The lucky charm of the Argentina national football team, reigning champions and still in contention for the World Cup, is undoubtedly the perennial champion Lionel Messi, but apparently among the ingredients of their success there is also one that, ironically, is provided by their arch-rival, Brazil, who instead were eliminated in the round of 16 by Norway. Argentinians, as is well known, are great consumers of mate, that typical South American infusion based on mate herb. (yerba mate in Spanish, erva-mate in Portuguese) which absolutely could not be missing from the world expedition.
Argentina's supplier is the Brazilian company Baldo
It is curious, however, that the Albiceleste team has chosen a Brazilian sponsorship: Baldo, a company based in Rio Grande do Sul, has become the official supplier of yerba mate from the group led by Lionel Scaloni. And it was a hit, considering Argentina's progress in the competition and the commercial visibility of a player like Messi, considered one of the greatest ambassadors of mate in the world. The partnership was announced in March, but players had already been consuming Baldo mate since the 2022 World Cup, allowing the Brazilian brand to sensibly call it "the secret of champions."
Founded by Italian immigrants in 1920 in Vespasiano Corrêa, in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state in Brazil where mate is drunk the most, Baldo is the largest Brazilian exporter of yerba mate and sells its products in markets such as Uruguay, Argentina, the United States, but also Europe, Asia, and Oceania. The company gaucha It exports approximately 32 million kilograms of yerba mate per year to Uruguay alone and represents almost 80% of all exports from Rio Grande do Sul, a state that produces approximately 300.000 tons of the herb needed to prepare the infusion.
There's a political controversy in Buenos Aires. In 2025, Argentina's exports will surpass those of Brazil.
Inevitably, The agreement has sparked controversy in Argentina, where producers criticized the fact that a Brazilian brand was sponsoring the national team of a country that considers mate an integral part of its national identity. Provincial Representative Juan José Szychowski, former president of the National Institute of Yerba Mate (INYM), called for the national government to intervene to review the agreement, citing Law 26.871, which declares mate a "National Infusion." The controversy takes on even more particular dimensions because it was Argentina itself, in 2025, that overtake Brazil as the world's leading exporter of yerba mate, with 117 million dollars in foreign sales (+34,4%).
In Argentina's domestic market, local brands continue to dominate the shelves: the Playadito cooperative is the sales leader, with 56,7 million kilos sold, followed by the Las Marías group, owner of the Taragüí brand, with 49 million kilos. Baldo still represents a small share of this market, but both Baldo and its Argentine competitors will now benefit from the Messi effect. Messi's transfer to Inter Miami has in fact increased the consumption of mate in a new market like the United States.: By December 2025, exports to the US had almost doubled compared to a year earlier, making the US the world's sixth largest destination for yerba mate.
