GRAIN MONOPOLY IN ARGENTINA

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25089, 22 January 1947, Page 8

GRAIN MONOPOLY IN ARGENTINA

GOVERNMENT CONTROL OVER MARKETS Argentina took virtual control of all grain marketing on December 31, according to a recent article by a Buenos Aires correspondent to the New York “Times." Under a decree issued by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Government was appointed sole internal buyer and, by implication, exporter, of all bird seed. oats, barley, rye, and sorghum. This followed decrees establishing the Government as the sole exporter and sole internal buyer of corn, wheat, meat, and vegetable oils. Under the new system the Government is buying all agricultural products at an officially set price and exporting under Government-arranged contracts at offici-ally-fixed prices. President Juan D. Peron has announced that the entire five-year plan of the Government for industrialising Argentina can be paid for in Ahis manner. The Government buys “cheap” from producers and sells “dear" to buyers This is the system adopted first bv the Soviet Union. In Argentina it is called a “controlled capitalist system.” The Government is paying the lowest possible prices for all agricultural products and selling at the highest prices. Someone, presumed to be the Government, is getting the difference. This, in effect, ends the activities of Argentine subsidiaries of United States and other foreign grain corporations.