CII delegation in Buenos Aires 13 December 2007

A delegation of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) was in Buenos Aires on 13 December. An India- Argentina Business Meet was organised at the Indian restaurant Katmandu from1230 to 1800 hrs. It was attended by about 70 Argentine businessmen. The speakers at the Meet included Mr Stancanelli, Director general of Foreign office, Osvaldo Rial, President of the Industrial Union of Buenos Aires province, Jorge Zorreguieta President of the Food Industries association and Neville mevawala, leader of the CII delegation.

In my welcome speech in Spanish, I highlighted
-the short term ( 3 year) goal to take bilateral trade from 1.2 billion to 3 billion dollars and Indian investment from 800 million to 2 billion dollars.
-long term goal to build partnership in which India ( with its large and growing market ) could contribute to Argentine exports, growth and prosperity while Argentina could contribute to India's food and energy security.




In the morning, the delegation visited the Industrial Union of Buenos Aires province and had meetings with their members. This Association is planning to take a delegation to India in the first half of 2008.

The delegation had a meeting with the Governor of Buenos Aires Province Mr Daniel Scioli, who spoke in English about the opportunities for business with his province.

The CII delegation was impressed with the enthusiastic response of the Argentine business and government and the business opportunities. They plan to organise the next Indo- Latin American Business Conclave in Argentina in the second quarter of 2008.

Business with Uruguay

During my trip to Uruguay last week, I had a meeting with the uruguay-India chamber of Commerce in Montevideo. The Chamber is vibrant and has an elegant office and the members of the chamber are enthusiastic about business with India. India's exports in the first ten months of 2007 were 39 million dollars and imports 7 million dollars. There is scope to increase the trade to 100 million dollars in the next 3-4 years.
TCS, Mahindra and Mahindra and Biotech international have operations in Montevideo. Our Honorary Consul Daniel Bajuk has an agency selling Bajaj and Hero motorcycles.Indian vegetable oil producers' consortium is seriously looking into the possibility of investment in agribusiness including soya farming in uruguay.
Martin de Castro, the Montevideo-based Commercial officer of our embassy is dynamic, knowledgeable and is commited to assisting indian business. his contact decastromartin@gmail.com


meeting with the Chamber


I visited the bonded warehouse of Grupo Ras in Montevideo Port, where the Central Warehousing Corporation of India has rented 2000 sq metres for use by Indian exporters. The bonded ware house of Grupo Ras has 40,000 sq metres of modern space and moves 100 containers a week. They have offices in other South American countries. Ruben Azar, the young, energetic and dynamic owner of this company with turnover of 40 million dollars has been biten by the India bug. He has been to india several times and sees great potential for business with India. His facility has been used by Reliance, Aurobindo and other Indian companies. Grupo Ras is not only offering warehousing facility but also marketing of indian products in the region. More info www.gruporas.com




here is a picture of the bonded warehouse





below is the CWC space and Ruben Azar

I attended the inaguration of the new building of TCS at Zona Americas in Montevideo. The inaguration of this 4 million dollar building was done by the Uruguyan vice president. The new building will house 250 professionals out of the 800 being employed by TCS in Uruguay. They have plans to increase staff. TCS has also set up a regional IT training centre in Montevideo for candidates from all over Latin America. the credit for success of TCS in latin America goes to Gabriel Rozman.

This is the new building of TCS.

Indian BPO firms see growth in Latin Americanoperations

here is the story from Times of India of 19 November

After making a splash in US, European and Japanese markets, Indian ITeS companies are now ready to do Samba in Latin America.

The past two years have seen many of them set up shop in countries like Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico. From TCS to Satyam, Evalueserve to 24/7, Indian companies have now opened development centres or acquired companies all across Latin America.

And what's driving them is the fact that the continent is one of the fastest-growing region for contact centres. Experts say, expansion to Latin America is a logical step for Indian companies looking to globalise their operations. Two main reasons are driving the growth, says Ameet Nivsarkar, V-P, Nasscom. "It helps Indian ITeS companies to service the larger Spanish speaking population in the US. They find it easier to attract Spanish speaking talent in Latin America compared to India. Also, even though Latin America does not have the depth of talent like India, it has sufficient expertise to complement the India story."

