Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Major Argentine Grain Exports, 1880-1915
(In thousands of tons)
Year
Wheat
Linseed
Maize
Oats
1880 1 1 15
1885 79 69 198
1890 328 31 707
1895 1,010 276 772 18
1900 1,010 223 713 8
1905 1,930 665 2,222 17
1910 1,884 605 2,660 371
1915 2,512 981 4,331 593
Source: Tornquist, Ernesto.
TheEconomicDevelopmentoftheArgentineRepublicintheLast
FiftyYears
(Buenos Aires: Tornquist y Cía, 1919), p. 30.
tunity. They capitalized repeatedly on the changing structure of world
markets and ably absorbed necessary technologies.
The dynamism of the era did not depend on one or two products
but on the vigorous expansion of new staple exports as old ones stag-
nated. For instance, raw wool earned the bulk of the foreign exchange
for Argentina in the late 19th century, while wheat and grain expanded
rapidly to become the leading export items in 1910, when Argentina
challenged the United States as the world's leading exporter of wheat.
Frozen mutton and beef then became popular after the turn of the
century to challenge the export leadership of wheat. Argentina even
enjoyed diversified markets despite close commercial ties to England.
Three-quarters of Argentine exports from 1909 to 1913 went to coun-
tries other than Great Britain.
Sheep raisers represent a fine example of how Argentine landown-
ers improved their production to take advantage of new technological
possibilities. Raw wool surpassed hides as the leading export sometime
after 1850 and continued to dominate exports until 1900. The perfec-
tion of the mechanical wool comber in British mills had stimulated
Argentine wool exports, and sheep men, who were now breeding fine
merino stock, were able to export 216 million pounds of raw wool
in 1880 and 310 million a decade later. At the turn of the century,
Argentine sheep breeders readily switched to the fuller-bodied Lincoln
sheep as the era of refrigerated meatpacking came to Buenos Aires in
