(buenosairesherald.com)
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Argentina has fallen to negative levels for the first time in 22 years, amid a wave of international companies selling their operations to local businesses.
According to a report by consulting firm PxQ, based on information from the Central Bank, FDI reached negative US$1.52 billion between January and November 2025, the first year with a deficit since 2003.
A Central Bank source confirmed to the Herald that the deficit has been caused by the sale of foreign companies to local capitals this year. The number remained negative even with Javier Milei’s government attracting some foreign investments with a scheme of tax breaks and other facilities known by the acronym RIGI.
The latest firm to confirm its exit from the country was Canadian fertilizing company Nutrien, which completed the sale of its Argentina-based nitrogen producer Profertil — the country’s largest fertilizer producer — to two local companies.
Nutrien announced that it would leave Argentina in September but completed the sale last week. The company, the second-largest fertilizer producer in the world, held 50% of Profertil. The other 50% was in the hands of state energy company YPF until Thursday, when its board confirmed it too would also sell its share of the business.
Argentine companies Adecoagro and Asociación de Cooperativas Argentinas are buying the operation via a joint acquisition.
“Closing the sale of our equity stake in Profertil demonstrates continued progress towards simplifying our portfolio, enhancing earnings quality, and improving cash conversion,” Ken Seitz, Nutrien’s President and CEO, said in a communiqué. The company reported earnings of US$600 million for the transaction.
Nutrien has generated approximately US$900 million in gross proceeds worldwide from asset divestitures since the fourth quarter of 2024, they announced. That means Profertil’s sale represents three-quarters of such operations. The Herald contacted representatives of both companies but received no immediate response.
Wave of companies selling
Nutrien is the most recent of dozens of foreign companies that have decided to leave Argentina and sell their operations to local businesses since Milei took office in December 2023. While some exits could be attributed to multinational companies shifting their global strategies, others seem to have been caused by the country’s macroeconomy.
Florencia Fiorentin, chief economist of the Epyca consulting firm, told the Herald that import liberalization, exchange rate appreciation, and a sharp drop in local demand mean that “people are buying less” and, at the same time, “are buying more imported goods.”
The trend has become evident in numerous sectors — from French-based supermarket company Carrefour looking for buyers for its local operation (they have 700 branches in Argentina) to U.S. entertainment giant Paramount selling the local television network Telefé to a local media holding.
According to Fernando Morra, economist and former vice economy minister, the reasons for leaving are different for each sector.
For companies in the mass consumption segment, “the problem is that the economy has been stagnant for many years and there are no favorable prospects,” said Morra. For businesses in the tradable sector, like Profertil, the appreciated exchange rate scheme does not reflect increased productivity and has instead made the country expensive and uncompetitive, which discourages investment. He added that the liberalization of the exchange market for foreign companies “is seen more as an opportunity to exit than to enter.”
The trend shows no sign of stopping — in August, YPF acquired two production blocks in the Vaca Muerta geological formation, previously owned by the French multinational TotalEnergies. In February, Spain’s Telefónica sold its operations in Argentina to local connectivity giant Telecom. Last year, U.S. oil and gas company ExxonMobil transferred all of its interests in the region to Pluspetrol, a national company, in a deal estimated at US$1.7 billion.