Hit by Chinese imports, Argentina’s textile industry is reeling

[Konner_Long]

In my travel through Argentina meeting with several manufacturers, I’ve been told that the main reason that many factory owners go out of business here is because the damn Gov. taxes/steals ALL of the profit, and empowers the labor force to work very little and demand full pay, and makes it very difficult to fire a lazy employee. Inflation was the main way for them to get rid of lazy workers. Employers had to increase workers pay so that they could keep up with inflation, to get rid of a worker they simply would keep their pay stagnant. With inflation leveling, I imagine that that loophole is now closed. The Argentine factories I’ve visited show real ingenuity, that in many cases surpass those of US manufacturers. Without the many luxuries available in the US, Argentine factories find ingenious ways to adapt and overcome. If the Gov. can get out of the way, and let capitalism work, then I feel that Argentina would prosper.
I work for a US weaver, and the only reason that we’re still in business in the US is due to the Barry amendment, and Buy American Act. Both of which necessitate that Gov. purchases products made in the USA. I’m a libertarian so not fond of government protectionism, but if you take away the protections here and that great sucking sound would become deafening, as know-how, talent, and jobs run for the border for better jobs elsewhere.

State sponsored capitalism/socialism when they need bailouts and free market libertarians when times are good.

Protections and regulations (those of which provide you with your very livelihood as you admit) are needed and are good, and industry should not be the ones dictating when to regulate or not. We would still have kids in sweatshops and slave labour if they had their way.

As for Argentinian producers, yes, the bureaucracy and labour rigidity are problems, but framing workers as “lazy” while praising ingenuity in the same sentence oversimplifies a very complex situation. Argentine businesses innovate because they have to operate within difficult conditions. Government needs to engage with industry more and remove legitimate barriers. Not just "get out the way".

 

[Silvie]

I don't think 10 USD for a pair of low quality Argentine made underwear in Jumbo super market make any sense neither.

Quality and affordability is far more important for Argentine and expats than worry about China destroys the near none-exist fabric industry,
In fact they need to catch up, seriously. Argentina is not the U.S. and A.

It's funny that you mention this. I am a local and I don't even buy my socks in this country.

 

[perry]

In my travel through Argentina meeting with several manufacturers, I’ve been told that the main reason that many factory owners go out of business here is because the damn Gov. taxes/steals ALL of the profit, and empowers the labor force to work very little and demand full pay, and makes it very difficult to fire a lazy employee. Inflation was the main way for them to get rid of lazy workers. Employers had to increase workers pay so that they could keep up with inflation, to get rid of a worker they simply would keep their pay stagnant. With inflation leveling, I imagine that that loophole is now closed. The Argentine factories I’ve visited show real ingenuity, that in many cases surpass those of US manufacturers. Without the many luxuries available in the US, Argentine factories find ingenious ways to adapt and overcome. If the Gov. can get out of the way, and let capitalism work, then I feel that Argentina would prosper.
I work for a US weaver, and the only reason that we’re still in business in the US is due to the Barry amendment, and Buy American Act. Both of which necessitate that Gov. purchases products made in the USA. I’m a libertarian so not fond of government protectionism, but if you take away the protections here and that great sucking sound would become deafening, as know-how, talent, and jobs run for the border for better jobs elsewhere.

 

[SlowWalker]

You don't understand...Amazon carried a loss for the first 7 years of it's public business. How did it fund these losses? Through investor capital. This public financing advantage is what allowed it to under price virtually all of it's competitors while it stole their market share.

Now take the same concept from a foreign country on a mass scale and you will get the same results.

Think about "NIKE" a US company making clothes in Vietnam. Yes it hurt textile employees in the US when they outsourced the production to cut labor costs, but NIKE still has headquarters in the US, pays taxes in the US, has storefronts all throughout the US, retail employees, sponsors US athletes, pays for US advertisements. NIKE corporate profits stay within the US.

What Argentina is doing is the equivalent of Vietnam's versions of NIKE selling directly to Argentina without any storefronts, employees, corporate taxes, or anything and putting all of Argentina's domestic "NIKE's" out of business. You understand the difference?

In order to give Argentina the competitive advantage that the US has with NIKE, they should instead open up MANUFACTURING of Argentine brands overseas to reduce labor costs, understanding that while the outsourcing will hurt Textile jobs, at least the corporate profits and retail infrastructure will stay within the country. By allowing direct imports to compete with Argentine brands that MUST produce domestically Argentina is effectively shooting itself in every foot it has.

