A diverse economy ensures the development of Chubut. From a tourism perspective, Chubut has one of the most important destinations in Patagonia: the Valdes Peninsula, that together with La Hoya winter resort builds its tourist industry. However, its economy is composed of a variety of activities.
You can find non-traditional agricultural production as the processing of the European hare, which are all exported to the European Economic Community (mainly to France, Italy and Germany). Also breeding of blue fox, silver fox, otters, angora rabbits, chinchillas, guanacos, whose skin and hair are used in the manufacture of wearing apparel; and red deer farms, that sell their meat (production of pates, sausages, smoked meat and dry), antlers, hides and products for medicinal purposes.
On the other hand is a traditional agricultural production, within which emphasizes the production of fine fruits in the northwest of the province. Dominated by raspberries, cherries, cherries, currants, boysemberry and strawberries.
Since the mid 70's along with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, laws were passed designed to preserve the conditions of water resources in view of the increasing industrial activity, mainly in Puerto Madryn and Comodoro Rivadavia. In addition, under the fundamental premise to build the sustainable development of its resources, new themes have been incorporated to monitor and record: discharge of pollutants into the sea, use and handling of hazardous and radioactive material handling, contamination by oil and biocides product management.
In Chubut it is a significant increase in the sheepmeat production, resulting in internal and external trade (mainly European countries). The Patagonian lamb, free of any chemicals, is an excellent product called organic, very popular in international markets. In addition, the province is developing strongly beef production, in which farming takes place in the foothills and valleys farming under irrigation or yard. Importantly, Chubut is below the barrier phytozoosanitary located in Barraca and Colorado rivers, and also maintains a barrier animal health in the parallel 42 ° as a zone free of FMD virus.
With a total area of 22 million hectares and a forested area of over 1,000,000 hectares, the province of Chubut presents conditions highly advantageous for the development of forestry. The virtual absence of pests, rainfall in the region and non-competitiveness of the land with other agricultural activities give to Chubut a privileged position compared to alternative facilities. Some of the species found in spontaneous forests are beech, cypress and ñire.
Fishing is one of the mainstays of the economy of Chubut. The fish varied richness of its waters adds an important industrial and processing infrastructure, installed along with its maritime terminals.
Among the species caught there are included: hake, pollock, salmon, flounder, grouper, mackerel, crab, shrimp, squid and vieyra. Fishing is purely industrial, only the extraction of bivalve molluscs has handcrafted features.
Oil production began in the province of Chubut in the year 1907, when by casual circumstances a team in search of water driller discovered oil in Comodoro Rivadavia. Since then governed the Mining Code of the Nation, promulgated in 1886, which provides that State-owned oil fields and can only be exploited by grant, where national and provincial states receive a percentage as a contribution from any exploitation of hydrocarbons.
The wind sweeps across the vastness of Patagonia, from south to north and from west to east. Almost as anywhere in Argentina and few in the world, the air currents take over the floor and accompany all activities. However, since the early 1990s, it is been looking with new eyes: for economic use through wind energy. Thus, in Comodoro Rivadavia has built the largest wind farm in South America, as it sees wind energy as the energy of the future for being clean and renewable unlike others such as that generated by oil.