Argentina Wheat Export Cap Benefits Heineken, Pig Farmers

Argentina’s policy of capping wheat exports to contain food inflation is having the “perverse effect” of benefiting brewers such as Heineken NV and cheapening feed for pig farmers in China, wheat growers said.

Argentine farmers in an area known in the first half of last century as the world’s granary basket will boost barley planting by 17 percent this year at the expense of wheat, which will shrink to the second-lowest in a century, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said yesterday. Barley isn’t part of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s export restrictions. The government is considering increasing taxes on grain exports, Lapoliticaonline reported today.