The exports of SME companies grew 21.8%, reaching US$8,367 million, which represents 12.4%of the total exported by Argentina in the period January – October 2024.
In volume, the SMEs exported 7.2 million tons, 30% more than the accumulated first 10 months of 2023. This increase in volume indicates a real increase in the total exports of SMEs, although the price per ton decreased 6.3%, reaching an average of US$1,161 per ton.
Of the 7,264 firms that exported in this period, 5,310 are SMEs; That is to say, in the analyzed period 73.1% of the operators are SMEs.
This is how it arises from SME Export Monitor (MEP)an indicator prepared by the Statistics and Reports sector of the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME) to measure the exports of small and medium-sized companies in the Argentine Republic, based on the monthly monitoring of the operations of national companies in foreign trade.
SME exports: sectoral analysis
The MEP analyzes 16 items that group the tariff positions from chapter 1 to 99 of the Mercosur Common Nomenclature, amendment 2024.
In the first 10 months of the year, 4 of the 16 sectors analyzed showed fallswith the Tobacco and derivatives branch being the one with the greatest decline (-35.3%). On the other hand, the category with The greatest progress in dollars was that of miscellaneous manufacturing (+1,411.7%), while in tons, the greatest increase occurred in oil and fuels (+206.9%). The greatest contraction also occurred in Tobacco and derivatives (-33.2%).
He The main sector exported by the country’s SMEs was unprocessed foods, representing 50.1% of the total. Although this growth in volume is encouraging, a reduction in the added value of exports is inferred, since producing or industrializing products locally allows for more value to be captured within the chain. The second item with the most output is precisely Processed Foods (20.5%), followed by Chemicals (9.2%).
If the complex SME exporters are disaggregated into their component tariff positions, it is observed that the main exported product is fresh pears in immediate packaging of net content greater than 2.5 kg and less than or equal to 20 kg (0808.30.00.920Y), representing 2.7% of the total exported by SMEs, followed by squid, shrimp, soybeans and peanuts, all of these products without process or industrialize.
SME exports: what are the main destinations
33.1% (US$2,768.4 million) of the exports of Argentine SMEs were mainly destined for South America, Brazil and Chile standing out as the main partners (US$1,752 million).
The second most relevant continent for local small and medium-sized companies is Europe (24.2%), where the Netherlands, Spain and Italy are the main trading partners (US$931.1 million).
Finally, it should be noted that, of the more than 198 possible export destinations for Argentine SMEs, 20 countries concentrate more than 79% of operations (US$6,610.9 million).
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Source: Ambito
