Information about Argentina’s economic sectors
Exports from the soybean, corn, wheat, sunflower and barley agro-industrial complexes reached a record in the first half of the year. With 52.5 million tons, it is 80% of the volume of Argentina’s total exports and 50% of the value that reached $13.63 billion. The agro-industrial sector consolidated as the main generator of genuine currency in the country.
The National Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries has launched a call for investment proposals aimed at incorporating technologies for the generation of renewable energy applicable to agricultural exploitation and industrialization. Non-reimbursable contributions can be up to 60% with a maximum refund amount of US$ 30,000 per initiative. The closing date is August 28th. Projects must submit by sending the completed form and its attachments to diprose@magyp.gob.ar with a copy to serviciosfinancieros.diprose@magyp.gob.ar.
The meat processing industry estimated that this production could grow by one million tons by 2030, supported by increasing domestic consumption for a simple matter of population increase and exports. This estimate seems reasonable, and if we subtract the 200,000 tons that would be absorbed by the domestic market, there will be 800,000 tons left with bone, which would represent a doubling of exports in the record year 2019.
Argentina experienced an extraordinary jump in the volumes produced by cereals and oilseeds. The higher production was due, in part, to a growth in the area, but a greater extent to leaps in productivity. Within this framework, and to improve the replacement of nutrients and take care of a strategic resource such as the soil, promoting the use of fertilizers in the areas of cultivation in Argentina would bring significant benefits, both in volume and in economic terms. It would make it possible to obtain profits for the agro-industrial chain of more than 2.8 billion dollars, a figure that would allow the government to generate a contribution of almost $660 million per year.
The project, which would have an investment of $4 billion and could double Argentina’s pork production over the next four years, is moving forward. The signing of this diplomatic contract could trigger the construction of 25 industrial farms that would increase pork production by more than 882,000 tons, and corn by more than 3 million tons, and would generate 9,500 jobs. They could increase exports by $2.5 billion a year.
During the first half of the year, slaughter increased by 280,000 head; production grew by 4%; and exports increased by 20%. Argentina ranks sixth as a world producer of beef, fifth as an exporter and supplies 7% of global demand. China absorbs 80% of Argentina’s meat exports.
The level of formal employment in construction fell 2% in May against April, completing a period of nine consecutive months of losses equal to or higher than that percentage, according to the monthly report of the Institute of Statistics and Registration of the Construction Industry (IERIC). The study indicated that for the first five months of the year employment accumulated a drop of 25.8% year-on-year, while about 150 thousand jobs were lost in the construction industry in 2020 until May.
The banking sector accumulated a 46% lower gain in the first four months of 2020 than in the same period of 2019. In financial intermediation, the banks lost, and this year they are failing again. The credit part is dead, and the liability rates have the floor, so the margin is not right. The gain comes from trading and the difference in the exchange rate.
In the first five months of the year, the Port of Buenos Aires operated 1.5% more cargo than in the same period in 2019. This growth is due to the measures implemented by the Government to promote and guarantee Argentine foreign trade.
The city of Buenos Aires had a slight upturn in June that is not enough to show a recovery, given that the year-on-year comparison shows a drop of 48%. June was the twenty-fifth consecutive month with a decline in the year-on-year measurement.
