Most industrial inputs now enter on tariff and tax alone. Chemical precursors, fertilisers and liquid fuels still have their own rules. Here is the tariff, the RENPRE certificate, SENASA’s simplified fertiliser register, the ICL and IDC fuel taxes, the Energy registries and the Paraguayan angle.
For most industrial inputs — resins, metals, paper, general chemicals — importing into Argentina is now a matter of tariff and tax rather than permits. The import licensing system (SEDI) was abolished in February 2025, and minimum reference values were repealed in 2024. The general tax stack in our Argentina customs guide applies: duty, a 3% statistics fee, VAT and three prepayments.
Three areas still have their own gatekeepers. Chemical precursors that can be diverted to drug production need RENPRE registration and an import certificate. Fertilisers need SENASA registration, simplified in 2025. And liquid fuels carry specific fuel taxes collected at clearance, plus the Secretaría de Energía’s registries for anyone storing or selling them. This guide covers each, with the Paraguayan angle.
Raw materials and intermediate goods pay the Mercosur common external tariff on the NCM nomenclature. The common tariff escalates with processing, so basic inputs generally sit below Argentina’s average applied rate of about 12.4%, and finished goods above it. Argentina’s 2025 cuts targeted consumer goods and machinery — capital goods on a listed set of lines were cut from 20–35% to 12.6% by Decree 513/2025 — rather than raw materials. Typical extrazone rates on common lines:
| Product (NCM) | Extrazone duty |
|---|---|
| Gasolines (2710.12) | 0% |
| Diesel, fuel oil, lubricating oils (2710.19) | 0% on most lines, up to 6% |
| LPG: propane, butane (2711.12, 2711.13, 2711.19) | 0% |
| Urea (3102.10) | 6% |
| Methanol (2905.11) | 12% |
| Polyethylene, polypropylene (3901.10, 3902.10) | 14% |
Fuels themselves enter almost duty-free; their cost is driven by the fuel taxes below. Check each NCM line with your broker.
Mercosur origin
0% duty and no statistics fee with a certificate of origin.
Anti-dumping
Argentina has historically used anti-dumping duties on Chinese and other industrial goods, including metal and chemical products. Since Decree 33/2025, new measures last at most three years, renewable once for two.
Trade remedy authority
The Comisión Nacional de Comercio Exterior now runs investigations, with competition and consumer authorities weighing the effect on value chains.
Temporary admission
Inputs processed into exported goods can enter under temporary import with a guarantee, without paying duty.
| Polyethylene for resale, CIF US$100,000 | Non-Mercosur origin (duty 14%) | Mercosur origin |
|---|---|---|
| Import duty | 14,000 | 0 |
| Statistics fee 3% | 3,000 | 0 (exempt) |
| VAT 21% | 24,570 | 21,000 |
| Additional VAT prepayment 20% | 23,400 | 20,000 |
| Income tax prepayment 6% | 7,020 | 6,000 |
| Turnover tax prepayment 2.5% | 2,925 | 2,500 |
| Total paid at clearance | 74,915 (75% of CIF) | 49,500 (50% of CIF) |
| Of which pure cost | 17,000 | 0 |
For a resin bought for resale, the pure cost for a registered importer is the duty and statistics fee, 17% of CIF; the rest is credited later. The method is the one used in our Argentina customs guide. Inputs consumed in the importer’s own production may attract different prepayment rates; check with your broker.
Law and practice: Mercosur common external tariff, applied rates reported by Argentina (WTO/World Bank TRAINS); Decree 513/2025 (capital goods); Decree 33/2025 (trade defence); RG Conjunta 5651/2025 (end of SEDI); Decree 1330/2004 (temporary import).
| Product | Authority | What the importer needs |
|---|---|---|
| Controlled chemical precursors | RENPRE (Registro Nacional de Precursores Químicos), Ministry of Security | Registration before operating; an import certificate per operation, filed through VUCEA with the customs declaration |
| Fertilisers, amendments, bio-inputs | SENASA | Registration of the company and products by sworn declaration; simplified import for products registered in reference countries |
| Gasoline, diesel and other liquid fuels | ARCA (fuel taxes) and the Secretaría de Energía | Fuel tax registration and advance payment at clearance; Energy registries for storage, distribution and marketing |
| Steel, aluminium, plastics, general chemicals | Customs; Secretaría de Industria y Comercio for trade remedies | No sectoral licence; check anti-dumping measures by product and origin |
Argentina controls chemicals that can be used to manufacture narcotics — solvents, acids and other precursors on lists set by the Executive under the precursors law (Ley 26.045). Anyone who produces, imports, exports, stores, transports or sells them must first register with the RENPRE, which now sits under the Ministry of Security.
