(Metric tons unless otherwise specified) 
Commodity1 1976 1977 1978" 1979e 
 16,789 8,482 8,500 
 7,808 16,218 14,591 
 THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF ARGENTINA 75 
 
Table 1.—Argentina: Production of mineral commodities —Continued

 MINERAL FUELS AND RELATED MATERIALS —Continued 
 
Petroleum —Continued 
 Refinery products —Continued 
 Other  thousand 42-gallon barrels_ — 10,080 
 Refineryfuel and losses  do~_  13,882 
  Total  165,658 176,848 177,302 2182,239 
 
 eRetimate ' Preliminary. TR~i~ NA Not available. 
 
 11n addition to the commodities listed, cadmium, lime, and perlite are also
produced, but output is not reported quantitatively and available information
is inadequate to make reliable estimates of output levels. 
 2Reported figure. 
 3Hot-rolled semimanufactures only; excludes castings and cold-rolled semimanufactures
produced from imported hotrolled semimanufactures. 
 4lncludes plastic, semiplastic, and/or ferruginous clays used totally in
the manufacture of portland cement. 
 5As reported; differentiation between this material and other calcareous
stones reported is not apparent from the source publication. 
 
 
 
TRADE 
 
 Argentina's favorable balance of trade showed further improvement in 1978
as the trade surplus widened to $2.40 billion compared with the $1.49 billion
surplus of 1977. Total exports valued at $6.35 billion increased 12% while
total imports of $3.94 billion decreased 5% in line with the generally depressed
state of the economy. Mineral commodities were a very small part of Argentina's
exports dominated by agricultural commodities such as grains, meat products,
hides, and wool. 
 According to statistics published by the Secretaria de Estado de Mineria,
exports of 
minerals, partially refined products and metals, not including steel or mineral
fuels, reached an all time high of $34 million in 1978, a 64% increase over
the $21 million exported in 1977 and almost triple the $12 million exported
in 1975. Although mineral exports are insignificant in total trade, they
indicate an increasing trend in the export of Argentina minerals. Diverse
mineral products were exported to 30 countries, and 153 local companies were
involved in international sales. The more important mineral exports ranked
by value and their major markets are shown below for 1978: 
 
 
Mineral exports 
Value in 
thousand 
M 
ma~.'.s 
Sodium borate                                          
6,530 
Brazil, United States. 
Lead concentrate                                        
6,093 
Brazil, United States, Bel 
Tin/silver concentrate                                    
5,274 
gium. 
Great Britain. 
Zinc ingot                                             
Boratecompounds                                       
Graniteblocks                                          
Salt                                                 
Uranium concentrate                                     
3,770 
2,125 
1,175 
1,003 
929 
Brazil, Uruguay, Holland. 
Brazil, Uruguay. 
Italy, Spain. 
Paraguay, Nigeria. 
Great Britain. 
Boricacid                                             
Perlite,expanded                                       
Bentonite                                             
Lead ingot                                            
847 
693 
623 
598 
Brazil, United States. 
Brazil, Chile. 
Brazil, Chile, Bolivia. 
Uruguay, Japan.