Argentina

Argentina has to be quoted with its import regime in plain view. Access to foreign exchange for imports has been constrained for years, licensing and registration requirements have changed repeatedly, and the gap between an agreed order and an executed payment can be long. EMM looks up the licensing and foreign exchange rules as they stand on the day you ask, because last quarter's version is unreliable, holds prices for longer than we normally would, and confirms before despatch rather than after. Cargo lands at Buenos Aires, Rosario for grain-related plant, or Bahia Blanca.

The world's crush capital, plus shale and lithium

The soy crushing complex along the Parana at Rosario, San Lorenzo and Puerto General San Martin is the largest concentration of oilseed processing anywhere in the world, and it buys preparation, extraction, refining, biodiesel, handling, drying and storage equipment at serious scale. Grain - wheat, maize, sunflower - adds cleaning, drying, storage, milling and port handling. Beef and leather, with Argentina a major exporter, buy slaughtering, chilling, freezing, hide processing and tanning plant. Wine in Mendoza and San Juan is a substantial industry taking crushing, pressing, fermentation, cold stabilisation, filtration and bottling equipment. Vaca Muerta shale development in Neuquen buys pumps, valves, compressors, frac support and fabrication plant. Lithium in the northern salares, dairy in Santa Fe and Cordoba, fruit in Rio Negro, fisheries in Patagonia and automotive component manufacture around Cordoba and Buenos Aires complete the picture.

Standards, climate, language

Electrical products within scope require safety certification under the Argentine resolution regime with an IRAM or recognised certificate, and we confirm the route before shipment. Supply voltages are 220 V and 380 V, frequency 50 Hz. The country spans subtropical Misiones to sub-Antarctic Tierra del Fuego, so Patagonian sites need cold and extreme wind provision while the north needs humidity and heat ratings. Spanish documentation throughout.

Tell us your current import licence and FX position frankly. We would rather build the schedule around it than discover it at the end.