Argentina’s economic transformation under President Javier Milei is producing sharply different realities depending on where people stand. For agricultural entrepreneur Marcos Pereda, the country’s economic direction has brought record harvests, rising exports, and stronger revenues. For textile manufacturer Marco Meloni, the same reforms have left factories struggling to survive, with falling production, declining sales, and growing pressure from cheaper imports.
The contrast between the two men reflects a broader debate over Argentina’s economic future, documented by Die Zeit, as Milei’s government attempts to stabilize a country that entered his presidency facing one of the world’s highest inflation rates and years of economic instability.
Pereda, 62, oversees a vast agricultural operation from Buenos Aires, travelling by helicopter to his estate in Entre Ríos province, about 270 kilometres away. His company produces wheat, soybeans, corn, and beef, and he owns around 30,000 hectares of land. According to his own figures, the business generated approximately 35 million dollars in revenue from agricultural production.
The farmer describes a year of exceptional results. Argentina recorded a record harvest, sending enormous quantities of grain toward export terminals. At the country’s main grain port in Rosario, trucks carrying crops formed kilometres-long queues as producers moved their goods to international markets.
Several hundred kilometres away, in the industrial city of Quilmes, Meloni sees a very different picture. The 68-year-old runs Italcolore, a textile factory producing polyester fabrics used for police uniforms, work trousers, and industrial clothing. Inside the factory, where machines once operated continuously, production has slowed dramatically.
“Until two years ago, the looms ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Meloni explains. Now, they operate only around 70 hours per week. Rolls of fabric accumulate as demand weakens, and he says much of what the factory produces remains unsold in storage.
The opposing experiences highlight a long-running economic question in Argentina: whether the country should primarily rely on its powerful agricultural sector or develop a stronger industrial base capable of creating broader employment opportunities.
Milei came to power in December 2023 after campaigning as a political outsider determined to dismantle what he described as a corrupt political system. He promised to reduce the size of the state, expand free-market policies, and restore economic growth after years of crisis.
The conditions that helped fuel his rise were severe. In 2023, inflation reached 211 percent, dramatically reducing the value of household incomes. The Argentine peso was heavily controlled by the state, while many citizens turned to informal currency markets as a way to protect their savings.
Since taking office, Milei has pursued aggressive reforms, including reducing public spending, cutting government employment, and opening the economy to imports. His strategy has produced measurable improvements in some areas. Monthly inflation has fallen to around three percent, annual economic growth has reached approximately four percent, and Argentina has recorded a budget surplus for the first time in years.
However, those achievements have come alongside significant pressure on parts of the economy, particularly manufacturing.
Meloni argues that the government’s strong peso policy, designed to slow inflation, has made imported goods cheaper and placed local producers at a disadvantage. He points to textiles entering Argentina at prices domestic manufacturers cannot match. Around 60 percent of the textile market, he says, is now supplied by imports.
The entrepreneur also highlights rising operating costs after government subsidies were reduced. According to his figures, fuel costs have increased by 60 percent, electricity by 300 percent, and water by 400 percent. His company’s annual turnover, he says, has fallen from around 20 million dollars in 2023 to approximately six million dollars.
The pressure has spread across Argentina’s industrial sector. Since Milei took office, thousands of small and medium-sized businesses have closed, while companies in industries including tyres, electronics, and automobile manufacturing have reduced operations or shut down facilities. The formal labour market has also lost hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The result is a difficult cycle for businesses dependent on domestic consumers. As households reduce spending, companies sell fewer products, leading to lower production and fewer jobs. Retail activity has weakened, and many consumers have begun carefully calculating expenses before completing basic purchases.
Agricultural producers have also raised concerns, though from a different perspective. Pereda supports Milei’s reforms but argues that Argentina’s farming sector still faces obstacles, including export taxes and insufficient infrastructure investment. He says roads have deteriorated because of government spending cuts, creating difficulties for trucks transporting crops during harvest season.
The debate over Argentina’s economic model is not new. The country has long struggled with the question of how to balance its agricultural wealth with industrial development. Argentina possesses around 170 million hectares of agricultural land, an enormous resource that has historically shaped its economy.
Former Industry Minister Matías Kulfas argues that Milei’s policies resemble previous experiments with radical economic liberalisation, including reforms introduced during the 1970s military dictatorship and the 1990s presidency of Carlos Menem. He warns that short-term improvements should be viewed alongside longer-term consequences.
Kulfas acknowledges that economic growth figures are significant but argues that part of the recent expansion has been driven by factors such as the recovery from a previous drought, major mining projects, and energy developments that began under earlier governments. He notes that industries generating strong export revenues do not necessarily create large numbers of jobs.
This, he says, creates a paradox: Argentina is experiencing economic growth while unemployment is rising.
Meloni expresses the same concern from the factory floor. Raw material exports and agricultural production may generate wealth, he says, but they cannot employ Argentina’s entire population of around 46 million people. To survive, he has begun using his personal savings, a difficult decision at the age of 68.
His experience was recently brought before Argentina’s National Congress, where he was invited to speak about the struggles facing small and medium-sized businesses. When a security officer initially mistook him for a retired protester demonstrating against benefit cuts, Meloni explained that he owned a textile factory and had produced the fabric used for the officer’s uniform.
The officer then asked for his business card, saying that new uniforms were no longer being purchased and that he might need to contact him in the future.
The exchange captured the uncertainty facing Argentina’s producers as Milei’s economic reforms continue. For some sectors, the new policies have opened opportunities and improved financial conditions. For others, they have created a fight for survival inside factories that once represented the country’s industrial ambitions.
