Imports of leather into Argentina up by over 100%
08/08/2017
President Macri came to power at the end of 2015, promising to make Argentina’s economy more open. As a result of this openness, companies in the domestic manufacturing sector have said, locally made products are losing market share to cheaper imports, whose producers and distributors previously had no access to the Argentinean market.
In recent comments, the president of industry association CIMA, Ariel Aguilar, said that in the first six months of 2017, imports of leather into Argentina for domestic manufacturers to use to make finished product instead of Argentinean leather, went up by 107% compared to the same months in 2016, the first months of President Macri’s tenure.
“It’s worrying,” he told local media, “that the volume of imports has gone up. It’s equally worrying that the authorities now have fewer red channels at customs and have cut back on specialist customs agents. It’s all part of a pro-import policy, even though this is to the detriment of the work of our national industry. This is all about signing Argentina up for as many free trade agreements as possible, in which we are destined to become suppliers of raw material and nothing more.”
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