Tension: controversy over a change in the payment method for wheat applied by exporters

There is tension between producers and exporters due to a unilateral change in the payment method for wheat, which is currently being harvested. With the arrival of goods with quality rated as "bad" in ports, especially from the north of the country, exporters, according to sources in the sector, are reserving the payment of around 10% of the settlement amount to cover possible discounts for that quality. The problem, they said, lies in the level of protein received, where the minimum required is 11%, but the quality presents values in the range of 6%, 7%, or 8%. This low quality, attributed to the combination of high yields and rains that "washed away" the applied fertilizer, will generate strong price penalties that could be between 5% and 7%. The production sector claimed that the retention of 10% breaks the usual market operation, is not provided for in the rules of grain trade, and is applied on a sensitive price. Pablo Ginestet, secretary of the Confederation of Rural ...