Argentina is the the main producer and exporter of yerba mate in the world. In 2019, 837 million kg of green leaves were harvested in the Argentine producing areas made up of the northeast of Corrientes and the entire territory of Misiones and almost 40 million kg of yerba, were exported. At 36 million kg, Brazil is the second largest exporter of yerba mate.

To which countries does Argentina export yerba mate? The answer to this question may come as a surprise to many people. The top 5 importing countries of yerba mate are in order of volume..

• Syria
• Chile
• Lebanon
• USA
• Spain

The presence of Chile, USA and Spain in the list is understandable given the number of Argentine residents in those countries. However Syria and Lebanon... how come those 2 countries appear in the list? And why is Syria the main destination for exports?

History can explain it.... many years ago, between 1850 and 1860 Syrians and Lebanese immigrants came to Argentina and fell in love with yerba mate. When these immigrants returned to their country, they took the Argentine yerba mate and adopted it as their own, to such an extent that many in the nearby regions think that yerba mate is a Middle Eastern tradition.

Today, there are 17-30 million people of Middle Eastern origin living in Latin America. Many of these families have immigration stories that began in the mid-19th century when the cultural sharing of yerba mate really took off. There have been multiple waves of immigration from the Middle East to Argentina starting in the late 19th century, then following WWI and WWII and latterly the Arab-Israeli wars and the Lebanese Civil wars. As all Argentinians will know a recent president, Carlos Saul Menem, was of Syrian extraction as was his wife Zulema. In both cases their parents were born in Syrian.

All these waves of immigrants, primarily to Argentina and Brazil, resulted in the sharing of traditions. Starting in the 1860s up to the 1960s, immigrants from Syria and Lebanon arrived in South America and began to exchange customs. In this period, they started the habit of drinking yerba mate. This cultural exchange was augmented by periods of reverse immigration triggered by economic downturns or political instability in countries such as Brazil and Argentina and an oil boom and subsequent economic upturns in the Middle East. This reverse immigration led to descendants of immigrants returning to Syria and Lebanon and bringing with them yerba mate and their love of drinking this unique beverage.

In particular, the Druze, who had been particularly affected by events in the 19th and 20th centuries were especially keen on drinking yerba mate. Today, their community is culturally linked to drinking yerba mate in a major way. For this reason, many yerba mate drinkers in Syria and Lebanon are Druze. While it is seen in other regions, yerba mate is most commonly drunk in Druze mountain villages.

Chile is the second most important market with imports of 4.4 million kg recorded in 2019. The tradition of drinking mate is strong in the south of Chile and has been moving north. The Chilean people love mate for its health benefits, its natural origin and its mystique.

Argentine yerba is also exported to European countries such as France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. And in more recent years exports to Eastern European countries such as Poland, Ukraine and Russia have increased.

Sources:

BBC Mundo www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-51392066

INYM: yerbamateargentina.org.ar/yerba-mate/la-yerba-mate-en-el-mundo/