China is not only another player in Argentina’s foreign trade, but has also been gaining increasing importance in both imports and exports for years. With this firm step managed to position itself in second place in the ranking of the country’s most important trading partners, surpassed only by Brazil – Mercosur–.
The big fear locally is always the possible “invasion of Chinese products”. We’ll have to wait and see how the year ends, but for now Argentina is close to the record value of imports from China reached in 2022, when the total value reached $17,502 million, representing 21.47% of the country’s total imports.
In addition, it is interesting to observe what Argentine-Chinese trade exchanges currently look like. Argentina exports goods to Chinaespecially soy, meat, sorghum, and imports industrial goods such as mobile phones, auto parts, machinery, electronic products and consumer durables.. The relationship is complementary but structurally flawed. As a result, From January to October, a cumulative negative balance of $7,266 million was recorded.
In fact, according to Indec, The trading exchange with the Asian giant recorded the largest negative balance in the first ten months of this year.either. To measure the magnitude of this deficit, it is enough to point out that the negative figure for the European Union – the third largest deficit – was $1,864 million, while the negative figure for Mercosur was $5,504 million.
Economist Marcela Cristini of the Latin American Economic Research Foundation (FIEL) noted that Argentine exports to China have a large concentration in products such as beans, soybean and sunflower oil, copper, oil, leather, molluscs and poultry offal. “Added to this group were products that became more important, such as beef (first in terms of value), followed by lithium. There is also diversification towards fishery products, sorghum, barley and tobacco, showing that demand has moved towards higher unit value agro-industrial consumer goods. “Between 2007 and 2024, exports increased by 61%,” he explained.
Regarding the composition of imports, Cristini explained: “Argentina began to buy from the Asian giant motorcycles and parts for the electronics assembly industry of Tierra del Fuego, which were among the most important products.” And he added this “By 2024, among the various technology products China supplies, automobiles, fertilizers and herbicides, and wind power generator sets will also be at the top of imports.”.
Analyzing the composition of trade exchanges with China in the first ten months of 2025 shows that this country accounted for 10.8% of Argentina’s exports and 23.1% of total imports. Exports reached $7,687 million, an increase of 42.8% compared to the same period in 2024. Imports totaled $14,953 million, increasing by 61.3%..
Argentina’s imports of Chinese products increased in all areas in the period from January to October this year. Motor vehicle purchases increased 307.8%; those of consumer goods, 110.3%; those of fuels and lubricants, 66%; those of “calm,” 126.1%; Capital goods 68.6% and intermediate goods 28%.
Cristini analyzed that in the near future it will be necessary to maintain a certain degree of commercial decoupling with the United States, in addition to that country’s trade agreements with the European Union, which open the European agricultural market to American supplies. “They could represent an important reorientation of Argentina’s agro-industrial supply to Asian countries, particularly towards China and India.”
Likewise, Cristini added: “At the same time, maintaining an export-based development strategy in the case of China.” indicates the continuity of crowding out other countries in our import demand“.
Monthly data
In October this year – the latest data published by Indec in its Argentine Trade Exchange report – China captured the largest volume of Argentina’s foreign trade. This month, exchanges with the Asian giant reached $3,028 million. with Argentine exports worth $1,166 million and imports worth $1,862 millionresulting in a negative balance for the country of $696 million.
This was pointed out in the official report In October, China positioned itself as the second destination for Argentine sales. “Export growth of $825 million was largely driven by higher sales of primary products. 56.3% of shipments were concentrated in soybeans, including broken soybeans excluded from sowing, with year-on-year growth of 1511.8%.“, it was described in detail.
Aside from that, Imports increased by 33.7% compared to October 2024, driven by an increase of $155 million in capital goods and $98 million in intermediate goods.
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