Aprosoja participates in debate on the Kandir Law

The executive director of the Association of Soy and Corn Producers of Mato Grosso (Aprosoja), Wellington Andrade, participated on Thursday night (19) in a debate on the Kandir Law. The event was organized by the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT) and aimed to discuss whether it is time for a change in legislation, with taxation of commodities.

The entity, since the beginning of the debate, proposed by the Legislative Assembly, is against the establishment of an export quota, as well as the taxation of soybeans with the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS).

As Wellington Andrade argued, Mato Grosso had the majority of its soybean producers with areas considered small to medium-sized, and a new tax could result in production being unfeasible.

According to data from the Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics (Imea), 50% of soybean producers plant up to a thousand hectares, and 30% between a thousand and 3 thousand hectares.

“Evaluating the production cost of this current harvest, estimated at around 45 to 47 bags per hectare, and taking the current productivity, around 49,7 bags per hectare, there is very little profitability left. The production cost and profitability are practically tied. Therefore, any taxation today on soybean production impacts negative profitability for the producer”, stated Andrade.

The executive director also proposed decentralizing this debate to the producing municipalities, as a way of verifying the true reality of the field.

“It is very easy to talk about the extinction of the Kandir Law, about soy taxation, without knowing the reality of the countryside, and of small soy producers, who are the majority”.

Debate - In addition to Aprosoja, Daniel Latorraca, from Imea, the director of the Faculty of Economics at UFMT, Benedito Dias Pereira, the economic consultant specializing in state taxes, Múcio Ferreira Ribas, and state deputies Wilson Santos and Zé Carlos do Pátio, participated in the debate.