Importing Guidance

[cbonanni]

Aduana in Argentina is like the Wild , WIld West. Anything goes , as long as you pay , and then pay some more. It is WHO you know at Aduana as much as anything. I have some friends , who under this freely elected and democratic government have made millions. One of them pays average weekly bribes of 5-10k. In cash.To Aduana guys. Everything goes through !! No duty. No restrictions.

Another friend had a big fire in his factory. Destroyed everything. He rebuilt , but had to pay huge bribes to get the new machinery in the country. I have heard it said that 10% of the US currency in circulation in the world is in Argentina. With the bribes paid , dollar hoarding , and real estate transactions in cash, I am not surprised.

 

[Pensador]

It's good to see you like a challenge - you will get one !! I prefer less headache myself.

Given that the system was conceived by and is managed by complete idiots I don't think what I am looking is going to be all that difficult. You should try software development now that will give you a head ache. But one thing programming does is it makes you find creative work arounds to solve problems. Everything I am looking at is already being imported. But we shall see can't hurt to take a look.

 

[garryl]

I am looking at opening a distributorship for a business equipment company down here. I will need to import from the US to Argentina metal parts and components and some inks and other chemical products from the US. Any Expats here ever engaged in this sort of project? Anyone know any good importation consultants?

Any pointers or experienced info would be greatly appreciated

Tough time to do this now. A lot pf risk.

 

[garryl]

I just investigated this. Your products have to certified. If you do it in white, your products are not competitive. If you do it black, prepare to pay huge amt to custom clearance company, and make BS paper work for your distribution companies, you can't be your own distribution companies. That's why all the little Chinese companies are doing it black and do retails and whole sale at the same time in Once. They usually pay to get their small gift products pass the custom. The custom clearance companies take a bribe and know what is inside the container. It's a different story for industrial products. You can still do it, but you will lose a lot first to pay your tuition, maybe facing legal problems.

Here you just owe me 200 pesos for this info.

 

[Pensador]

I just investigated this. Your products have to certified. If you do it in white, your products are not competitive. If you do it black, prepare to pay huge amt to custom clearance company, and make BS paper work for your distribution companies, you can't be your own distribution companies. That's why all the little Chinese companies are doing it black and do retails and whole sale at the same time in Once. They usually pay to get their small gift products pass the custom. The custom clearance companies take a bribe and know what is inside the container. It's a different story for industrial products. You can still do it, but you will lose a lot first to pay your tuition, maybe facing legal problems.

Here you just owe me 200 pesos for this info.

Actually I think I already have it pretty much worked out after calling a few associates in Uruguay. Just have to work within the MercoSur situation which may (key word MAY) be possible by staging in MVD. Then breaking the export orders down on their way over from a legit export company in MVD. Which would not be through the port in BA but the port in MVD which is better than the BA port anyway and gets you access to Brazil at the same time from a not so corrupted country. Entry happens with small packages on the frontier not the port. Still allot of work to do but we shall see.... Dropping small packages of the critical parts to businesses in ARG from MVD and sending the big parts from contract manufactures in ARG. Then sending the guy that puts it all together to the business location. Huge pain in the ass work around but it just might work. Risk is reduced as no big shipments are going to get hung up with the jokers and morons in the BA port. And its all legit but everything goes back to the key word at this point.... MAY with be.

Thanks to gpop the for hint!

 

[ElQueso]

You'll have to pay import taxes in MVD, then import taxes again when you bring the separated stuff to BA. Somehow you're still going to have to go through aduana and deal with that crap and expense. On top of that, what about the export requirements that are supposed to go with imports? Remember the Argentine Olympic team couldn't practice for quite a while when this crap first started because they couldn't get equipment imported. Also, fellow Mercosur countries are (or at least were) pissed at Argentina because of their restrictions.

May be things have loosened up a bit with Mercosur origins, but also remember that Argentina has been making "deals" with China and that is probably why they have less problems.

 

[Pensador]

You'll have to pay import taxes in MVD, then import taxes again when you bring the separated stuff to BA. Somehow you're still going to have to go through aduana and deal with that crap and expense.

Obviously that is why just the trinkets go in... And there are breaks in MVD for major corps. Uruguayans are a hell of a lot smarter than average South American thats why they have the best lifestyle, infrastructure, education and well the list is pretty long and of course little corruption. Seems they are the only ones smart enough to understand that with the exception of maybe Chile. We will do some probing and poking you know nothing like thermometer reading. And like I said just looking.

Lets end the debates here.. thanks for the replies and feed back food for thought and I do appreciate that.
.

 

[Somewhereinba]

Obviously that is why just the trinkets go in... And there are breaks in MVD for major corps. Uruguayans are a hell of a lot smarter than average South American thats why they have the best lifestyle, infrastructure, education and well the list is pretty long and of course little corruption. Seems they are the only ones smart enough to understand that with the exception of maybe Chile. We will do some probing and poking you know nothing like thermometer reading. And like I said just looking.

Lets end the debates here.. thanks for the replies and feed back food for thought and I do appreciate that.
.

Keep us updated how it all goes - hope it works out for you.

 

[Pensador]

Keep us updated how it all goes - hope it works out for you.

Thanks, definitely I will post back here after our first few stabs at it... Won't be for a few months still allot of work to do.

 

[rrptownley]

What about importing the USA parts into Uruguay, manufacturing the complete product there, and then importing into Argentina as a Mercosur product?