MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's exports rise 9.1% year-on-year, but for smaller volumes

Argentine export revenues grew but sales went down. All a matter of price.

Argentina's National Institute for Statistics and Census (INDEC) Friday announced the country's exports increased 9.1% since March 2020, while imports went up 16.4% for the same period of time, for a combined foreign trade worth of US $ 8,488 million, 12.1% above last year's figures.

Export revenues grew mainly due to a 14.2% increase in prices, while in quantities they decreased 4.5%. Manufactures of agricultural origin (MOA) went up 41.9%, while those of industrial origin (MOI) showed a small 0.2% fall.

The trade surplus reached US $ 1,062 million, 125 million below that of the same month of 2020 due to the fact that the rise in imports - driven by an increase in quantities - exceeded the growth of exports, which was due to mainly to the increase in prices.

But fuels and energy exports slumped 24.8% and primary products decreased shrank by 10.5%.

On the other end of the table, imports increased mainly due to a 19% rise in quantities as prices went down 2.2%. In seasonally adjusted and trend-cycle terms, imports grew 1.5% and 2.8%, in each case, in relation to January 2021.

All items registered positive variations, except for fuels and lubricants, which decreased 31.1%.

Capital goods rose 42.4%; intermediate goods, 16.1%; parts and accessories for capital goods, 19.8%; consumer goods, 1.8%; and passenger motor vehicles, 28.1%.