The Government stops millionaire cooking oil sales

The Government stops millionaire cooking oil sales
Decree. With this decree, for a year, the Executive is looking for a way of reducing the price of cooking oil. The private sector alerts that 300.00 families could be without employments. They summon an emergency congress.

Juan Carlos Salinas Cortez
The purchasing power dropped a 13% in the last 12 months
In a surprising way the Executive, through the DS 29480, as an argument to stop the inflation, decided to prohibit the refined soy oil export, refined sun flower oil and crude soy oil, paralyzing exports to six markets from around Bolivia.

With this decree, according to the manager of Cadex, Osvaldo Barriga, the country will cease to sale $us.200 millions to Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Cuba, this will cause that 300.000 families will be unemployed and eight oil companies will be damaged. Among the most important companies are: IOL, ADM-SAO, Gravetal, IASA (Fino), Granos and Etasa.

The external sales of the oil chain (refined oil, crude cooking oil, soy cake, soy flour and grains) represent more than $us 450 million a year and their main market is the Andean Community (CAN).

After knowing the decree, all the productive institutions of Santa Cruz gathered in the Cainco offices and rejected it which they qualified as a political act that will harm the country, and announced that the 25th of the current month they will perform an emergency national congress to take action.

The head of Cainco, Eduardo Paz, stated that not only exporters will loose with this MAS policy, but all the agro industrial productive chain (Farmers, peasants, transporters, producers, workers and industrials).
On their behalf, the Government stated that the oil industrials brought the action, to suppress temporarily the export of oil ,to them for having sold in two months the volume exported in 2007.
The Rural Development Minister, Susana Rivero, declared that the oil production for the year 2007 was of 420.00 tons and the internal consumers market was of 70.00 tons, therefore the industrials only had 350.000 tons of export margins. This number was already exported in the first two months of this year and there are no more reserves left.
On the subject, the oilers replied that the numbers that the Ministry of Development is managing are wrong, and they pointed out that the sector produces more or less 485.000 tons of oil and that the local market consumes between 65.000 and 70.000 and the rest, around 415.000 tons, are exported. “There is no lack of oil, which means that we can cover the local demand. Therefore we don´t understand such decree that only seeks confrontation”, Paz maintained.
The State ought to do their tasks and not compete with the producers and business men, he stated.

About the Government’s decision of selling cheaper oil (in Bs8, 50) the liter, Paz said that the demagogic decree doesn’t have sustainability in time, because the soy international Price is in $us 400/ton, which prevents the sales at those costs without subventions.
The producers indicated that annually the country consumes 70 million liters of oil (5, 8 millions of liters per month) and that the million that the executive is offering is completely insufficient. With this decree, the oil adds up to other products whose exports were suspended by the DS 29460.
Productive Sector’s Resolution
1. MAS‘s Government, in their effort to stop the autonomy, decides to use the economy as an economic weapon. This decree sinks agriculture, the economy and the autonomy of Santa Cruz.
2. MAS’s decree not only wants to sink Santa Cruz’s economy, but hurts directly the employment of 300 thousand Bolivian families.

3. The supply of oil is guaranteed around the country. The inner market only gets supplied with the production of 150.00 hectares of soy and in Santa Cruz they sow 1.000.000.
4. In the case that this decree isn’t revoked, we will request the departmental government to implement a system that promotes, encourages and guarantees the generation of employment, the production and exportation of our products.

5. With these type of actions, the MAS Government is breaking dialogue.
6. We summon an agriculture’s, producers and peasants congress, which are part of the agro industrial chain, for May Tuesday the 25th to determine the actions to take.
Jorge Arias
Gravetal’s Representative
Paralyzing the sales to other countries throws away all the efforts we did to conquer these markets, because to export the agreements are long term and in this process many sectors are involved. As an example, when the ship we use to export takes longer than a day, this means an expense of $us 40.000.
Luis Baldomar
Confeagro’s advisor
When soy sub products are exported, the producer can’t choose to sale only flour, soy cake, raw oil or refined one. This is an integrated industry, once the soy stars to be grinded, everything is sold, this is why this action affects the whole agro industry.
Ramiro Monje
Cadex’s President
The oil crops as a group represent $us 450 millions of the country’s income. That is why, aside from the traditional exports, this industry has a very important place in the country. We are in emergency, so we will request to the Prefecture to support us, because we cannot allow this abuse.
Source: “el deber” newspaper: march 19th of 2008
http://www.eldeber.com.bo/2008/2008-03-20/vernotaeconomia.php?id=0803200...