Euromoney hears a frustrating story from a commodities journalist who has covered the country’s agri-businesses sector for many years, taking quarterly trips to the country, always combining finance meetings in Buenos Aires with site visits in the surrounding farmland.
For his most recent trip, in January, he had a chock-full schedule of three days of appointments in the capital. The only problem? Hardly anyone turned up.
It seems the journalist’s paradox has struck Argentina: when contacts have nothing new to talk about, they have lots of time, but when they are busy doing newsworthy deals, their availability for meetings dries up (and, in this case, without even the time to cancel appointments).
The upside? At least the countryside visits went well – he says buoyant sentiment from the farm owners, who can now export at market-determined exchange rates, led to better-than-usual bottles of wine accompanying lunch.