In fact, research done by ValueNotes reveals, the number of call centre agents working for outsourcers in Mexico will grow to 85,000 by 2010, and in Brazil it will increase to 12,000 in the same period. Already, Indian companies working there are scaling up operations. Evalueserve's Chilean delivery centre which started with approximately 15 employees, is expected to employ a few hundreds in the next two to three years. Subsequently, they will add around 60 professionals every year. The company believes the country could represent 10% of global revenues by 2008, and also add business for the India and China operations, said Robert Daigle, V-P at Evalueserve.

Nearness to US is a major attraction for Indians. "For us Chilean centre helps in dealing with workload for it is in the same time zone. Besides, Chile is a part of the global delivery platform for our clients," says Ashish Gupta, COO, Evalueserve. While costs (especially salary costs) in the region are higher compared to India, they are still lower than those in the US. Besides, bandwidth costs in Latin America are lower than in even India because of its proximity to the US. "Although the market may not be as big as the US or Europe, it's still big enough to keep Indian companies engaged," says Nivsarkar. Also, lower valuations of Latin American companies make the entry of Indian vendors relatively easier. Since economies there are 'yet to arrive,' it creates good acquisition opportunities for cash-rich Indian vendors.

OECD report on Latn America - 7 November 2007

This is the first time OECD has brought out a report "Latin American Economic Outlook". From now on, they plan to bring out an annual report. Mexico is a member of OECD since 1994 and Chile is in the process of joining.

Highlights of the report:
- Latin America is showing the world a face with new attractive features: more stability in its macroeconomic fundamentals and greater pragmatism in policy and instituitional reform.
-Consistently positive growth rates and democratic stability are now the norms in the region, rather than the exception. Pragmatism has replaced as the guide for governments for sustained economic development instead of dogma.
- Latin America leads the developing world in pension reforms. Of course, Chile was the pioneer and role model for the reforms in the region.

What struck me in the report ( in the introduction itself) is the new link between China-India and Latin America. In fact, they have one separate chapter with the title " Latin America's Asian opportunity." They have concluded that the two Asian giants represent trade opportunities rather than competition for majority of the Latin American countries. Secondly, they show India-China as examples to follow by the Latin Americans in terms of growth, innovation and global competitivity.

It has now become a standard feature of any report on latin america to talk about the linkage to India and and China.

The report has the views of Javier Santiso, the chief development economist of OECD,who wrote the book "The political economy of the emerging markets". I agree with his analysis and optimism. My blog review of his book:

http://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/search?q=the+political+economy+of+the+possible )

TCS wins $200million dollar deal in Mexico

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has won a four- year contract of over $200 million from Social Security Institute of Mexico (IMSS), which is the largest organisation of its kind in Latin America. TCS won the contract following a public bid process based on technology and financial parameters over three other leading global and local technology companies.

In its role as the strategic IT services partner for IMSS, TCS will provide end-to-end IT services including application maintenance and support, custom software development, business analysis services, management of strategic IT programs and value added initiatives for the organisation’s affiliates.

This is the largest deal for TCS in Latin America. TCS had earlier secured a 200 million dollar deal with ABN Amro of Brazil and a 170 million dollar contract with Banco Pichincha of Ecuador.

TCS employs over 5000 young Latin Americans in Brazil, mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, Ecuador and Chile. TCS has a regional training centre in Montevideo.

IMF report of 9 November on Latin America

In the semiannual report of 9 Nov 2007, IMF says "Latin America is poised for its fifth consecutive year of strong economic growth in 2008."
Highlights of the report:
- growth in the region will be about 5 percent in 2007, moderating to about 4¼ percent in 2008. This will be the fifth consequent year of growth over 4 percent since 2003.
-average inflation in 2007 is 5.4% and projected to be 5.7% in 2008.
-The region has weathered the recent market turbulence. The solid fiscal and monetary policies have made the region more resilient than it was in the past to changes in the external environment. Instituitional reforms and stronger policy frameworks have made the region better prepared to face times of global turbulence.
-poverty, unemployment and inequality have declined since 2003.
-While the growth of the region has been partly due to the favourable external environment such as increase in demand and prices of commodities, the internal reforms and policy framework of the governments of the region are the most important.

International Monetary Fund Director for the Western Hemisphere Mr Anoop Singh said in a conference in Brazil on 9 Nov "I think Latin America has moved into a new era without the traditional cycle of boom and bust". This confirms my own assessment based on my study of the changes in the markets of the region and the mindset of the Latin Americans.

On Argentina, Mr Anoop Singh said that President-elect Cristina Fernandez had what he called "a strong electoral mandate from the people of Argentina to continue existing economic policies." He said that, through such policies, Argentina was progressing toward more stable economic fundamentals.

