Aurelia Butler

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine soy farmers who hold onto stock of more than 5% of their production will face an elevated financing cost above the normal benchmark rate, the South American country’s central bank said on Thursday, part of a wider push to encourage sales.The central bank said soy farmers over a certain size who hoarded their stock would face a minimum financing rate “equivalent to 120% of the latest Monetary Policy rate.”Argentina’s benchmark interest rate stands at 69.5%.Thursday’s announcement aims “to make credit more expensive so that it is more convenient to sell (soybeans) than to take credit,” a source familiar with the matter explained.The source added that now “the rate of any line of credit is going to be more expensive” for soybean producers, whose minimum rate would start at 83.4% under the new policy, the source said.The move comes as part of an effort by authorities to replenish dwindling foreign currency reserves by pressuring soybean farmers to export more.On Sunday, Economy Minister Sergio Massa set a preferential exchange rate for soybean producers, sending soybean exports surging earlier this week. Argentina is the world’s top exporter of processed soy oil and soymeal and the No. 3 for raw soybeans, but farmers have been holding onto stock as a hedge against inflation and potential devaluation of the local peso currency. More

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s government and financial institutions will propose a bill this month to change current rules, aiming to attract companies to the country’s stock exchange by making it easier to access debt and equities markets, the head of the country’s stock market association told Reuters.Mexico’s main BMV stock exchange is seeking to lure IPOs. Recently, several prominent companies decided to de-list their shares from the exchange. These include brokerage Monex, airline Aeromexico and Carlos Slim’s retailer Sanborns.The executive president of the Mexican Association of Stock Market Institutions (AMIB), Alvaro Garcia Pimentel, told Reuters the institution is working to propose a bill that would allow smaller companies to list debts and equities more quickly and at lower cost. “We built this project so smaller companies could issue debt and receive the same fiscal treatment as public offers for debts and equities,” he said, saying rates would be more competitive and financing longer-term.He said the proposal, put together with the government and the BMV and BIVA stock exchanges, should be presented to Congress this month. Mexico’s Finance ministry said it is “working closely with the BMV to strengthen (the country’s) financial market.”BMV and BIVA did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though the CEO of BIVA spoke of the planned reform at a conference last week.Garcia told Reuters the groups would likely create another proposal, this time focusing on hedge funds.”This would create a new law allowing funds to participate through hedging operations, derivatives and direct leverage,” he said, saying AMIB was in talks with the government.Luis Gonzali, an institutional asset manager, said if the bill passes it would not only attract new companies but make Mexico’s financial market more “dynamic.””The measure would to a certain extent mitigate what we have seen for many years: a trend of de-listing and few companies participating in Mexico’s financial sector,” he added. More

HOUSTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing the need for further releases of crude oil from the nation’s emergency stockpiles after the current program ends in October, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Reuters on Thursday. A Department Of Energy official later said the White House was not considering new releases from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at this time beyond the 180 million barrels that the president announced months ago.The Biden administration this year has delivered about 1 million barrels of oil per day from SPR stockpiles to lower fuel prices and pare energy inflation ahead of midterm elections in November. The releases so far this year have helped knock average U.S. retail gasoline prices down to $3.75 a gallon this week from $5 a gallon in June. But they also have cut U.S. emergency stocks to below 450 million barrels, lowest since 1984. OPEC and its allies led by Russia on Monday agreed to a small oil production cut beginning next month to bolster prices that have slid on fears of an economic slowdown.It is “a little early to say to say that there is going to be more SPR releases,” said Abhiram Rajendran, head of global oil at Energy Intelligence. “But if OPEC starts getting aggressive on cutting supply, that’s a possibility.” The nation’s overall crude stocks have been declining since mid-2020 due to sales from congressional mandates and Biden’s price initiative. Without the SPR releases, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories “would be much lower than they are and they are already below average,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.Granholm also said during a visit to Houston on Thursday that the administration and allies are still discussing a cap on prices for Russian oil purchases. A price cap would restrict revenues available to Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.The administration has not ruled out a U.S. fuel export ban, but said it is “certainly not something on top of the list,” she said. Granholm recently wrote to U.S. refiners urging them to replenish low fuel inventories ahead of winter and to curb rising exports of gasoline and diesel. The letter warned the administration may take unspecified emergency measures if fuel stocks fell further. More

LIMA (Reuters) – Peru can achieve economic growth of 4.3% in 2023, beating official forecasts that are already optimistic, thanks to a new economic package, Finance Minister Kurt Burneo said on Thursday.”We are talking about around 4.3% (growth),” Burneo told Reuters in an interview, a previously unreported figure that comes after the government unveiled an economic package that he says will significantly boost the economy. “The results depend on things like how long Congress takes to approve our package,” Burneo added. The bullish expectations build on already optimistic forecasts. Peru’s finance ministry said in August that the country would grow 3.5% in 2023, much higher than the average estimate of 2.8% as compiled by Refinitiv. Peru is the world’s No. 2 copper producer and Burneo said he wants to facilitate new mines and expansions. He has met with Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM) and plans to do so again, he added, in hopes of securing its $2 bln Yanacocha Sulfuros project.Burneo has made boosting economic growth his key priority amid a slowdown in global conditions. He unveiled a package on Thursday that includes subsidies, cash transfers and higher public spending.Peru’s economy has also been impacted by political turmoil under President Pedro Castillo, who campaigned on a far-left platform that spooked investors before he moderated it once in office.Burneo himself is a center-left economist who has served as a central bank board member and former economics vice minister.He added that the ministry’s current forecast of 3.3% growth for this year is “prudent” and could come in higher thanks to the initial impact of his economic package. More