News

Enrique Flaiban, CEO of Grupo Los Grobo, one of the largest players in the agribusiness sector, valued the soybean dollar, which has an exchange rate of $200, but called for "long-term measures to be built to promote the countryside."

“It is one more incentive and hopefully the producers who choose it can benefit in the short or medium term. Having been born and raised in Argentina, we go through different contexts and scenarios and we understand that the economic, political and social situation makes us all very expectant", he indicated and added: "However, beyond this context and the specific measures , it is also important to build long-term measures that promote the field”.

“The sector has been growing and for that growth to continue and be strengthened, those measures and programs that take us into the future and add value to the country as an industry are necessary,” he added.

In dialogue with various media, including LA NACION, the executive said that for the company the last "was a very good year", since the year ended June 30, it billed 25% more compared to the previous one. It jumped from $655 million to $820 million. That figure was reached with its agrochemical firm Agrofina (it has more than 400 clients and 221 collaborators), Los Grobo Agropecuaria (it has 35 supply branches, more than 5,000 clients and 429 collaborators) and the Cánepa mill (more than 550 clients and 65 collaborators).

In addition, the company manages 260,000 hectares that are planted under a model of association with producers, currently 74. The goal is to reach 350,000 hectares by 2025.

In the last cycle, the firm expected to exceed 420,000 tons among all crops, that is wheat, corn, soybeans, sunflower and barley, but due to the drought it ended up at 400,000. Along these lines, he explained that due to the lack of rainfall this year, the corn campaign was “quite” delayed and now the sowing of the same cereal is being delayed. Regarding wheat, he considered that for now the harvest is not at risk.

For the last campaign, the firm invested US$120 million, against US$95 million in the previous cycle. “The investment in the campaign ended up being much larger due to the rise in the prices of fertilizers, fuel, which ended up impacting our competitiveness. Practically, what was the result of the previous campaign we had to reinvest again”.

The group owns 15 storage plants through which 2.5 million tons pass. Its objective is to grow to 3.5 million tons with investments in the current facilities and new plants. They also own three seedbeds, seven professional seed processing plants from which 280,000 bags of soybeans and 180,000 bags of wheat came out, a phytosanitary production plant in Zarate, the Cánepa flour mill in Chivilcoy and a research and development laboratory in Buenos Aires. Aires. In an expansion plan they plan to add 15 branches to the current 35.

For the executive, the sector is "very atomized" and is going to a consolidation of large groups that, meanwhile, can offer opportunities, competitiveness, to smaller producers. "That's where we have to capture opportunities," said the manager. Therefore, he stressed that the company seeks to continue adding businesses to its network.

“It is difficult for a local collection to compete with someone large; I ended up giving the producer better conditions, be it better financing, advice, conditions for grains,” he said.

In this context, he considered that the company could become "a very important and interesting vehicle for those who want to invest in agriculture."

“In the world there is a lot of money looking for investments. The world of commodities is a safe, profitable and predictable investment, so what better country than the United States, Brazil or Argentina, which are the great food producers. Los Grobo can be that vehicle that investors look at to invest in agriculture, ”he indicated.

However, he stressed that for this to happen, Argentina "has to change certain aspects regarding its policy regarding the reception of foreign investment." He added: "With an exchange control, there are hardly any foreigners who want to invest in the country." → lanacion.com.ar

Automatic translation from spanish.