch “Maiz Dollar” Program

After three rounds of “soybean dollar” programs, Argentina may be prepared to launch a “maiz dollar” program. Complete details of the program have not been released, but the program is expected to offer a preferred exchange rate for farmers to sell their corn, sunflowers, grain sorghum, and barley. Soybeans would not be included in the new program.

It is rumored that the exchange rate for the “maiz dollar” program would be 340 pesos per dollar. The unofficial exchange rate in Argentina, which is called the blue dollar, is currently 529 pesos per dollar. The last “soybean dollar” program had an exchange rate of 270 pesos per dollar.

The “maiz dollar” program would go until August 31st and the government is hoping to bring in at least US$ 2 billion. The government is in desperate need of hard currency as it renegotiates its loans with the International Monetary Fund.

The agricultural sector is not happy with the government’s approach because these types of programs distort the market. The president of the Rural Society of Argentina (SRA) complained that these programs help one sector of agriculture while hurting other sectors.

According to the presidents of the Vegetable Oil Industries of Argentina (Ciara) and the Grain Exporters Center (CEC), a much better approach would be to have one competitive unified exchange rate. They feel these temporary measures distort the market and hurt future exports. They acknowledge that the financial situation in Argentina is very complex and difficult, but they feel that normalizing market conditions should be a top priority for the government.

Tags: sunflowers, grain sorghum, International Monetary Fund, exchange rate, Soybean Dollar, maiz dollar, blue dollar, corn, barley, soybeans, Argentina