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Robin King's trip to Argentina

22 February 2008

Robin King, movewithus founding director, began investing in Argentinean land in the summer of 2006.  In this article he talks about his recent trip to Argentina to check on the progress of the new office in Buenos Aires and his Project Greengold investments.

Robin King said: “I became aware of the upsurge in demand for arable crops and the price increases in Argentina back in 2006 and went to investigate. Together with some colleagues, I acquired 220 hectares of land which had previously been used for raising cattle. It cost less than $3000 per hectare.”

Since the initial investment, the price of the land has rocketed to $12,000 per hectare.  At the end of January 2008, Robin travelled to collect the revenue from the December harvest and met with the professional team from SAAM (South American Asset Management), who were managing the land and crop output.
 
King commented: “Argentina is booming - there is physical evidence of the improved wealth on the streets. Restaurants are heaving, shops are busy and hotels are at capacity. This is a country that has endured severe economic hardship through mismanagement by the previous Governments and a downturn in food prices.”

“The first meeting I had with the sales team was in the movewithus’ Buenos Aires office, overlooking the old docks in the prestigious Puerto Madera district. The team are buzzing with optimism having logged their best ever sales month. There is a lot of evidence of movement in the market. There are noticeably more ‘sold’ boards than ‘for sale’ boards in the city and some of the more exclusive country clubs actually have waiting lists for plots valued at $120,000 and above.”

The evolution of Greengold

The agricultural land acquired for Project Greengold is extending to over 500 hectares and is located in a prime area south of Buenos Aires.

King commented: “As we left the city, SAAM were drilling (seeding) the first 120 hectares with soya. I met with the contractors to discuss their crop rotation for the next year. The soya crops will be harvested in June and wheat will go in from July to be harvested in December/January.

For anyone who is interested in the current prices, soya sells for $350 per tonne and wheat sells for $320. On average, the yield is 3.5 tonnes per hectare. The following day, Robin visited the land he had invested in over a year ago.

King said: “We have already had two harvests from the land and I was amazed that they had already drilled with soya! I got to ride the boundary of the land on a quad bike and measured it at over five kilometres!”

“During the visit I met with Raul, the owner of some of the finest polo ponies in the Lujan - a famous area for polo. Of course, he asked whether I played and obviously
I hadn’t even ridden a horse since I fell off my daughter’s pony twelve years ago. However, I took up the challenge and had a go at playing. With a bit of tuition, I enjoyed a Sunday afternoon in the sunshine on the polo field followed by a BBQ and copious amounts of wine from the famous Mendosa region. On leaving for the airport the following day my head and body ached but I was more than happy to have beaten my colleagues in a two-on-two game by two goals to nil!”

If any of our investors wish to visit Argentina we are always happy for one of the movewithus Argentina team to meet and show them around Buenos Aires and ensure their stay is as informative and enjoyable as possible.  However, we wouldn’t recommend too short a trip - the travelling time is over 20 hours door to door!