Registration
Before the first operation; the register identifies the company, its premises and the substances handled.
Import certificate
Issued by the RENPRE for each operation. Since September 2024, certificates are integrated into the single foreign-trade window (VUCEA) and presented when the import declaration is filed.
Transport
Land transport of precursors follows a control protocol approved in 2025; transit through Argentina needs prior authorisation.
Records
Registered operators keep movement records and report periodically; quantities are checked against declarations.
If your product is a mixture, check whether it contains listed substances above the thresholds: many industrial cleaners, coatings and solvents do.
Law and practice: Law 26,045; RG Conjunta 2/2024 (Ministry of Security and AFIP, VUCEA); Ministry of Security Resolution 76/2025 (transport protocol).
Fertilisers, soil amendments and bio-inputs are registered with SENASA. Since June 2025, Resolution 214/2025 lets companies register themselves and their products through the TAD portal by sworn declaration, and start operating immediately, subject to audits. Product registrations are deemed approved if SENASA does not respond within 10 business days.
Reference countries
Products already registered in Australia, the US, New Zealand, the UK, Brazil, the EU or Israel can be imported through a simplified self-managed procedure.
Other origins
Prior import authorisation, which SENASA must resolve within five business days.
Ammonium nitrate
Shipments of more than 50 tonnes of ammonium-nitrate-based fertiliser must be notified to SENASA in advance.
Costs
Sampling and laboratory costs are borne by the registrant.
Paraguay is not on the reference list, so a fertiliser registered only in Paraguay follows the authorisation route; one also registered in Brazil can use the simplified procedure.
Law and practice: SENASA Resolution 214/2025 (Boletín Oficial, 3 April 2025); Decree 101/2025, Annex I.
| Fuel tax feature | How it works |
|---|---|
| Taxes | Impuesto sobre los Combustibles Líquidos (ICL) and Impuesto al Dióxido de Carbono (IDC), Law 23,966, Title III |
| Rate type | Fixed peso amounts per litre (per kilogram for petroleum coke and coal), by product |
| Indexation | By law, amounts are updated each calendar quarter by the consumer price index; the government phases the updates in by decree and defers the rest |
| At import | Whoever imports, registered for the tax or not, pays a payment on account (pago a cuenta) with the clearance, collected by ARCA with duty and VAT, at the amount in force that day |
| Credit | When the importer resells, it pays the tax due on the sale and credits the amount paid at import |
| ICL products | Unleaded gasolines, virgin naphtha, natural gasoline, solvents, turpentine, gasoil, diesel oil and kerosene |
| IDC only | Fuel oil, petroleum coke and coal, besides the ICL products |
| Not listed | LPG and lubricating oils are not among the taxed products; biofuels in pure form are outside the tax |
Fuel taxes are the main extra cost of importing gasoline or diesel. They are fixed amounts per litre, not a percentage of value, so the cost depends on volume and on the amounts in force at the date of clearance. For several years the government has deferred part of each indexation to contain pump prices, setting the schedule in Decree 617/2025 and amending it by a new decree almost every month. As of October 2026 the latest, Decree 1126/2026, kept the current amounts through October and moved the remaining increases for gasoline, virgin naphtha and gasoil to 1 November 2026. Expect further decrees of the same kind and check the amounts with your broker on the day you clear.
VAT, the statistics fee and the prepayments apply on top, as for any other good. LPG and lubricants do not carry ICL or IDC, so for them the ordinary import stack is the whole tax picture.
