Foreign Trade
Argentine exports are fairly well diversified. However, although agricultural raw materials were over 20% of the total exports in 2011, agricultural goods including processed foods still account for over 50% of exports. Soy products alone (soybeans, vegetable oil) account for almost one fourth of the total. Cereals, mostly maize and wheat, which were Argentina's leading export during much of the twentieth century, make up less than one tenth now.
Industrial goods today account for over a third of Argentine exports. Motor vehicles and auto parts are the leading industrial export, and over 12% of the total merchandise exports. Chemicals, steel, aluminum, machinery, and plastics account for most of the remaining industrial exports. Trade in manufactures has historically been in deficit for Argentina, however, and despite the nation's overall trade surplus, its manufacturing trade deficit exceeded US$30 billion in 2011. Accordingly, the system of non-automatic import licensing was extended in 2011, and regulations were enacted for the auto sector establishing a model by which a company's future imports would be determined by their exports (though not necessarily in the same rubric).
A net energy importer until 1987, Argentina's fuel exports began increasing rapidly in the early 1990s and today account for about an eighth of the total. Refined fuels make up about half. Exports of crude petroleum and natural gas have recently been around US$3 billion a year. Rapidly growing domestic energy demand and a gradual decline in oil production, resulted in a US$1.5 billion energy trade deficit in 2011 (the first in 24 years).
Argentine imports have historically been dominated by the need for industrial and technological supplies, machinery, and parts, which totaled US$50 billion in 2011 (two-thirds of total imports). Consumer goods including motor vehicles make up most of the rest. Trade in services, historically in deficit for Argentina, is currently balanced at around US$14 billion each way.
Read more about this topic: Economy Of Argentina
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