Lionel Messi’s favourite drink Yerba Mate just got cheaper than ever in Argentina

Dubai: Argentina’s iconic Yerba Mate, the drink synonymous with Lionel Messi and national culture, is experiencing a sharp fall in farmgate prices, exposing a growing tension between free-market reforms and traditional livelihoods.

In Misiones province, where most of Argentina’s mate is grown, farmers report receiving as little as 180 pesos per kilogram of green leaves — about 13 U.S. cents — down from roughly 250 pesos at the end of 2023, according to Bloomberg, which comes amid President Javier Milei’s deregulation drive, which removed long-standing controls on mate pricing.

For decades, the National Institute of Yerba Mate (INYM) set minimum prices to stabilize incomes for roughly 10,000 local farmers. Under Milei, those protections were dismantled, allowing the market to dictate payments.

The results have been volatile: early 2024 saw prices spike to 400 pesos per kilo, only to tumble as harvests surged and demand remained largely domestic, the Bloomberg analysis showed.

The consequences for families are immediate. Many farmers report scaling back operations or abandoning equipment purchases, while others are leaving the industry entirely. For some, even routine farm expenses such as tires or machinery repairs have become impossible.

Despite hardship at the farm level, consumers are seeing lower prices on supermarket shelves, with brands like Taragüi and Playadito now more affordable than in recent years. Milei’s economic team frames this as a benefit for 47 million Argentines, though local growers see it as a blow to livelihoods.

Part of the price collapse stems from oversupply. INYM data cited by Bloomberg shows that farmers harvested 1.1 million tons of mate in 2024, a record high, while domestic consumption has not kept pace. Early 2025 harvests have dropped 20%, as some farmers scale back to await better prices.

The next test of this economic experiment will come in October’s midterms, when provinces like Misiones and Corrientes — home to most mate farms — will weigh the effects of deregulation. Will voters prioritize cheaper consumer prices or the survival of the communities that grow Messi’s beloved drink?

For now, Yerba Mate sits in a paradox: cheaper for Argentines to sip, but costly for the families who make it possible.