Overview
- The Cooperativa Yerbatera Dos de Mayo shipped a small container of loose yerba mate to China, and a local buyer will repackage and sell it under its own brand.
- A follow-up load is in the works that would include tea-bag formats suited to mate cocido, a style closer to how many Chinese consumers brew infusions.
- The deal grew from contacts made at a 2025 food fair in China through ConexTea, a consortium of mid-sized Argentine tea and yerba firms.
- The co-op processed just over 30 million kilos of green leaf last year with capacity for 50 million, and it works with about 120 members plus 700 to 800 small and mid-sized growers, so only larger, steady orders would lift incomes.
- Leaders say farmgate prices now sit below production costs, which strains payments that depend on selling semi-processed leaf and could curb field care, even as exports rise with sales still dominated by Syria.