The Cámara Argentina de Fabricantes de Maquinaria Agrícola warns that the local tax burden doubles Brazil's and is more than double Mexico's. In the first half of 2026, sales fell 7.1% and revenue dropped 19.6% in real terms.
Argentina's agricultural machinery industry is facing a dual reality: while the domestic market shrinks and profitability suffers from tax and bureaucratic pressure, the sector is doubling down on exports through trade missions and a common seal. Hernán Zubeldía, president of the Cámara Argentina de Fabricantes de Maquinaria Agrícola (Cafma), summed up the imbalance: "We have a tax burden that today doubles Brazil's and is more than double Mexico's, but with very similar prices."
The effect, according to manufacturers, is similar to what farmers, their main customers, are going through. High costs, especially tax and bureaucratic ones, cut into profitability and hinder investment. "When profitability falls, the same thing happens as when farmers aren't making money: we're going to see a period of disinvestment over the next ten years, and I don't want that to happen in this sector," Zubeldía warned.
Among the sector's main demands is the refund of technical VAT balances, which are generated by buying inputs taxed at 21% and selling products at 10.5%. "Those funds are very significant sums, they are denominated in pesos, they are not indexed and we know we don't get them back. It is the factories' money that the state is holding," Zubeldía described.
The cost of investing is another front. With interest rates that are no longer negative, as was the case when inflation outpaced returns, decisions are weighed more carefully. "Today the decision is far more finely balanced because your profitability is low and one false step leaves you in the red," he added.
Data from the domestic market reflects that stagnation. According to a survey by the Bolsa de Comercio de Rosario, in the first half of 2026, 7.1% less machinery was sold than in 2025 and revenue fell 19.6% after discounting inflation.
Despite the context, manufacturers are maintaining investment. "We manufacturers are big bettors because, beyond the current situation, we keep investing, buying equipment, bringing technology into our plants and modernizing processes," Zubeldía stressed. Even so, they make clear that the domestic market is the base of any external strategy: "Domestic markets are the foundation for going out to export, and Argentina has a much smaller domestic market than other peers or competitors."
The disadvantage widens against competitors such as the United States, Mexico and Brazil, which consume around seven times more machinery per ton produced than Argentina. And it comes in a scenario where international prices tend to level out: "Competing on price when you have high costs is very difficult," explained the head of Cafma.
To offset the shrinking domestic market, the sector is promoting trade missions to Eastern Europe, whose soils and agriculture are similar to Argentina's, and is pushing the common Agrinova seal. The strategy is to lead first with systems such as no-till farming or silo bags and, from there, channel the entire machinery chain. "We have a very important horizon if we had the right conditions, because we are exporters of systems and behind those systems the entire agricultural machinery production is channeled," Zubeldía noted.
