Argentina cash crisis limits growth
Argentine wine makers are facing a cash crisis as access to foreign currency is severely limited by government controls.
The lack of foreign currency and rocketing inflation (JP Morgan recently forecasted upcoming inflation at 200%, at the lower end) means overseas investment in marketing is all but stopped.
The Argentinian government has banned the use of foreign service providers. Goods can still be imported, but if you want to hire an external wine consultant or invest in marketing overseas, this is now banned.
Martín Di Stefano, viticulturalist at Zuccardi told Harpers magazine “The biggest difficulty is the services abroad. There is a lack of dollars in the country, so paying everyone abroad is a disaster. We can’t do advertising or promotions. We have a national election coming up in October, but the country has no reserves. I don’t think anything will change, anytime soon.”