The Americas | Slashing the state

Javier Milei’s liberal reforms are hurting yerba mate growers

But consumers now pay some 30% less for Argentina’s national drink than they did in 2023

Workers ride on their bags of harvested yerba mate
Tea bags, much cheaper nowPhotograph: AP
|Posadas

Many Argentines sip mate daily. The brewed, bitter drink is made by infusing leaves of the yerba mate plant, a relative of holly. It is grown by some 13,000 farmers, mostly on a small scale across 230,000 hectares (568,000 acres), predominantly in the northern province of Misiones.

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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Freeing the tea”

From the February 15th 2025 edition

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