Yes, I know Argentina already has products where 95% is produced overseas and the remaining 5% produced here so they mark up the whole product as if it were 100% domestic labor costs. This is the crux of Argentina's problem.

My point is Milei is throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Nike avoided taxes in high tax jurisdictions by setting up subsidiaries where they would charge royalties for logos etc from low or no tax jurisdictions.

I think, similarly, Apple and other companies used transfer pricing and licensing through subsidiaries in Ireland to minimise taxes.

 

[Ries]

State sponsored capitalism/socialism when they need bailouts and free market libertarians when times are good.

Protections and regulations (those of which provide you with your very livelihood as you admit) are needed and are good, and industry should not be the ones dictating when to regulate or not. We would still have kids in sweatshops and slave labour if they had their way.

As for Argentinian producers, yes, the bureaucracy and labour rigidity are problems, but framing workers as “lazy” while praising ingenuity in the same sentence oversimplifies a very complex situation. Argentine businesses innovate because they have to operate within difficult conditions. Government needs to engage with industry more and remove legitimate barriers. Not just "get out the way".

It's funny that you mention this. I am a local and I don't even buy my socks in this country.

I couldnt disagree more.
I buy my underwear in Argentina- 100% cotton, I can buy wholesale in Once at far less than ten dollars a pair. Right now in the 4000 peso range, which, at the current exchange is 3 dollars. I have been buying mens underwear here since 2008 or so, I have some that has been washed 100 times.
I wear Pampero 100% cotton work shirts in my welding shop in the USA- better made, cheaper, and less exploitive of workers than the chinese and pakistani stuff sold in the USA. (polyesters are dangerous to wear in welding and forging- it burns your skin, while cotton is much safer)
I buy my belts, and shoes, and leather working tools here.
I buy locally made hand tools, good quality, whereas in the USA, you get Chinese low quality at the big box stores, now featuring 50% to 100% tariff price increases.

To say there is no argentine clothing/shoe/textile/fabric industry is simply wrong.
The USA has allowed almost its entire textile industry to disappear.
Argentina is a net exporter of wool, and cotton, not to mention llama and vicuna, and has infrastructre from top to bottom- spinning mills, weaving factories, contract sewing and clothing factories, specialty dye houses, sublimation, silk screen, and printing plants, local manufacture of zippers, shoe soles, buckles, grommets, findings of all sorts, ribbons, twines, ropes, decorative trims, and threads and yarns.

One of the very few good things Milei has done is to loosen, very slightly, and randomly, the restrictions and expenses of exporting.
Hence, last year, Argentina broke its own record of cotton exports.
Much more could be done along those lines, encouraging exports of value added, job and income producing products.

Argentina actually makes a lot of stuff that other countries want to buy, but our ridiculous export taxes and bureacracy make it difficult.
Machine tools, industrial kitchen equipment, hand tools, tablewares and housewares, laundry machinery, transformers, ladders, plumbing supplies, furniture- there are competitive innovative companies making all these things here, a great education system of fashion, shoe and industrial designers, and a long history.
But the government hinders all of those industries, choosing to only focus on oil, wine,soybeans, corn, and beef.

 

[Ries]

Argentina’s Cotton Exports Surge 144% in 2024

Argentina’s regional economies closed out 2024 with a sharp increase in exports, according to the Regional Economies Export Monitor (MEER) from the Argentine Confederation of Medium-Sized Enterprises (CAME). In December alone, exports rose 23.8% in

datamarnews.com

 

[Johngwyn]

It's funny that you mention this. I am a local and I don't even buy my socks in this country.

That's right, hahah.

 

[Silvie]

I couldnt disagree more.
I buy my underwear in Argentina- 100% cotton, I can buy wholesale in Once at far less than ten dollars a pair. Right now in the 4000 peso range, which, at the current exchange is 3 dollars. I have been buying mens underwear here since 2008 or so, I have some that has been washed 100 times.
I wear Pampero 100% cotton work shirts in my welding shop in the USA- better made, cheaper, and less exploitive of workers than the chinese and pakistani stuff sold in the USA. (polyesters are dangerous to wear in welding and forging- it burns your skin, while cotton is much safer)
I buy my belts, and shoes, and leather working tools here.
I buy locally made hand tools, good quality, whereas in the USA, you get Chinese low quality at the big box stores, now featuring 50% to 100% tariff price increases.

