Exports to the US reached USD 360 million in the cumulative total for 2026, with a year-on-year growth of 201% and a significant jump in shipments in May
The trade exchange between Argentina and United States has reached unprecedented levels within the framework of the new global insertion policy. During the accumulated first five months of 2026, total trade reached USD 3.981 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 46.6%, marking a historical record for that period.
Particularly in May, the balance showed a positive balance of USD 373 million for our country, with exports totaling USD 878 million, a 76% increase compared to the same month of the previous year.
Argentinian export beef
Within this scenario of prosperity, the beef sector positioned itself as the undisputed engine of growth. In May, Argentine slaughterhouses sent 11,100 tons of meat to the U.S. market, an astonishing figure that equals all that was sold to that destination during the first eight months of 2025.
This phenomenal export boom generated revenues of USD 86 million just in that month, representing a year-on-year increase of 369%.
The efficiency of the current management is reflected in the achievement of trade goals. From January to May 2026, meat sales totaled USD 360 million, with a growth of 201% compared to the previous year.
Thanks to the trade agreement signed last February under the current administration, an additional quota of 80,000 tons was enabled, added to the traditional quota of 20,000 tons. By the end of May, Argentina had already placed 42,000 tons, more than double the original quota that was in effect until the end of last year.
Diego Sucalesca, CEO of PromArgentina, was emphatic in analyzing these results: “This commercial milestone validates the macroeconomic direction of opening up to the world that the national government is promoting. The dynamism that Argentine foreign trade exhibits today is a true engine of productive development and sustainable foreign exchange income”.
He also emphasized that these achievements are not the result of chance, but of the direct impact of a federal promotion strategy: “Exporting in a single month —this past May— the same 11,000 tons of meat that in 2025 required us to market over the first eight months in the U.S. market is not a coincidence”.
The success is also a consequence of active trade diplomacy, as demonstrated during the Argentine Beef Week in the United States. This mission, held between April 27 and May 1 in the cities of Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles, allowed fifteen companies from the sector to establish more than 200 business contacts.
Argentine export beef
The delegation was supported by Ambassador Alejandro Oxenford and the Undersecretary of Agrifood Markets and International Insertion, Agustín Tejeda. This deployment allowed the average weekly exports to rise from 370 tons in 2025 to 400 tons in May, a 10% increase.
Finally, the export renaissance is not limited to meat. Other sectors have achieved record figures in the annual accumulation towards the United States, such as honey with USD 96 million and garlic with USD 17 million.
In May, crude oil sales also shone, reaching USD 367 million (an 86% year-on-year growth), and the sector of stones, precious metals, and their manufactures, with USD 121 million, doubling their previous values. Argentina, hand in hand with freedom and trade, is once again a power.
