Yerba Mate: taxes explain 39.3% of its price of its price
A report prepared by the Regional Economies sector of the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME) reveals that taxes explain 39.3% of the price of a kilo of yerba mate in the gondola, while the primary producer is only responsible for the 22.4%.
Once again, the excessive tax burden is exposed, with 78.08% responding to national taxes and 21.92% to provincial ones. In addition, when analyzing the specific taxes of the value chain, 53.58% corresponds to VAT, 24.50% to Income Tax and 21.92% to Gross Income. To optimize the analysis, only taxes on the production and commercialization of yerba mate were considered, disregarding those levied on facilities, commercial operations, owners’ equity or any other secondary issue.
In this regard, the head of the CAME Regional Economies sector, Eduardo Rodríguez, assured: “It is clear that food producers are not price makers. The focus should not be on us, but on rethinking the tax scheme, which will benefit both the consumer and the agri-food entrepreneur ”.
In January 2021, the average price of a one-kilo package of yerba mate in the Federal Capital was $ 340.7. Of the final value, the producer explains 22.4% ($ 76.6); the sapecado, dryer and canchado 7.6% ($ 25.9); milling and packaging 11.1% ($ 37.7), wholesale 10.7% ($ 36.6), retail 8.9% ($ 30.1), and taxes 39.3% ( $ 133.9).
Of the price paid by the consumer in the gondola ($ 340.7), in addition to the amount corresponding to taxes ($ 133.9), 17.8% ($ 60.7) corresponds to net profits and 42.8% ($ 145.8) to costs.
Finally, with respect to nurseries, the first link in the value chain, it should be noted that yerbales are perennial plants whose approximate useful life ranges between 15 and 20 years, depending, among other factors, on the type of crop management.
Methodology
During January 2021, CAME analyzed the yerba mate value chain from the producer, located in the case study in the city of Oberá, Misiones; until its commercialization in Capital Federal.
For the reconciliation of the data, the prices for January 2021 were taken at 15 points of sale in the Federal Capital, considering large chains (hypermarkets) and nearby stores (warehouses).
The stages of the chain identified were:
- Nursery: involves the assembly and germination of yerba mate seedlings.
- Planting and harvesting: this stage corresponds to the tasks of planting, fertilizing, curing, pruning, thinning and de-budding, as well as harvesting and coarse classification.
- Drying and padding: the process carried out in this link includes the transfer of the green leaf from the field to the dryer with a (generally) belt system. Once the sheet is dry, it goes to the padding process, which includes a partial destruction of the already dried sheets. This yerba mate canchada is kept in burlap bags that allow this yerba to breathe and have contact with oxygen.
- Grinding, sorting and packaging: stage that includes the costs of transferring the dried and packed yerba in bulk to the industrial company’s warehouses, where it spends between 10 and 12 months to acquire the level of quality that the company seeks. After this period of time, it is transferred to grinding, classification and packaging.
- Wholesaler: is in charge of storing the packaged yerba mate to market it to retailers. Its stage begins with the transfer from the packaging machine to the warehouses.
- Retailer: involves the tasks of purchasing and moving from the wholesaler to the establishment of sale, maintenance of the place, general costs.
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