Argentine industry in the early twenty-first century (2003-2008)

Abstract

This article studies the exceptional industrial growth that occurred in Argentina between 2003 and 2008. In addition to reviewing aggregate indicators of this growth, the article discusses evidence of changes in sector shares during these years along with a number of specific features in the trend of manufacturing employment. It also analyses the main patterns of Argentine industry's external trade in that period. These contain positive features such as greater relative participation by local production in external markets, and the emergence of a new group of domestic firms with rapidly growing manufacturing exports. Alongside this, and as a residual structural characteristic, imports are supplying an increasing share of the domestic demand for manufactured goods.