Italy-Argentina: a comprehensive cooperation

The presence of enterprises and traders of the Italian agricultural mechanization in Expoagro in Argentina, and the institutional relationships developed by FederUnacoma with South American partners are aimed at strengthening business relations between the two countries, in a crucial moment like this, characterized by a strong recovery of the Argentine market

The 2017 Expoagro International Exhibition, held in San Nicolás (Buenos Aires) from 7 to 11 March, showed an increased interest from Italian manufacturing companies. There are many “made in Italy” brands of agricultural machineryattending the event, covering a wide range of products, from tractors to operating machines, equipment and components. The participation of a large delegation of Italian businesspeople was significant and was organized by FederUnacoma within the framework agreement of cooperation signed with Expoagro. The strong Italian presence – explains FederUnacoma – is linked to the upward trend of the Argentinian agriculture and, therefore, to the increase in the demand of machinery. Market figures published by the Argentine National Institute of Statistics and the Ministry of Finance show that in fact, by the end of 2016, tractors increased by 25%, combine harvesters by 53%, equipment by 16% and seeders even by 80%. The positive performance – reveal the analysts – is linked to policies and tax incentives provided by the Government, and it is offeringreal trade benefits toboth Argentina and Italy. Indeed, the Italian industry of the sector in the first eleven months of the year (according to figures by Istat), increased the export volumes of tractors to Argentina by 413% compared to the same period in 2015, passing from 122,000 to 626,000 euro, and increased by 34% the export volumes of all other types of machinery and equipment, passing from an overall value of 16.4 million to 22 million euro. This figure relaunches the Italian presence in Argentina, confirming that the country is Italy’s first commercial partner in the Mercosur free trade area: over 50.4% of Italian tractors and agricultural machinery in this area is absorbed by Argentina, followed by Brazil with 39.2%, and then by Uruguay (6.4%), Venezuela (3.1%) and Paraguay (0.9%).

Trade fairs give the opportunity to monitor the market and strengthen business relations and industrial cooperation – explains FederUnacoma – and for this reason, it is important even for institutions to attend Expoagro and present, in this context, other international events that for their technical features and contents can bestrategic for the Argentine mechanical industry. Thanks to the support from the ICE Agency, the Italian Federation of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers will be working to improve trade relations with the South American country and exploit at best trade fairs such as Expoagro and other events organized this year by FederUnacoma itself: Agrilevante, scheduled in Bari in October and Agrimach in New Delhi in December. Fruit and vegetables farming, but also cereals and extensive crops in warm regions and lands with reduced water supplies are the hot topics of these two exhibitions that are focused on the most appropriate machinery for the Argentine production system. The Argentine agricultural machinery manufacturers, traders and farmers of this big country of South America will therefore strengthen both technical and commercial relations with Italian businesses and operators, playing a full role and entering the circuit of the events sponsored by FederUnacoma. These events include, in addition to the large biannual EIMA International exhibition with the already significant partecipation of Argentina,two other biannual trade fairs held respectively in Bari and New Delhi in the odd years, which feature increasingly interesting and promising perspectives of cooperation.