Trelew free zone targets March 2027 for full tax benefits as fishing firms line up

FTZ News: Chubut Gov. Ignacio Torres said Wednesday that the civil works at the Trelew free zone should be finished before March 2027, when the zone’s tax benefits can start to run in full.
“Before March we will surely have all the civil works needed for the tax benefits to start, finished the way they should be,” Torres said at an event in Trelew, where he reviewed infrastructure progress and private investment at the industrial park. He pointed to advances on the perimeter fence and the access gate.

The date depends on those works. The tax benefits begin once the works are complete and the regime is operating.

The site is a subzone of the Comodoro Rivadavia free zone, formally called Sub Zona Franca de Trelew. It covers a planned 165 hectares inside the Trelew industrial park.

The package has been announced in stages. A December 2024 national resolution added the 165-hectare area to the Comodoro zone. In September 2025 the provincial government announced the exemptions. In March 2026 Torres said companies in the zone would pay no provincial or municipal taxes. In October 2026 the government formalized what it called a “tributación cero” scheme covering national, provincial and municipal taxes.

Once the regime is running, companies can import inputs, machinery and capital goods without customs duties. Exports also face no export duties, according to Revista Puerto, a publication covering the fishing sector. The same report says the regime requires that products add value.

Several fishing firms are moving toward the site. Pesquera Mediterráneo del Sur was the first to confirm. It is fitting out an existing building in the industrial park to process shrimp and hake and to reprocess squid. The company plans to start during the current provincial shrimp season, with more than 120 workers at first and a target of 400 jobs by late 2027, the publication reports.
Buenos Aires Pesca has announced a 15-million-dollar processing plant that the government says would create about 400 direct jobs. Soil works have begun on its allotted land.

Arbumasa asked for a lot at Argentina Week in Paris in October. Its project is in architectural design and environmental permitting. The construction phase would create about 80 jobs, and the plant would process squid and shrimp.

Torres also said two other fishing companies are moving through approvals. One has been assigned a lot and has started work on a plant that could employ more than 100 people. He did not name either company.

The municipality reports 18 applications from companies in several sectors, including fishing, textiles and metalworking. In June, Mayor Gerardo Merino said five or six fishing companies had received the go-ahead.

The zone is meant to keep more processing of local catch inside Chubut, instead of shipping frozen raw material abroad. Whether the March 2027 date holds will depend on how fast the remaining works and company projects move./.