Port Manatee and Argentine are working together to strengthen their trade relationship.
The port said Argentina is its No. 1 source of imports. Martín de Antueno, deputy consul of Argentina, said during a Thursday morning seminar he led at the International Trade Hub at Port Manatee that Argentina hopes to further benefit from the port’s “favorable gateway position in Central Florida.”
“As Argentina has opened its foreign trade policy over the past two and a half years, we are now entering the world, and the world is welcoming us,” said de Antueno. “We truly appreciate the welcome we are getting at Port Manatee.”
Imports into Port Manatee from Argentina totaled $675 million in value during the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2017, making the South American country of 45 million people Port Manatee’s top supplier of inbound cargo.
Noting that aluminum and biodiesel fuels are among commodities shipped to Port Manatee from Argentina, Miami-based de Antueno said Florida receives about one-third of all of Argentina’s imports into the United States, while significant opportunities remain not only for growing such northbound volumes but also for increasing exports from Florida to Argentina. In years past, Port Manatee exports to Argentina have included fertilizers.
“We look forward to working with interests from Argentina in building upon our two-way trade,” said Vanessa Baugh, chairwoman of the Manatee County Port Authority. “We believe we offer unique opportunities for connecting the world with a region of more than 10 million residents and which hosts some 80 million visitors a year. As we increase these productive commercial ties, we augment Port Manatee’s already impressive positive impacts upon our region’s socioeconomic well-being.”
Over the past several months, Port Manatee and its trade hub also have hosted high-level representatives of such diverse nations as Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Poland and Spain.
Port Manatee is the closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the expanded Panama Canal, with 10 40-foot-draft berths serving container, bulk, breakbulk, heavylift, project and general cargo customers. The port generates more than $2.3 billion in annual economic impact for the local community, while supporting more than 24,000 jobs, without levying ad valorem taxes.