To say there is no argentine clothing/shoe/textile/fabric industry is simply wrong.
The USA has allowed almost its entire textile industry to disappear.
Argentina is a net exporter of wool, and cotton, not to mention llama and vicuna, and has infrastructre from top to bottom- spinning mills, weaving factories, contract sewing and clothing factories, specialty dye houses, sublimation, silk screen, and printing plants, local manufacture of zippers, shoe soles, buckles, grommets, findings of all sorts, ribbons, twines, ropes, decorative trims, and threads and yarns.

One of the very few good things Milei has done is to loosen, very slightly, and randomly, the restrictions and expenses of exporting.
Hence, last year, Argentina broke its own record of cotton exports.
Much more could be done along those lines, encouraging exports of value added, job and income producing products.

Argentina actually makes a lot of stuff that other countries want to buy, but our ridiculous export taxes and bureacracy make it difficult.
Machine tools, industrial kitchen equipment, hand tools, tablewares and housewares, laundry machinery, transformers, ladders, plumbing supplies, furniture- there are competitive innovative companies making all these things here, a great education system of fashion, shoe and industrial designers, and a long history.
But the government hinders all of those industries, choosing to only focus on oil, wine,soybeans, corn, and beef.

You don't have to agree or disagree with my comment or my taste shopping for textiles or clothing. I am a woman and I assume that you are not. We have different needs and tastes. I don't do welding, never wore Pampero brand and I don't like or need to buy everything made of 100% cotton. I am usually looking for quality fabrics, beautiful textile patterns/prints and nice fabric textures that suit my taste, something that I can never find here. I didn't even say in which countries I usually buy clothes either; there are other countries in the world besides the USA.

 

[Johngwyn]

I couldnt disagree more.
I buy my underwear in Argentina- 100% cotton, I can buy wholesale in Once at far less than ten dollars a pair. Right now in the 4000 peso range, which, at the current exchange is 3 dollars. I have been buying mens underwear here since 2008 or so, I have some that has been washed 100 times.
I wear Pampero 100% cotton work shirts in my welding shop in the USA- better made, cheaper, and less exploitive of workers than the chinese and pakistani stuff sold in the USA. (polyesters are dangerous to wear in welding and forging- it burns your skin, while cotton is much safer)
I buy my belts, and shoes, and leather working tools here.
I buy locally made hand tools, good quality, whereas in the USA, you get Chinese low quality at the big box stores, now featuring 50% to 100% tariff price increases.

To say there is no argentine clothing/shoe/textile/fabric industry is simply wrong.
The USA has allowed almost its entire textile industry to disappear.
Argentina is a net exporter of wool, and cotton, not to mention llama and vicuna, and has infrastructre from top to bottom- spinning mills, weaving factories, contract sewing and clothing factories, specialty dye houses, sublimation, silk screen, and printing plants, local manufacture of zippers, shoe soles, buckles, grommets, findings of all sorts, ribbons, twines, ropes, decorative trims, and threads and yarns.

One of the very few good things Milei has done is to loosen, very slightly, and randomly, the restrictions and expenses of exporting.
Hence, last year, Argentina broke its own record of cotton exports.
Much more could be done along those lines, encouraging exports of value added, job and income producing products.

Argentina actually makes a lot of stuff that other countries want to buy, but our ridiculous export taxes and bureacracy make it difficult.
Machine tools, industrial kitchen equipment, hand tools, tablewares and housewares, laundry machinery, transformers, ladders, plumbing supplies, furniture- there are competitive innovative companies making all these things here, a great education system of fashion, shoe and industrial designers, and a long history.
But the government hinders all of those industries, choosing to only focus on oil, wine,soybeans, corn, and beef.

Where did you get the 4k pesos underwear? 4K can't get you a pound of ground beef, also a plastic chair at Vea is labeled 40,000 pesos.

Do you have some articles where I can read about your referring quote "Argentina actually makes a lot of stuff that other countries want to buy"?
Really curious about it, everyday is a school day.

 

[Jimbob]

Where did you get the 4k pesos underwear? 4K can't get you a pound of ground beef, also a plastic chair at Vea is labeled 40,000 pesos.

Do you have some articles where I can read about your referring quote "Argentina actually makes a lot of stuff that other countries want to buy"?
Really curious about it, everyday is a school day.

Found his pampero boxers...

Categoría: Ropa interior y Medias

share.google

23k per pair, so absolute bs. And this is their official store.