The ProPymes Seminar brought together SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) that make up the Techint Group’s value chain in Argentina. The event was held at the Buenos Aires Convention Center and included panels on innovation, technical education, and industrial development, with the participation of Paolo Rocca and leaders such as Javier Martínez Álvarez, Institutional Vice President of the Techint Group; Martín Berardi, Executive President of Ternium Argentina; Ricardo Markous, CEO of Tecpetrol; Andrea Previtali, President of Tenaris Southern Cone; and Oscar Scarpari, CEO of Techint E&C.
Paolo Rocca joined the panel titled “The value of industry and communities for an integrated Argentina,” alongside national senator Patricia Bullrich, national Senator. In his remarks, Rocca reviewed the evolution of the program, highlighted the importance of strengthening the value chain, and underscored the challenges facing Argentine industry in a global context marked by international competition and the need for structural reforms.
Rocca recalled the origins of the program: “This began during one of Argentina’s worst crises in 2002, as a way to build unity within our value chain and bring together the few companies that were going through severe difficulties at the time. The program kept growing; we added opportunities for interaction, training, and support to improve management, export penetration, and to offer different initiatives to strengthen them.”
Currently, ProPymes includes 1,108 companies. “Employment across all these companies, clients and suppliers, exceeds 50,000 people, and if we add the 25,000 people working within the Techint Group in Argentina, we are nearly 80,000 employees in a formal chain. An industrial chain,” he emphasized.
Regarding the global context, Rocca warned: “This year we are facing significant pressure. What factors are affecting the chain? On one hand, domestic consumption: after the decline in 2024 and the improvement in 2025, October’s figures are below those of October 2024. The second issue is the ability to penetrate other export markets. The first year of the American administration brought a revolution in world trade and strategic relations between countries, with competition between China and the U.S. The reaction was the imposition of tariffs, which have reached 50% for our steel-related value chain.”
“Last year I said we need to level the playing field before Trump. Now Trump is teaching us that beyond leveling the field, we must deeply defend the industrial structure,” he stressed.
On the opportunities for Argentina, Rocca highlighted: “It is essential to promote and defend the value chain in segments where there is strong development potential. As a group, we help: we invested $1.4 billion last year; this year, $1.7 billion; and next year we have a $2.4 billion investment plan.” To achieve this, he pointed to the need for reforms: “Labor reform is at the heart of all this, as well as a tax reform that promotes investment and an intelligent opening that gives us time to adapt, incorporating technology and improving competitiveness.”
He also emphasized the role of innovation and technology in sustaining competitiveness: “We must incorporate technology, accept that there is a transition that requires investment, and modernize our productive structure. Our chain is essential for sectors such as energy, mining, and agribusiness, where you build machinery and infrastructure. In these sectors, defending the chain is very important.”
Rocca closed with a message of commitment: “This is a 24-year partnership that has been essential in helping all companies, and our group, grow over time, gain competitiveness, compete globally, and foster growth in the communities where we are present and collaborate. From our point of view, you can count on our full commitment. Our commitment is to this country and to its industrial growth, and we will pursue this with full force and with your support.”
Senator Bullrich, in turn, expanded on the labor reform currently being debated in the National Congress, which will help foster and strengthen Argentina’s industrial development.
Martínez Álvarez, the Techint Group's Institutional Vice President, opened the 24th ProPymes Seminar with a broad perspective on the global context and the changes underway in Argentina. He highlighted recent progress: “this allows us to envision a different Argentina”and noted that the country now has a stronger foundation to project an integrated future in the global economy.
In his remarks, he emphasized the potential of three key engines for development: agriculture, Vaca Muerta, and mining. He warned, however, that their growth will not be enough without an industrial strategy to accompany that momentum, and stressed that industry must play a leading role in achieving balanced and sustainable development.
Berardi provided a precise overview of the Chinese phenomenon and its impact on the steel industry. He warned that Asian oversupply is redefining global competition rules: “We are experiencing the China phenomenon: growing less, exporting more, and concentrating 35% of the world’s manufacturing,” he said, explaining how this process has triggered commercial reactions in all regions.
He described a 2026 scenario of moderate growth and a recovery tied to steel consumption, while valuing recent macroeconomic improvements. “We need a tax reform that does not penalize the value chain and a labor reform that reduces litigation,” he stated.
Markous offered an optimistic outlook on the energy transformation driven by Vaca Muerta and on the decisive role of the value chain. He highlighted record production growth and the export impact of Argentine gas, noting that “in 2023, the energy trade balance broke even, and in 2024 we were close to a $5 billion surplus.”
“In Los Toldos II Este, more than 600 domestic companies are already working, and we expect to reach around 1,000,” he pointed out, emphasizing the central role of SMEs in developing the company’s new project.
He also stressed the need to strengthen competitiveness in an increasingly demanding international context. Efficiency and innovation, he said, will be key to sustaining growth, and he called on the entire industrial chain to work in an integrated manner. “We must work together—operators and SMEs—so that Vaca Muerta is not only synonymous with record production, but also with an industrial fabric that has long-term projection,” he concluded.
For his part, Previtali, President of Tenaris Southern Cone, took part in the panel “Adding value to compete in industry and associated services” at the 24th ProPymes edition. There, he shared a strategic view on the factors that led Tenaris to become a global leader, as well as the path to sustaining competitiveness in Argentina. “Seeing how an Argentine company positioned itself on the global stage is something to be proud of. And that speaks to competitiveness,” he said while reviewing the company’s evolution.
“Industrial excellence has always characterized our way of working: operating safely, meeting quality standards, and delivering on time,” he emphasized.
Previtali also highlighted the importance of integration between large companies, SMEs, and the communities where they operate. He noted that many suppliers grew alongside Tenaris and now export worldwide, consolidating a solid industrial ecosystem. “Industry and community together create a virtuous model of development,” he said, underscoring that this bond forms the basis of sustainable growth.
Scarpari analyzed the impact Vaca Muerta and mining will have on the country’s productive transformation. He outlined the scale of the opportunity and the challenge of responding to a new level of activity. “We are competitive, efficient, and we deliver on time, but the challenge will be scale,” he warned.
“If Argentina incorporates mining, fertilizers, and liquefied gas—on top of Vaca Muerta—ProPymes will surely have a radically different agenda. We must prepare to maximize job creation for everyone,” he stressed.
During the talk, the CEO highlighted that both metallic and non-metallic mining, together with Vaca Muerta, will be major drivers of development. “In San Juan, Salta, and Catamarca, there are projects very close to those that today produce millions of tons in Chile. If we manage to attract investment, we will need to maximize our value chain,” he said. According to his estimates, investment potential in the most advanced copper projects exceeds $20 billion, which calls for a strategy to boost local employment and production.
