SME exports grew by 21.6% year-on-year in the first 8 months of the year.

The SME export These grew by 21.6% and reached USD 6,405 million in exports in the first 8 months of the year. This represents 11.9% of the country’s total exports. The main trading partner continues to be Brazil, which absorbs almost 15% of the sector’s foreign sales.

According to the Argentine Confederation of Medium-sized Enterprises (CAME), exported volume reached 4.8 million tons, an increase of 11 compared to the period January-August 2023 “This similarity between growth in dollars and volume indicates a real increase in SME exports. With these values, SMEs exported for an average of US$1,325 per tonne“, specified the entity.

This is also worth noting 69% of the companies that exported in the first 8 months of the year are SMEsmore precisely, 3,524 out of a total of 5,104 companies. However, the number of exporting SMEs decreased by 7.7% year-on-year, i.e. by 294 fewer SMEs selling abroad.

As for the country’s most exporting regions, Buenos Aires and CABA cover 58.7% of total SME exports, the center, 18.4%; NOA, 6.3%; Patagonia, 6.7%; Whose, 5.1%; and NEA, 4.7%.

In year-on-year variation, the region where SMEs increased their sales abroad the most was NEA (+44.5%), while Patagonia fell (-2.1%). In both cases, the main export item is unprocessed food.

The CAME SME Export Monitor noted that two of the 16 items analyzed showed a decline in dollar terms during the period, which was tobacco and derivatives with the largest decrease (-28.1%), on the contrary, with the largest growth different manufacturers (1,636.9%). Tonnes were the biggest increase in the category fabrics and textile production (238.4%), while the largest decrease also occurred in tobacco and derivatives (-34.7%).

The main item exported by SMEs in the country were unprocessed foodswhich represents 50.9% of total exports.

“While this is positive in terms of volume, it reflects the loss of added value because by not processing these foods before they are exported, opportunities to generate more income and jobs are lost. Local processing enables more value to be captured in the production chain by including activities such as transformation and product improvement, which usually require more technology and specialized labour,” CAME said.

In this sense, an example is the peanut complex, which represents 15.4% of regional exports. Despite its importance, a large part of these exports correspond to unprocessed groundnuts. “If value addition to peanut-based products such as oils or snacks is encouraged, better utilization of economic growth and reduce dependence on fluctuations in international prices of raw materials“, they claimed.

In this regard, according to a study by the Chamber of Exporters of the Republic of Argentina (CERA), the export performance of small and medium-sized enterprises manufacturing was seen significantly worsened in it period 2014-2023. The report states that of the 7,172 manufacturing companies registered in 2023 3,707 small and medium-sized enterprises, which is a significantly lower number than in 2014, when there were them 4,813 of these companies operating in the export sector.

This decrease is also reflected in exported volumes: While large companies maintain a solid presence, SMEs managed to export a combined $3.9 billion in 2023, an average of $1.05 million per company.

By destination, 33.4% ($2,136.3 million) of Argentina’s SME exports had South America as its main destination, with shipments to Brazil and Chile ($1,359.4 million).

The second most relevant continent for SMEs in the country is Europe (23.4%), where Netherlands, Spain and Italy They are the main trading partners ($701.9 million).

Its share of the total is still low (2.6%), but the 44.5% year-on-year increase in sales to Africa is worth highlighting. The predominant product is unprocessed food.

CAME highlighted that of the more than 198 possible export destinations for Argentine SMEs Only 20 countries concentrate more than 79% of operations ($5,096.6 million).