Speech in Spanish at the Argentine Chamber of Importers 7 November

video of the speech can be seen in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJYHdS2gaEw

I was invited by the Argentine Chamber of Importers, a hundred year old instituition to speak on " how to do business with India". This was my second speech in Spanish in Argentina.

I gave an overview of the new market of India and mindset of the new generation of Indians who are not afraid of globalisation. On the contrary, they want to take advantage of the opportunities arising from globalisation and even seek to Indianise the globe. Indira Nooyi's ascent as CEO of Pepsicola company is the symbol of the new paradigm. This new market and mindset are keen to do business with Argentina and latin america.

I expressed optimism for the future of Argentina which has natural, mineral and energy as well as human resources( which won the Singapore and US Open golf, ATP tennis title, Rugby and Polo). Just as the 1991 foreign exchange crisis was a turning point for India, the 2001-2 crisis of Argentina has created a new mindset. The Argentines are now determined that they would never allow a repetition of the crisis. This is reflected in the monetary and fiscal discipline in the last five years. The Argentine economy has been growing at a high rate of over 8 percent in the last five years and is poised to continue the growth in the coming years.

The emerging new Argentina and India are discovering the complimentaries of their industry and business and are moving towards a long term partnership. I was stuck by the enthusiasm and seriousness shown by Argentine importers for India. This is matched by the interest being shown by Indian businessmen for Argentina.

Indian BPO of First Source in Buenos Aires

Raul Martinez, Tarak Ghosh and Myriam Cunningham with me

I visited the Indian BPO of First Source (ICICI group) in Buenos Aires. It is the largest among the Indian IT/BPO/KPO units in Argentina employing 400 young Argentines. They do the backend work for the American telecom giant Verizon and recently they have got a financial job from the Citi Bank.

The BPO is in the heart of Buenos Aires city, amidst elegant cafes, bars, restaurants and shopping.

Raul Martinez is the country manager of the BPO. Tarak Ghosh from India has been taking care from the Indian side. Both are upbeat about more business opportunities and expansion of the BPO.

All the Argentines work in English language. The Indian company is happy with the skills and talents and quality and output of the Argentine staff.

Argentina offers competitive advantages for IT/BPO/ KPO business with its high literacy rate and relatively low salaries in dollar terms. Argentina is a lower cost location than Chile, Mexico, Brazil and Mexico.

The entry of Indian IT, BPO and KPOs contribute to the human resource development of Argentine society and enrich the evolving partnership between the two countries.

Peru - the next rising star in Latin America

My friend Andres Oppenheimer, who writes 'oppenheimer report" in Miami Herald has concluded that Peru is the emerging new star in Latin America. He has come to this conclusion, based this on his interview with a World Bank economist and his own analysis. Following are points he has cited:

• Peru's economy has been growing at about 6 percent a year for the past six years, a longer period of steady growth than most countries in the region. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America is projecting a 7.3 percent growth for 2007, and a 6 percent increase for 2008.
• Poverty has fallen from 54 percent of the population in 2001 to about 44 percent, according to official figures.
• Inflation is at about 2.8 percent, one of the lowest rates in the region.
• Exports have risen at an average annual rate of 24 percent since 2001, including an 18 percent annual rise in nontraditional exports, mostly agricultural goods and textiles.
• Foreign direct investment has soared from $810 million in 2000 to $3.5 billion last year.

His write up in
http://thecolourofhope.blogspot.com/2007/11/oppenheimer-report-peru-may-be-next.html

Los Angeles Times article on Argentine economy

I agree with the analysis of this article and that is why i am reproducing it here

How Argentina jump-started its economy

Buenos Aires' first couple revived the economy -- despite, not because of, the IMF.
By Mark Weisbrot October 30, 2007

