News / Argentina’s trade boom puts forwarders on alert for growth opportunities

Forwarders are taking note of the gangbuster pace of growth being recorded in Argentinian imports and exports, leading several to highlight the South American country as one of their more promising prospects for the year ahead.

Much of the success has been put down to controversial president Javier Milie’s bonfire of regulation and lifting of tariffs approach to international trade, painting a stark picture of the difference in approach being taken by his opposite number in Washington.

One Portugal-headquartered forwarder told The Loadstar: “We are seeing headline numbers when it comes to volumes in Latin America, but it is Argentina that is proving one of the best spots for us and the opportunities there are only getting better.

“Argentina is an area where we are seeing volumes and interest from potential customers increase. It seems like the country is making things easier for businesses to operate, and that is certainly helping us develop links there.”

As president Trump was imposing tariffs on every conceivable trading partner he could find, president Milei slashed import tariffs on more than 1,000 product types, while also upping the freight on board value limit to $3,000, three times the previous limit.

Together with these changes, he also upped the amount individuals could import duty-free annually to $400, all of which prompted a 55% uptick in consumer goods imports, hitting a record-breaking $11.4bn in total value.

Another forwarder noted that despite the growth, they still saw room for further increases, pointing out to The Loadstar that the volumes moving remain “well short” of the country’s neighbours – although others have noted that recent reforms have gutted the workforce.

Since president Milei took office, the country’s textile industry has experienced some 16,000 job losses, or 13% of its workforce, as a consequence of the regulatory reforms being pushed through by the government, according to the Federation of Argentine Textile Industries.

However, the government does not show any signs of shifting course, with an advisor from the Ministry of Economy, Felipe Núñez, telling reporters “thanks to smart trade liberalisation, lower taxes, and deregulation, local prices are converging with international prices”.

Certainly on numbers alone, the changes appear to be working at the broader level, with one source telling The Loadstar that container imports had now climbed to nearly 100% year on year, with China proving a major beneficiary.

“What’s really helping is regulations across South America are improving; these changes are happening at a much faster pace in the likes of Argentina and Brazil, with them moving away from what may have been seen as ‘old fashioned’ bureaucracy,” another forwarder noted.