[2] Argentine industry is dominated by food processing, chemicals, motor vehicles, metals, and machinery and equipment, which combined drive 85% of gross value added in manufacturing.
[4] During the pre-Columbian era, the indigenous peoples who inhabited Argentina, which included the Diaguita, Guaraní, Mapuche, and other groups, produced goods such as textiles, weapons, handicrafts, and canoes.
[8] [This section will cover the expansion of light industry starting in the 1930s and accelerating under Peron, including Argentina's brief emergence as an exporter of manufactured goods during World War II.
However, growth constraints emerged by the 1950s as recurring balance of payments crises created shortages of imported equipment and inputs, while entrepreneurs faced technological obsolescence and struggled to expand into more complex and higher-value products.
With a saturated domestic market and the need to generate foreign currency, successive Argentine governments starting in the mid-1960s promoted industrial exports through financial incentives and managed trade agreements.
During the first two years of the military administration, industrial production continued to grow despite a reduction of tariffs from an average of 90% in 1976 to 50% in 1978; historians credit the improved scale and competitiveness during the export promotion era of the early 1970s.
However, after 1978, rising interest rates and overvaluation of the peso as part of Martínez de Hoz's anti-inflation strategy resulted in an influx of imported goods that overwhelmed local industry.
Prior to 1998, high economic growth and regional integration under Mercosur led to a recovery in industrial production and the entry or return of global multinationals such as General Motors and Toyota into local manufacturing.
But the outlook is uncertain today under Milei's shock therapy, a potential Mercosur-EU trade deal, and questions on what a more market-driven economic structure would look like for Argentina.]
Argentine industry is dominated by two major sectors – food, beverages, and tobacco; and chemicals and petroleum products – that reflect the country's comparative advantage in agriculture and energy.
[16] Top players in the sector include locally-owned Aceitera General Deheza, Vicentín, and Molinos agro, and multinationals Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company, and Viterra (whose Argentine plant is the largest soybean crushing facility worldwide[17]).
The largest locally-owned processors include Frigorífico Gorina, ArreBeef, Friar, EcoCarnes, and La Anónima, which combined control an additional 40% of export capacity.
Leading locally-owned companies in this segment are Molinos Río de la Plata, which owns a diversified portfolio of local food brands, and Grupo Arcor, a confectionery producer.
The sector is well represented outside of the country's dominant industrial centers with major facilities in Bahía Blanca and the provinces of San Luis, Mendoza, and Neuquén.
[31] A key recent investment was the expansion of global chemicals company Evonik's biofuels facility in Rosario announced in July 2024 to increase production capacity by 50% and enable exports to Brazil.
Dow Chemical announced the closure of its petrochemicals plant at San Lorenzo (Santa Fe province) in October 2024 due to the facility's low utilization rate and excess global supply of its key product, polyether polyols.
[33] Petroquímica Río Tercero, a local company, also announced a plant closure in October 2024 impacting a toluene diisocyanate production facility in Córdoba province.
Although biofuels production has been stagnant in recent years, the sector may return to growth due to a USD $200 million investment by Grupo Bahía Energía announced in October 2024 to build Argentina’s first sustainable aviation fuel plant that will use corn-based ethanol.
[49] Brazil and Argentina entered a separate agreement in August 2022 to remove a key non-tariff barrier related to vehicle safety certifications in both countries.
In February 2024, Toyota announced a USD $50 million investment to produce the Hiace utility vehicle at its plant in Zárate, creating 100 local direct and indirect jobs.
[61] Over 700 companies, which include both multinationals such as John Deere and CNH as well as an ecosystem of SMEs, produce farm machinery and inputs in Argentina, supplying 80% of local demand.
[63] As a result, John Deere announced layoffs amid protracted wage negotiations at its main plant in Granadero Baigorria in Santa Fe province.
[64] At the same time, PLA, an Argentina sprayer and planter manufacturer acquired by John Deere in 2018, announced a USD $15 million investment in March 2024 to expand production capacity at its Las Rosas plant by 50%.
[65] Consumer electronics Approximately 95% of the cell phones, televisions, air conditioners, and microwaves sold Argentina are produced in Tierra del Fuego province due to generous tax exemptions introduced by the military government in 1972 and import restrictions implemented by the Kirchner administration in 2009.
Whirlpool opened a USD $52 million facility in October 2022 to manufacture front-loading washing machines, with plans to export 70% of its output to Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
[81] Vicentin, once considered a "crown jewel" of the soybean processing industry, defaulted on USD $1.5 billion in debt in 2019 amid allegations of financial impropriety by its controlling shareholders;[82] as of September 2024, an Argentine court was reviewing a rescue proposal by agribusiness giants Bunge Global and Viterra.
Nestlé announced that production of powdered and ultra-high temperature milk at its plant in Córdoba province will pause during March 2025 due to weak local and export demand.
[86] Several multinationals, including Clorox,[87] Procter & Gamble,[88] and Canadian fertilizer company Nutrien[89] have divested local production operations entirely due to the challenging business environment.
[96] RIGI tax, customs, legal, and foreign currency benefits are being offered to targeted industrial sectors, including steel, petrochemicals, infrastructure, electric and hybrid vehicles, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and defense manufacturing.
Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and Environment, José W. Fernández, remarking that “a company that is considering a major investment spoke very favorably” of the new regime.