Recently, Argentina has seen a jump in the share of yuan transactions as local companies are looking for an alternative means of payment for imported goods. But this is not a stage of a de-dollarization process as some might think. The reason lies in the dire shortage of US dollars as currency reserves of Argentina's central bank have dropped to their lowest level in many years. It has become so hard to find dollars in the country that Whirlpool Corp., the American appliance giant, is considering paying with China’s yuan to import parts for its new factory. And it is not alone. According to Bloomberg, the dollar scarcity has pushed many companies in the country to seek out the Chinese yuan. The trend signals a financial crisis in Argentina rather than an attempt to decrease its reliance on the greenback. More than 500 Argentine companies, including oil and mining firms, have requested to pay for imports in yuan, the country’s customs agency reports. Officials have authorized import payments in the yuan equivalent to $2.9 billion. In the first 10 days of June, the share of yuan transactions in Argentina's currency market totaled about $285 million, twice exceeding that for all of May. Whirlpool may soon join the companies looking for the yuan. The manufacturer invested $52 million in its factory in Argentina last year to make washing machines and other products. To ensure a steady supply amid the dollar squeeze, the company has to look for other means of payment. “We've had to stop the factory at some point and that's not good for business, productivity nor quality," Juan Carlos Puente, president of Whirlpool Latin America, said in an interview. “We’re working to see how we can leverage this new avenue of flows to be able to continue importing materials,” he added.
