The Rice Growers Associationthe National Association of Milk Producersthe Rural Association of Uruguaythe National Commission for Rural Developmentthe Federated Agricultural Cooperatives and the Rural Federation signed an agreement to express “their deep concern” about the 17% increase in port fees.
In this sense, they assured that this new adjustment supposes “a new and severe damage to the national productive sector, which is charged with a cost that further aggravates the sustained loss of competitiveness about which we have been insistently warning”.
That is why the association asked the government to “guarantee that the costs of this terminal stop representing a further obstacle to competitiveness and that the port is, as it should, a strategic partner of those who produce and contribute their work and effort to the development of the country”.
The explanation of the TCP
Earlier this week the Cuenca del Plata Terminal (TCP) decided to define a rise of 17% in the port fees. The company, in which the Belgian company has a majority stake Katoen Natiehad defined an increase of 24.1% in July, 7 points less than the current measure.
“It is important to highlight that this decision is marked in a plan for the gradual correction of the necessary balances for the company. The decision seeks to minimize the impact of the measure, with special attention to the export sector”, expressed the manager of Institutional Relations of TCP, Fernando Correait’s a statement.
On the other hand, they announced an upward correction of 13% in the export fees and Temporary Admission that benefited from the reduction that was included in the agreement between the Uruguayan state and the Belgian company.
The statement also explained the reason for the rate increase, which is due to a drop in the exchange rate. At the beginning of the agreement with the Uruguayan government, in which he was given Katoen Natie an extension of the TCP concession until the year 2081, the dollar was around 43 Uruguayan pesos, while currently it reached 37 pesos.
“That is why it is necessary to correct the economic mismatch that we have between our income, pay operating costs that our terminal has and comply with the cash flow commitments that the project needs,” the statement stated.
Source: Ambito
