Imports and Industrialisation

Because of Uruguay’s dependence on foreign trade flows for much of its fiscal income, trade has tended to be better served by official statisticians than other aspects of economic activity. For this reason—and in spite of the deficiencies of the data which are discussed in the Appendix—the analysis of imports is significant not only in view of their high per capita level, but also because they provide indirect evidence on the changing structure of domestic production. Uruguay’s very small size has imposed severe limits on the process of industrialisation, but batllista policies implied diversification of the economy such that proportionate to its size Uruguay was by 1930 one of the most highly industrialised countries in Latin America. Industrial growth increased demand for imports but changed their composition. Natural and tariff Protection reduced the import of consumer non-durables, since early enterprise tended to concentrate on production of wage goods. The equipment and materials required for such production, however, were generally not available or did not lend themselves to local production, so that imports became relatively more concentrated on these goods, and much less with meeting the demands of consumers directly.