Argentina closed last year 2021 with a trade volume of US$141.118 billion, its biggest since 2013, and a surplus of US$14.75 billion, 17.7% higher than the previous year, the INDEC statistics bureau reported last Thursday. In the 12 months of 2021, exports totalled US$77.934 billion, 42 percent more than in 2020 and the highest since 2012, while imports reached US$63.184 billion, 49.2 percent higher than the previous year when activity was badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although last year’s trade volume was topped by the US$150.405 billion of 2013, the surplus that year was only US$1.521 billion. In 2021 farm produce represented 39.7 percent of sales abroad, followed by primary products (28 percent), manufactures of industrial origin (25.6 percent) and fuel and energy (6.7 percent). The imports included 40.8 percent in intermediate goods, 18.8 percent in capital goods accessories and 16.1 percent in capital goods.
The main destinations of Argentine exports were Brazil (15.1 percent), China (8.1 percent), the United States (6.4 percent), India (5.5 percent), Chile (5.4 percent), Vietnam (4.1 percent), the Netherlands (3.8 percent) and Peru (2.6 percent) while the imports originated from China (21.4 percent), Brazil (19.7 percent), the United States (9.4 percent), Paraguay (4.6 percent) and Germany (four percent).
“The main trade partners were, as usual, Brazil, China and the United States. Also outstanding were the performances of India, which reached fourth place thanks to a hefty increase of 71.5 percent in its purchases from Argentina, and Chile, the country with the biggest surplus (US$3.486 billion) with an increase of 48.3 percent from 2020,” detailed the INDEC communiqué. Last month the balance between exports and imports left Argentina a surplus of US$371 million, the lowest since 2021. The exports reached US$6.587 billion (85.9 percent more than the previous December) and imports US$6.261 billion (59.1 percent more than the same month of 2020).