Miller Magazine Issue: 123 March 2020

28 NEWS MILLER / MARCH 2020 Argentina to hike tax on soy products with corn and wheat spared VICTAM and Animal Health and Nutrition Asia 2020 postponed to July 2020 Argentina’s government is singling out soybean ship- ments as it looks to raise more revenue to plug budget gaps, pay down debt and kick start the economy, Blo- omberg reports. Shipments of raw soybeans, as well as cooking oil and livestock feed made from the oilseed, will be taxed at a rate of 33%, up 3 percentage points from current levels, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The South American country is the world’s biggest exporter of the soy products. Corn and wheat cargoes will be spared from another tax hike, with the rate expected to stay at 12%, said the people, who asked not to be named because talks are private. A law passed in December allows for corn and wheat taxes to increase to 15%. The higher rate on soy would be President Alberto Fer- nandez’s second farm-tax hike since he took office in De- cember amid a severe economic crisis, in a reversal of the agriculture-friendly bias of the previous administration. Fernandez -- who said in a speech on 1st March he was proposing to raise taxes on just one crop, without elabo- rating -- is targeting a product that isn’t widely consumed by his constituents. The approach is a throwback to mea- sures taken by his deputy, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. When she left the presidency in 2015, soy exports were taxed as much as 35%. Authorities have already suspended the country’s export-registration system, a move traders said signals the tax changes are imminent. BLOOMBERG The management teams from the VICTAM Corporation and VIV worldwide have decided to postpone VICTAM and Animal Health and Nutrition Asia 2020 in Bangkok to July 9 – 11, 2020 due to the situation report #39 from the WHO published on February 28th in which the risk assessment for the regional level as well as the global level changed from high to very high. “This decision has been taken after careful considerati- on and in the interest of exhibitors and visitors and, above all, to protect the health of all attendees. The organizers assessed that the actual situation will not guarantee the quality of the exhibition and will not create enough bu- siness opportunities for our exhibitors and visitors under the current circumstances,” two companies said in a joint statement. “Eighty percent of the exhibitors also agreed with organizers that the postponement of the event is the best solution and have therefore confirmed the decision to move their participation to July 2020, trusting that the situation will improve during the next few months. VIC- TAM and Animal Health and Nutrition Asia 2020 is thus re-scheduled in July 9-11, 2020. The objective remains the same, which is to realize the total animal feed and health event organized by VICTAM and VIV.” For more information, please visit the official websites: www.victamasia.com or www.vivhealthandnutrition.nl. Alberto Fernandez