This content was published on 05 April 2022 – 17:44
Buenos Aires, Apr 5 (EFE).- The Argentine Book Chamber (CAL) expressed its concern on Tuesday about the restrictions on book imports, a circumstance that harms the “bibliodiversity” of the next Buenos Aires Book Fair, the most important cultural event of its kind in South America.
The chamber, which acts as the main representative of the Argentine publishing sector, expressed in a statement its “concern” at what it understands as an “unjustified hardening” of the coefficient that measures the financial capacity of companies, a mechanism used to define whether companies are able to import or make payments abroad.
“There are more and more cases of national SMEs that are unable to access the Single Free Exchange Market (MULC) and, as a consequence, are prevented from fulfilling commitments already assumed with foreign suppliers,” said the CAL.
Publishers foresee a “significant” increase in the number of printings in Argentina of books published by foreign labels this year, which implies a policy of import substitution through the local printing of high-rotation titles.
However, this cannot be done either, the CAL explained, since “royalties originating from these local prints cannot be transferred.”
In this context, the chamber called to take care of the “bibliodiversity” of Argentine bookstores with foreign works that complement and enrich the “cultural diversity” of the country.
A diversity that, according to the publishing sector, will be hit hard at the next Buenos Aires Book Fair (April 26-May 18): this edition will have the least presence of foreign books since 1982.
“In order to work for the recovery of the sector and not for its shrinkage, it is necessary to reverse the restrictions adopted for the book industry,” said the CAL, which asked the organizations involved for the “urgent” standardization of trade mechanisms Exterior.
Over the last few years, book imports have steadily decreased in Argentina: in 2020 they totaled 39.4 million dollars, 62.2% less than the previous year and another 77.5% less than in 2018, according to the latest data published by CAL. EFE
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