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on Sunday became the first woman elected to the presidency of Argentina. Her victory is not difficult to explain. Her political party, under President Nestor Kirchner (her husband), led a dramatic economic turnaround that made Argentina the fastest-growing economy in the Western Hemisphere over the last 5 1/2 years.
More than 11 million people, or 28% of the population, were pulled above the poverty line as Argentina's economy grew by more than 50%. Its 8.2% annual economic growth was more than twice the average for Latin America. Unemployment has dropped from 21.5% to 8.5%, and real (inflation-adjusted) wages have grown by more than 40%.
Fernandez's victory was thus predictable and relatively easy. But the economic recovery that drove it was not so simple, and the people who led it deserve more credit than they have generally received. The Kirchners and their allies had to take on not only the conventional wisdom of the economics profession but also powerful international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. Argentina's success may have some important implications for other developing countries.
When Argentina defaulted on a record $100 billion of debt at the end of 2001, almost all of the experts predicted that this would be the beginning of a long period of punishment. International financial markets and foreign investors would shun the nation, they said, and this would be very damaging. The government had better reach an agreement with the IMF and follow its advice. And it had better play nice with the defaulted foreign creditors.
The experts could hardly have been more wrong. The economy contracted for just three months after the default and then began to grow. It hasn't stopped since.
Contrary to a common belief, Argentina's expansion was not based on exports or high commodity prices: Only about 13% of the growth during the expansion was because of exports.
What did Argentina do right? Most important, the government got its basic macroeconomic policies right. After years of seeing its domestic economy crippled by an overvalued currency that made imports artificially cheap, the Argentine central bank targeted a stable and competitive real exchange rate.
In other words, the authorities made sure that their currency didn't rise too high and didn't swing wildly as a result of movements in financial markets. (Here in the U.S., where we have shed more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2001 -- the bulk of them lost because of an overvalued dollar -- we might take note.) They also kept interest rates low and made growth, rather than the lowest possible inflation, the top priority.
These policies are mostly a no-no among central bankers and economists, and Argentina had a few showdowns with the IMF, including a brief temporary default to the fund in September 2003. But the fund backed down, and most of the defaulted international creditors ended up settling for 35 cents on the dollar in 2005.
Of course, Argentina hasn't gotten a lot of foreign direct investment in the last five years, and it cannot directly borrow in international bond markets. But these handicaps -- which if you read the business press should spell doom -- turned out not to be all that important. Nor are they permanent. In time, foreign investors and lenders will find their way back to a fast-growing economy.
The lesson? Just as "all politics are local," so too are the most important economic policies for most countries. Getting basic macroeconomic policies right for your own economy is a lot more important than pleasing international financial markets. That goes double for failed international financial institutions like the IMF. The fund not only oversaw the train wreck that collapsed Argentina's economy from 1998 to 2002, it opposed the major policies that drove Argentina's remarkable recovery.
The fact that Argentina's break with the IMF and its policies was key to the country's economic success also has implications for other countries. Over the last quarter of a century, the fund and its allied institutions -- run from Washington -- have presided over Latin America's worst long-term growth performance in more than a century. As a result, most governments in the region have moved away from the IMF. Its loan portfolio in the region has shrunk from $49 billion just four years ago to less than $1 billion today. But it still holds sway in many poor countries.
Argentina's new government will face challenges, the kind brought about by a fast-growing economy: keeping inflation in check and assuring adequate supplies of energy. But these problems are manageable. Of course, there are analysts who argue otherwise, but their forecasts over the last five years have not been very accurate.

Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. Website: cepr.net

My interview to an Argentine Business Daily on 24 October

This is the text of interview published by Infobaeprofesional.com ( a virtual business daily ) on 24 October. This interview was conducted in spanish. Readers can use the translation tool given in the right side of the blog for English.

India busca triplicar el comercio con la Argentina y apurar un TLC
Infobaeprofesional.com entrevistó al nuevo embajador de la India en el país. Aseguró que en tres años, de los poco más de u$s1.000 M en intercambio se pasará a u$s3.000 M. Además, pugnará en el Congreso por la ratificación de un acuerdo parcial de preferencias, con vistas a un TLC con el Mercosur.
Hoy en día, India se posiciona como una de las economías de crecimiento más rápido del mundo. Con una tasa récord del 9,3% durante el año pasado, superó las expectativas de los analistas internacionales. En los últimos diez años, el país tuvo un crecimiento promedio de 7%, sustentado por una mejora constante del sector agrícola y por una expansión en el sector manufacturero y, sobre todo, del de servicios. India es la potencia indiscutida en la industria del call center, por ejemplo, donde emplea a 350 mil personas, siete veces más que lo proyectado por la Argentina para este año.

A nivel comercial, desde 2001, las exportaciones crecieron 180% hasta alcanzar en 2006 una cifra superior a los u$s120 mil millones, según datos del Centro de Economía Internacional (CEI). Las importaciones, por su parte, ese mismo año alcanzaron los u$s174.000 M, casi 250% más que cinco años atrás.

