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The Los Grobo agricultural group will increase its investments in Argentina because it expects the sector to grow 50% in the coming years in line with the more market-friendly policies proposed by the government that will take office in December.

The center-right Mauricio Macri, the favorite candidate of the markets, won the presidential ballot on Sunday with the promise of easing the interventionist measures of the outgoing Cristina Fernandez, which in the case of the agricultural sector include high taxes and restrictions on grain exports.

"In recent years, Argentina has been paralyzed, asleep, it is time to recover the lost ground, from the quantitative point of view it is to increase production between 40 and 50% more than it is today" in a period of two years. Three years, Gustavo Grobocopatel, CEO of Los Grobo, told Reuters on Tuesday.

The company, which invoices about 1,700 million dollars a year, is one of the leaders in the soybean boom that revolutionized agriculture in Argentina in the new millennium, transforming the oilseed into the main crop of the country and the nation in the largest world exporter of its oil and flour derivatives.

Throughout his campaign, center-right Macri leader said he would eliminate current taxes and limits on corn and wheat exports and cut the 35% tax on soybean shipments in response to claims that producers argue from years ago.

"More open markets will encourage investments in the short term in Los Grobo, we with our own investment, but also attracting capital from abroad," said Grobocopatel.

According to the businessman, as a result of the policies of Fernandez, in the last three years his firm reduced by more than 50% the agricultural area that he manages in Argentina, to 50,000 hectares, and diversified his activities towards biotechnology and logistics and financial services.

Los Grobo - one of the most important agricultural companies in Argentina - also has business in Brazil and Uruguay.

"The world demands more and more food and there is a very large opportunity to enter international markets," said Grobocopatel. "With this context and these fundamentals, (this process) should have Los Grobo as an important player."

In the 2014/15 season, Argentina, which is the fourth largest corn exporter and a key global wheat supplier, produced more than 100 million tons of grains.

According to Macri's main agricultural advisor, at the end of his term in 2019 the figure would rise to 130 million tons.

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Publisehd by: El Economista (México)