BUENOS AIRES, December 12, 2025 - The national government formalized this Friday, through Decree 877/2025 published in the Official Gazette, a new permanent reduction of export duties on agricultural products affecting the main items of the agri-industrial complex, in a key step for the Javier Milei administration to consolidate its policy of tax relief and rural sector competitiveness.
This aspect was mentioned in analyses published by specialized media, which emphasize that the measure could boost agricultural export liquidations and partially offset that impact. The measure takes full effect from its publication in the Official Gazette and marks a milestone in the government's agricultural policy, at a time when Argentina seeks to consolidate an export-led development model with a lower tax burden, boost rural production, and respond to the historical demands of the agricultural sector, while managing the fiscal demands inherent in an economy with international reserve challenges and external financing needs.
With this new consolidated cut, the Executive Branch seeks to strengthen export-led development, generate employment in producing regions, and increase Argentina's participation in global markets.
Sector Reactions
The announcement was received with satisfaction by agribusiness entities, which valued the reduction as a step towards the international competitiveness of the grain complex and requested that the path towards the total elimination of this levy continue, considered by many producers and business chambers as a distorting tax.
“Eliminating export duties has always been a priority for President Javier Milei,” affirmed the minister from his X account, emphasizing that the process will continue as the macroeconomic conditions permit.
The effectiveness of the reduction scheme already applied by the Government in 2024 and 2025 was highlighted in the decree's considerations, where it is noted that the exported volumes of agri-industrial products grew by nearly 56% in volume, with a 26% increase in the total exported value during the year 2024.
Organizations such as CIARA-CEC and the Argentine Rural Confederations (CRA) expressed that the measure represents a stimulus for value chains, although they highlighted that the concrete impact will depend on the evolution of international prices and macroeconomic stability.
Nevertheless, from some economic sectors and analysts, it was warned that the cut could imply a fiscal cost close to 0.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), depending on the context, exported volumes, and international prices.
In particular, soybeans, a strategic agricultural product and the main source of foreign exchange for Argentine agriculture, will see its aliquot reduced from 26% to 24%, the lowest in 19 years, according to official information based on data from the Rosario Stock Exchange.
Soybean by-products will go from 24.5% to 22.5%, while wheat and barley will see their export duties adjusted from 9.5% to 7.5%.
Furthermore, the official rule emphasizes that in the first ten months of the current year, growth in exported amounts and volumes was observed compared to the previous year, data that the Executive attributes to the set of fiscal relief measures applied to the sector.
The decision is part of a broader government strategy to gradually reduce tax pressure on production and foreign trade, after having implemented reductions and exemptions through previous decrees that benefited, among others, regional economies and subsectors such as dairy or pork.
The measure, anticipated days ago by the Minister of Economy Luis “Toto” Caputo on his social networks, was presented by the Executive as a step towards the definitive elimination of export duties, although its implementation will depend on the evolution of the country's macroeconomic and fiscal situation.
According to the decree, the export duty rates on grains and oilseeds suffered a general reduction of between 1 and 2 percentage points.
Corn and sorghum will be set at 8.5% from the previous 9.5%, and sunflower from 5.5% to 4.5%, in accordance with the annex published with the decree.
From the Executive Branch, it was emphasized that the reduction is part of a gradual policy of reducing distorting taxes for agriculture, considered by the Government as one of the most dynamic sectors and generators of foreign exchange for the Argentine economy, responsible for nearly 60% of exports, according to the grounds of the norm.
In his statements prior to the official announcement, Caputo defended the initiative as a necessary step to improve the sector's competitiveness and attract higher income in foreign currency, remarking that the measure seeks to consolidate what the Executive considers the producer's right: to work with a lower tax burden to boost production, foreign trade, and regional development.