Law and practice: Law 23,966, Title III, arts. 2–4 and 11 (as substituted by Law 27,430); Decree 617/2025 as amended, among others, by Decree 693/2026 (Boletín Oficial, 31 July 2026) and Decree 1126/2026 (Boletín Oficial, 30 September 2026).
Bringing fuel across the border is one thing; storing and selling it is another. The Secretaría de Energía keeps registries, created by Resolution 1102/2004, for fuel stations, distributors, resellers, storage operators, marketers and large own-consumption users. Registration is filed through the TAD portal and requires a performance guarantee in favour of the Ministry of Economy. Fuels sold in Argentina must also meet the national quality specifications and the biofuel blending mandates under the biofuels law (Ley 27.640).
In practice, fuel imports are made by refiners, large distributors and agribusinesses that already hold these registrations. A foreign supplier normally sells to them rather than importing on its own account. Export-side procedures were simplified in July 2026 (Secretaría de Energía Resolution 166/2026), a sign of the direction of travel, but the domestic market remains tightly regulated.
Law and practice: Secretaría de Energía Resolution 1102/2004; Law 27,640; Resolution 166/2026 (exports of hydrocarbons).
Paraguayan industrial goods that meet Mercosur origin rules enter Argentina with 0% duty and no statistics fee; VAT and the prepayments still apply, and for fuels, so do the fuel taxes. Under Paraguay’s special regime, products can include up to 60% non-Mercosur materials until 2038 and still qualify.
Maquila goods
Products made under Paraguay’s maquila regime qualify for Mercosur preference only if they meet the origin rules; check the certificate before shipping.
Precursors and fertilisers
Mercosur origin does not replace RENPRE or SENASA requirements.
Transport
Bulk inputs move by barge on the Paraná–Paraguay waterway or by truck through Clorinda and Posadas.
Fuel flows
Paraguay is a net importer of petroleum products, so Paraguay-to-Argentina fuel trade is marginal.
What Paraguay does sell Argentina in this group is mainly electricity from shared hydropower, about US$333 million in 2025 by Paraguay’s figures reported to UN Comtrade, against about US$16 million of plastics and US$6 million of chemical products.
Law and practice: CMC Decision 06/23 (origin regime for Paraguay).
NCM line, duty, anti-dumping by origin.
Is it a precursor, a fertiliser or a fuel?
RENPRE, SENASA or Energy registries as needed, before shipping.
Mercosur certificate for Paraguayan or Brazilian goods.
Per-litre amounts at the clearance date, plus VAT and prepayments.
Duty, statistics fee, VAT and prepayments are paid before release.
ARCA: precursor certificates in VUCEA · Ministry of Security Resolution 76/2025 · Beccar Varela: SENASA Resolution 214/2025 · Decree 693/2026 (fuel taxes) · Law 23,966, updated text · Blog del Contador: Decree 1126/2026 · Secretaría de Energía: Resolution 1102/2004 registries · Resolution 166/2026 · CNCE: anti-dumping reform · Marval: Decree 513/2025 · World Bank WITS: Argentina applied tariff data · UN Comtrade: Paraguay exports to Argentina
No general licence: the SEDI system was abolished in 2025. Chemical precursors need RENPRE registration and a certificate, fertilisers need SENASA registration, and fuels carry their own taxes and registries.
The national register of chemical precursors. Companies handling listed chemicals must register, and each import needs a RENPRE certificate filed through VUCEA with the customs declaration.
Gasoline and diesel pay no or almost no duty but carry the ICL and IDC fuel taxes, fixed peso amounts per litre paid on account at clearance, plus VAT, the statistics fee and prepayments. LPG and lubricants are not subject to ICL or IDC.
In practice fuel is imported by Argentine refiners, distributors and large users holding the Secretaría de Energía registrations; foreign suppliers sell to them.
Yes. Brazil is on SENASA’s reference list, so a product registered there can use the simplified import procedure.
Since Decree 33/2025, new measures last up to three years, renewable once for two.
No, if they meet Mercosur origin rules; VAT, prepayments and any fuel taxes still apply.
Statistics fee, VAT and three prepayments; FX payment.
Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador compared.
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