The ground
Why Paraguay
Paraguay is not a large market: it is a market of passage. A landlocked country with the region's lowest tax burden, surplus renewable energy and all of its logistics concentrated on one river. What follows is the ground as it is, with what works in its favour and what does not.
Tax and investment framework
Paraguay has long maintained what is known as the 10-10-10 rule: its three main taxes — value added, personal income and corporate income — are all levied at 10 %. It is the lowest combined burden in the region and explains much of the interest the country attracts from investors across the Southern Cone.
The incentive regime was updated by Law 7548/2025, replacing Law 60/90 in force since 1991. It preserves tariff and VAT exemptions on capital-goods imports, VAT relief on local purchases of those goods, and favourable treatment of dividends from foreign-origin investment.
Abundant, clean energy
Virtually all Paraguayan electricity comes from renewable sources, generated by two binational dams: Itaipú, shared with Brazil, with 14,000 MW installed, and Yacyretá, shared with Argentina. The country's structural surplus is why regional-scale data centre projects are now being discussed in Asunción, backed by a special fifteen-year electricity tariff created for large operators.
Since 2026 that market is no longer exclusively state-run. Decree 6034/2026, implementing Law 7599/2025, opened private investment across six non-conventional renewable sources and created the figures of self-generator, cogenerator, exporter and prosumer. The first international tender under the regime — a 140 MW solar plant in Loma Plata with a twenty-seven-year supply contract — is the practical test of how the framework will work.
The waterway as infrastructure
Paraguay is landlocked: its foreign trade moves along more than 3,400 kilometres of river to the Río de la Plata. That route is served by the world's third-largest river fleet — some 3,200 Paraguayan-flagged vessels, behind only the United States and China — and a network of 34 private ports specialised by cargo type.
That same dependence is the country's main operational constraint. Low-water periods reduce draughts and stretch transit times, tolls on the Argentine stretch are the subject of regional dispute, and every point of logistical friction feeds through to the cost of goods. Planning an operation in Paraguay means, first of all, planning its river window.
What the country buys and sells
On the demand side, Paraguay imports all the fuel it consumes: 3,222 million litres in 2025, with diesel accounting for 64 % of volume and a seasonal peak set by the agricultural campaign. On the supply side, beef exports reached 355,754 tonnes for USD 2,130 million in the same year, across 52 approved markets, with Chile, the United States and Taiwan as the leading buyers.
The domestic market is small — a little over six million people — so almost everything of interest in the country is foreign trade. The flip side is that deals are put together among a limited set of known players, and reputation carries more weight than in larger markets: a badly chosen counterparty becomes known quickly.
- Puerto Cáceres BR Northern head
- Corumbá BR Ore and bulk
- Concepción PY Northern Paraguay
- Asunción PY Capital and customs
- Villeta PY Private terminals
- Pilar PY Southern exit
- Rosario AR Transhipment
- Nueva Palmira UY Ocean gateway
A schematic of port order along the corridor, not a map to scale. The waterway runs some 3,400 km between its two heads.
From context to transaction
None of these conditions closes a transaction on its own. What closes it is the structure: contract, instrument, logistics and timing, assembled before any goods move.
Market figures cited on this site come from public sources, identified and linked in each case. They constitute neither an offer nor investment advice.