How to Import Wood Pallets and Timber from Argentina (2026)

Short answer: to import wood pallets or sawn timber from Argentina you need the exact Mercosur tariff line (heading 4415 for pallets, 4407 for sawn timber), the export duty that line pays, a SENASA phytosanitary certificate if your country requires one, ISPM 15 treatment and marks from a SENASA-registered centre for any wood packaging, and an export declaration filed by the supplier's customs broker. Pallets have a 3% reference export duty and pine sawn timber 4.5%; still have the supplier confirm the rate in writing on the day of the quote.

If you are already looking for product, send a sourcing request. We are opening the marketplace with wood and forest products, with open requests, official reference prices and suppliers from official registries; a supplier is marked verified only after we check it. Export rules keep changing, and our export tracker logs each change with its source.

Which tariff codes apply to pallets and timber?

Argentina classifies goods under the Mercosur Common Nomenclature (NCM). Its first six digits follow the international Harmonized System, so the headings below read the same in your own tariff. The descriptions are taken from the US Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which reproduces the HS text:

• 4415.20: pallets, box-pallets and other load boards; pallet collars.
• 4415.10: cases, boxes, crates, drums and similar packings; cable-drums.
• 4407: wood sawn or chipped lengthwise, sliced or peeled, more than 6 mm thick. It is split by species: 4407.11 is pine (Pinus spp.), 4407.12 fir and spruce, 4407.13 S-P-F, 4407.14 Hem-fir, 4407.23 teak, 4407.97 poplar and aspen, with "other" lines for the rest.

The species decides the line, and the line decides the duty on both sides of the border. Agree the full 8-digit NCM code with the supplier before you compare prices.

Do pallets and sawn timber pay Argentine export duties in 2026?

Argentina charges export duties (derechos de exportación) by tariff line, and several decrees have cut them since 2025. This is what we found in the official texts:

• 0% for some wood lines. Decree 38/2025 (Official Gazette, 27 January 2025) set a 0% export duty, with no end date, for the lines in its Annex I. In chapter 44 the annex includes sawn timber 4407.13.00, 4407.14.00 and 4407.23.00, logs (4403), railway sleepers (4406), several plywood and laminated-wood lines (4412) and several builders' joinery lines (4418). The official list of later changes to that decree shows none that reverses Annex I.
• Not in the 2025-2026 industrial cuts. Decree 305/2025 and Decree 566/2026, which removed or are phasing out export duties on a long list of industrial goods, contain no chapter 44 code in their annexes.
• Pallets (4415.20.00): 3%. Decree 789/2020 (Official Gazette, 5 October 2020) set it in its Annex I, and none of the later decrees above changes it.
• Pine sawn timber (4407.11.00): 4.5%. Decree 1060/2020 (Official Gazette, 31 December 2020) set it in its annex, and none of the later decrees above changes it.

What to do about it: rates move by decree, so ask the supplier's customs broker to confirm the rate for the exact NCM line on the day of the quote, and make the quote say who pays it. Our commodities market keeps a sheet per product with the current rate and its source.

The phytosanitary certificate: what SENASA issues

For plant products, SENASA, Argentina's agri-food health service, issues the phytosanitary export certificate. By issuing it, SENASA certifies that the shipment meets the requirements set by the destination country. The exporter or its customs broker applies online. Among the documents SENASA lists for the application are the official requirements set by the importing country's plant protection organisation.

That puts the first question on your side: what does your own plant protection authority require for this product and this origin? Get that answer in writing before the order, and send it to the supplier. The certificate certifies against it.

ISPM 15: the marks on the pallets

ISPM 15 is the international standard for wood packaging in trade. In Argentina it is regulated by SENASA Resolution 199/2013, amended by Resolution 450/2025. According to SENASA's wood packaging page, wood packaging used to export any goods must be treated, and only centres authorised and inspected by SENASA may apply the treatment and the mark. There are three kinds: treatment centres (CATEM), packaging factories (FEM) and traditional drying kilns (HOSETRAM).

• The treatments. Heat treatment (HT) brings the core of the thickest piece to at least 56°C for at least 30 minutes. The other permitted treatment is methyl bromide fumigation (MB).
• The mark. It carries the IPPC symbol, the ISO country code "AR" joined by a hyphen to the numeric code SENASA assigned to the centre, and the treatment code (HT or MB). It goes on at least two opposite, visible faces. Since 2025 there is also a traceability number on one face.
• Who decides what is enough. Resolution 450/2025 says the requirements for wood packaging used in exports will be only those set by the destination country.
• How to check the supplier. SENASA publishes the 2026 national register of authorised CATEM, FEM and HOSETRAM centres. If your supplier treats its own pallets, it should be on that list. If it buys treated pallets, ask which centre treated them.

Don't confuse it with SENASA Resolution 873/2026

On 16 October 2026 SENASA published Resolution 873/2026. It covers wood packaging that arrives in Argentina, or arrives and transits through it. It does not change the export side above. It replaces Resolution 614/2015 and Resolution 980/2025 and takes effect the day after publication.

It matters if you ship machinery or supplies into Argentina on pallets or crates. Before arrival, the importer's customs broker must file a sworn declaration in SENASA's SIG-Embalajes system, which is linked to ARCA's MALVINA customs system. The packaging must be debarked, free of pests, and treated and marked under ISPM 15. SENASA uses a risk matrix to decide which loads to inspect.

The customs steps on the Argentine side

The export is cleared by the supplier, not by you. Per ARCA's own export declaration procedure:

• A customs broker (despachante de aduana) registered as such files the export declaration, also called the permiso de embarque, in ARCA's MALVINA system on the exporter's behalf.
• Once filed, the declaration gets a unique registration number. It is used to track the operation and to pay any export duty.
• The registered declaration is valid for 31 calendar days, or 45 for overland transit by truck or rail.

Ask for that registration number once the goods are declared: it is what identifies your shipment in the customs system.

Which Incoterm should you use?

The current version is Incoterms 2020, published by the International Chamber of Commerce. The US government's Incoterms guide lists FAS, FOB, CFR and CIF as rules for sea and inland waterway transport only. The other seven, including FCA, CPT, CIP and DAP, work for any mode, which includes trucks to Brazil or Chile. Each rule states which party is responsible for export formalities. Choose one that puts them on the Argentine seller, because the seller has the broker, the SENASA paperwork and the treated packaging.

Before you pay a deposit

Check the supplier first. Confirm its tax ID (CUIT) in ARCA's public lookup, ask for its ISPM 15 centre code and look it up in SENASA's register, and pay only an account in the name of the company that invoices and ships. The step-by-step is in how to verify an Argentine supplier before you buy. For the wider case for sourcing from, or exporting out of, Argentina, see using Argentina as an export base. If you buy from Europe, also read what the EU–Mercosur agreement changes.

Or skip the search: send a sourcing request with product, volume and destination.

This guide is general information, not customs or legal advice. The rules were checked against the sources linked above on 23 October 2026. Export duties and SENASA requirements change, so confirm the rate for your exact tariff line and your country's import requirements before you order.