That dollar amount reflects a 42.9% increase from $61.8 billion during 2018.
Year over the year, the overall value of goods exported from Argentina gained 13.4% compared to $77.8 billion in 2021.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2022, the Argentine peso depreciated by a sobering -364.9% against the US dollar since 2018 and fell by -37.5% from 2021 to 2022. Argentina’s weaker local currency makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Argentina’s Best International Trade Customers
The latest available country-specific data shows that 60.5% of products exported from Argentina were bought by importers in: Brazil (14.3% of Argentina’s total), mainland China (9%), United States of America (7.6%), Chile (5.6%), India (5.1%), Netherlands (4%), Vietnam (3.7%), Peru (2.8%), Indonesia (2.4%), South Korea (2.3%), Spain (2%) and Algeria (1.8%).
The latest available country-specific data shows that 59.8% of products exported from Argentina were bought by importers in: Brazil (15.1% of the global total), mainland China (7.9%), United States of America (6.4%), India (5.5%), Chile (5.4%), Vietnam (4.1%), Netherlands (3.8%), Peru (2.6%), Indonesia (2.39%), Spain (2.37%), South Korea (2.2%) and Egypt (2%).
From a continental perspective, 34.6% of Argentina’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 31.9% was sold to importers in Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean. Argentina shipped another 15.3% worth of goods to Europe.
Smaller percentages went to North America (10%), Africa (7.2%) then Australia, New Zealand and Fiji in Oceania (1%).
Given Argentina’s population of 46.3 million people, its total $88.3 billion in 2022 exports translates to roughly $1,900 for every resident in the South American country. That per-capita metric exceeds the average $1,700 for 2021.
Argentina’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Argentine global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Argentina.
- Cereals: US$14.4 billion (16.4% of total exports)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: $9.7 billion (11.0%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $7.8 billion (8.8%)
- Vehicles: $7.5 billion (8.5%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $5.8 billion (6.5%)
- Oil seeds: $4.2 billion (4.8%)
- Meat: $4 billion (4.6%)
- Other chemical goods: $2.8 billion (3.2%)
- Gems, precious metals: $1.8 billion (2.1%)
- Fish: $1.7 billion (2.0%)
Argentina’s top 10 exports were roughly two-thirds (67.7%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Mineral fuels including oil was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 35.7% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales was meat via a 18.7% gain.
Argentina’s shipments of vehicles posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 16%.
The leading decliner among Argentina’s top 10 export categories was food industry waste and animal fodder dragged down by a -22.4% drop.
At the detailed 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, the most valuable Argentinian exported products are corn, soyabean oilcake and other solid residues, soyabean oil, trucks, wheat, soya beans, crude oil, frozen beef, biodiesel, and cars. Collectively, those exported commodities accounted for approximately 44.2% of Argentina’s total exports sales in 2022.
Products Generating Greatest Trade Surpluses for Argentina
Argentina earned an overall $12.1 billion trade surplus for 2022, falling by -17.4% from $14.7 billion in black ink one year earlier.
The following types of Argentine product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus.
Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Cereals: US$14.4 billion (Up by 6.4% since 2021)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: $9.5 billion (Down by -23.3%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $7.5 billion (Down by -12.2%)
- Meat: $3.9 billion (Up by 19.5%)
- Oil seeds: $2.1 billion (Up by 82.6%)
- Fish: $1.64 billion (Down by -11.9%)
- Gems, precious metals: $1.64 billion (Down by -12.3%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: $1.5 billion (Up by 14.7%)
- Other chemical goods: $1.3 billion (Up by 16.6%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $829.1 million (Down by -5.8%)
Argentina has highly positive net exports in the international trade of cereals, notably corn, wheat, barley and rice. In turn, these cashflows indicate Argentina’s strong competitive advantages under the cereals category.
Products Causing Greatest Trade Deficits for Argentina
Below are exports from Argentina that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Argentina’s goods trail Argentine importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$9.6 billion (Up by 14.6% since 2021)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$7.9 billion (Up by 22.4%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: -$6.3 billion (Up by 307.7%)
- Organic chemicals: -$3.7 billion (Up by 30.3%)
- Fertilizers: -$2.5 billion (Up by 9.5%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$2.3 billion (Up by 14.6%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$2.2 billion (Down by -7.4%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$1.7 billion (Up by 13.2%)
- Iron, steel: -$1.6 billion (Up by 7.6%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: -$1 billion (Up by 12.9%)
Argentina has highly negative net exports and therefore a deep international trade deficit under the machinery including computers category.
These cashflow deficiencies clearly indicate Argentina’s competitive disadvantages in the global machinery market, but also represent key opportunities for Argentina to improve its position in the global economy through focused innovations.
Argentina’s Export Companies
Not one of Argentina’s corporations ranks among Forbes’ Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list relatively smaller exporters from Argentina. Selected examples are shown below.
- Al Este (wine)
- Aluar (aluminum)
- Bridas Corporation (oil, gas)
- Bunge Limited (grains, oilseed)
- Grupo Arcor (chocolates, cookies, ice cream)
- La Serenísima (dairy products)
- Loma Negra (cement)
- SanCor (dairy products)
- Transportadora de Gas del Sur (natural gas)
- Zanella (motorcycles)
In macroeconomic terms, Argentina’s total exported goods represent 7.3% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($1.207 trillion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 7.3% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 7.4% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Argentina’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Argentina’s unemployment rate averaged 6.9% for 2022, down from an average 8.725% jobless rate one year earlier for 2021 according to the International Monetary Fund.
Argentina’s capital city is Buenos Aires.
See also Argentina’s Top Trading Partners, Argentina’s Top 10 Imports and Top South American Export Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on March 27, 2023
Forbes 2018 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on March 27, 2023
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average)
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on March 27, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on March 27, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on March 27, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on March 27, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Argentina. Accessed on March 27, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on March 27, 2023