Como contrapartida, si bien la relación comercial entre la India y la Argentina está creciendo, aún se trata de cifras chicas comparadas con el potencial que encierra el mercado indio.

Visto desde la Argentina, el año pasado las exportaciones alcanzaron los u$s909 M, mientras que las importaciones sumaron poco más de u$s303 M, según Abeceb.com.

En este contexto, el 10 de octubre pasado, llegó al país el nuevo embajador de la India, Rengaraj Viswanathan. Es especialista en temas Latinoamericanos y llegó a la Argentina con tres metas concretas: incrementar los niveles de comercio, promover inversiones de compañías indias en el país y organizar visitas de alto nivel entre ambos mercados para los próximos meses. De este y otros temas, el diplomático dialogó con infobaeprofesional.com.

-El comercio es bastante limitado para lo que es la india ¿coincide en esto?

-La relación comercial entre ambos países el año pasado arrojó una cifra de u$s1.200 M, es una cifra interesante pero está por debajo del verdadero potencial. Esto se debe a que la India recién en los últimos diez años enfocó sus fuerzas en América Latina y los empresarios en particular recién comenzaron a mirar a la región más seriamente en los últimos cinco años.

-Las proyecciones que manejan son ambiciosas...

-Sí. Estamos empezando a entrar al mercado de la Argentina. Tenemos optimismo en este país porque se recuperó de la crisis y esta estabilidad va a garantizar más crecimiento. Esto genera que sea un mercado muy atractivo para nosotros, de hecho, es el tercero más importante en la región para India. Esto es una visión que comparten tanto los empresarios como el gobierno. Por eso, nuestra meta es pasar de los u$s1.200 M a u$s3.000 M en tres años.

-En esto seguramente influirán mucho las inversiones...

-Exacto. Hoy contamos con cuatro empresas de la India del sector de Tecnologías de la Información que invierten en la Argentina, entre ellas, la número uno, que emplea a 150 personas en el país. También tenemos empresas en otras áreas como outsorcing, agroquímicos, genética y agrobusiness. Pero esto no va a quedar aquí. Constantemente estamos recibiendo a empresarios indios que están interesados en invertir en el país o que quieren realizar un joint-venture. Esto va a ser bueno para el futuro de la Argentina.

-Por otra parte, también anunció la realización de misiones comerciales para potenciar la relación bilateral.

-Estamos planeando recibir delegaciones de la India, realizar seminarios sobre áreas claves como TICs o la industria química. Además, personalmente me voy a encargar de realizar una campaña entre los empresarios argentinos para que vayan a la India, para que aprovechen un mercado que ofrece grandes oportunidades.

-Sin embargo, en la Argentina deberán lidiar con una imagen muy difundida entre algunos sectores industriales: la de una India que, como sucede con China, es vista en gran medida como una amenaza.

-Aquí se confunde a la India con China y se trata de cosas muy distintas. China es más grande, comercia más, es un gran jugador mundial. Por otra parte, nosotros apuntamos a exportar productos con muy alto valor agregado, y nuestras empresas son transparentes, no hay secretos, todo está abierto, no ocultamos los costos de producción. Además, no somos una amenaza porque nuestra expectativa es llevar estos u$s300 M que vendimos a la Argentina en 2006 a un máximo de u$s1.000 M. No hay una política del gobierno de la India de invadir el mercado argentino. Por eso, nadie tiene que tener miedo de la India.

-En los últimos días, Lula quiso reencausar el TLC entre la India y el Mercosur,¿cómo cree que evolucionará esto?

-Estamos descubriendo complementariedades entre países en desarrollo. Queremos facilitar el intercambio mediante un TLC. En este sentido, hemos concluido un acuerdo parcial de comercio (PTA, por sus siglas en inglés) entre la India y el Mercosur en el 2005 pero estamos esperando desde hace casi tres años la ratificación de los congresos de la Argentina y de Brasil. Uruguay y Paraguay ya lo ratificaron.

-¿Va a hacer algún tipo de gestión por este tema?-

Si, voy a ir personalmente al Congreso y a reunirme con autoridades del gobierno porque esto no tiene sentido. El PTA no es un acuerdo controversial, va a mejorar el comercio, no estamos abriendo totalmente el mercado, tendríamos algunas preferencias arancelarias para sólo 450 productos.

-¿Y en el caso del TLC?

