Overview
- At China Agribusiness Day in Buenos Aires, Chinese embassy trade counselor An Guanghui said Beijing wants to import many more Argentine products with higher value added.
- Panelists estimated Argentina could lift sales to China by up to about US$3 billion a year if pending technical protocols advance, highlighting opportunities in peanuts, peas and blueberries.
- Key hurdles cited were slow case-by-case sanitary approvals with 25–50 products awaiting clearance, high entry tariffs such as 30% on blueberries, and regulatory uncertainty relative to Brazil.
- Officials and executives promoted biotechnology cooperation and counter-season seed production, noting Argentina approved 16 biotech events in the past 24 months but still trails Brazil’s pace.
- Recent milestones underscored the opening: record soy shipments this year and the first Argentine wheat cargoes to China, with beef, sorghum and barley continuing as core export channels.