Tenemos otra agenda para ese acuerdo entre la India, la Unión Aduanera del Sur de África (SACU) y el Mercosur. Pero esto necesita mucho más tiempo, recién se puede hablar de una acuerdo de aquí a cinco o seis años.

Juan Diego Wasilevskyjuandiego@infobae.com(c) Infobaeproesional.com

Biodiesel production in Argentina and its implications for India

Last week one of the world’s biggest biodiesel plants with an annual capacity of 230,000 tons was inaugurated in the city of Rosario. The media highlighted the fact that the day of the inauguration of this plant coincided with the historic high price of crude oil at US $ 88 per barrel. The Rosario plant uses soya as the raw material and it belongs to an Argentine company Renova. A Swiss company Glencore has stake in this plant, which uses Belgian technology.

2. There are at present seven plants producing 400,000 tons of biodiesel. Other biodiesel plants coming up in the near future are: i), A joint venture plant of Bunge and AGT with a capacity of 250,000 tons, ii) Plant of Dreyfus - 300,000 tons, and iii) Molinos plant - 100,000 tons. Besides these, there are a number of other projects under various stages of planning. If all these materialise, the production capacity of biodiesel will reach around 1.7 million tons. According to a report, Argentina is the third largest producer of biofuel in the world after Brazil and USA.

3. The Argentine biodiesel industry is preparing for the growth in domestic demand to a small extent but is more interested in exports . Local demand will go up consequent to the new Argentine law which stipulates that biodiesel will account for 5% of all the diesel in the market by 2010 and also biofuel to account for 5% of all fuels consumed. This will mean domestic consumption of 600,000 tons of biodiesel. The industry’s main focus is exports in the light of the general global trend of increasing use of biofuels in view of the high crude oil prices as well as for sustainable development. Moreover, since the Argentine energy prices have been artificially suppressed by the government at low levels, the bio diesel producers would prefer exports to the international market which offer lucrative prices. The global biofuel market of US $ 15 billion in 2006 is expected to triple by 2015.

5. Argentina has a globally competitive advantage for large production and exports of biodiesel because of the following factors :

- Argentina is the third largest soybean producer and exporter in the world and the largest soyoil and soymeal exporter.

Top soybean producers of the world :

USA - 86 million tons
Brazil - 59 million tons
Argentina - 47 million tons
China - 17 million tons
India - 8 million tons
Paraguay - 6 million tons

- Argentina uses 16.8 million hectares of land for growing soya which occupies the largest cultivated area among other crops. If the prices are favourable, the Argentines have the flexibility to increase the area, given the availability of large arable land area.
- Argentina has favourable soil and climate for growing soya besides other crops.
- The Argentine farming is modern, large-scale and technologically advanced supported by research and development. A number of multinational corporations are in the Argentine market introducing the latest technologies for growing and processing soya.
- Cost of production is low and yield per hectare is high (2.3 tons per hectare)
- The infrastructure for storage, transportation and shipping is modern and is being further expanded.

Implications for India

6. The Argentine production of biodiesel and edible oil from soya has implications for India. Our annual requirement of edible oil is 12 million tons and it is expected to increase to 15 million tons by 2010 and 21 million tons by 2015. Out of the current requirement of 12 million tons, 5 million tons is imported. This includes 2.8 to 3 million tons of palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia and 1.5 to 2 million tons of soybean oil from Argentina (80%) and Brazil (20%). In 2006 soyoil imports accounted for US $ 700 million out of our total imports of US $ 950 million from Argentina.

7. Besides soy, Argentina grows a number of other oilseed crops which can be used for producing biofuels. Diversion of edible oil crops to biodiesel will cause shortage of edible oils increasing their international prices. At the same time, Argentina has also the potential to grow Jatropha and other non-edible oilseeds to make biofules. In any case, there is no domestic debate about the food versus fuel competition, since their focus is mainly exports. Local consumption by the 40 million Argentines is a small proportion of the production of both fuels and food crops.

8. A delegation of Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) visited Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in May-June 2007. This was sponsored by our Commerce Ministry. The SEA delegates have been impressed by the farming techniques and crushing technology. They have praised the crushing technology used in Argentina as the best in the world including in USA, Brazil and China. Some of the members of the SEA have formed a Consortium to buy a soy farm of 12,000 hectares in Paraguay at a cost of US $ 40 million. Due diligence for this purchase is currently going on. Argentina offers even greater opportunities for investment in soy farming and processing. There is no restriction on foreign investment in land or plants.