The discovery that starch could be transformed into sweetening substances dates back to the beginning of the last century, nonetheless its first industrial uses began around 1850.

In 1942 Molinos Juan Semino began its production of wheat starch, and in the 1950s Glutal also began manufacturing wheat starches and later on cornstarch.

In 1961 Arcor began production of Glucose in Arroyito, Cordoba and in 1968 Georgalos began production in Rio Segundo, also in Cordoba province.

The Argentine company Staley started up its plant in 1971 in Chacabuco, Buenos Aires, and four years later the plant was transferred to Industrias de Maiz. During those same years Arcor installed its first subsidiary, Misty, in the province of Tucuman where it manufactured starches and glucose.

	The last company to join the starch league was Glucovil, of the Ledesma group, which kicked off operations in Villa Mercedes, San Luis in 1984. In 1988 Delmaiz, a Georgalos spin-off began production.
	Villa Mercedes Factory

Investments were strong during the early 1980s, when most companies began manufacturing second generation fructose products, and when other production lines began expanding their production capacity. During recent years much investment has been made to keep company installations and production capacity updated.

First generation Fructose syrup (Fructose 42) began in 1977 and production of Fructose 55 dates back to 1981. These production process that had been originally designed in the United States and Japan were rapidly applied in Argentina, and plants began production a short time afterwards.

It must be stressed that Argentina has a strong foothold in the production of second generation Fructose. Such production is found in very few countries worldwide.

On July 27th 1973 CAFAGDA was officially founded. A short time afterwards it obtained legal recognition and its Board of Directors designated and entitled Mr. Sofocles Georgalos as the Chambers' first president.

A few years later Industrias de Maiz replaced Staley as a member company and Glucovil (currently Ledesma) also became a chamber associate. Misky later on joined the Chamber. By 1996 Productos de Maíz joined after Refinerías de Maiz, and as of the 2000 merge of both companies, Productos de Maíz is officially the company member of the Chamber.
	Chacabuco Factory...

During the first part of 1986 CAFAGDA inaugurated its current offices at Maipú 459 in the city of Buenos Aires, and almost at the same time the administration was restructured and a stable operational management was set up, dedicated to providing and extending services provided for member companies.

Up until 1990 the Chamber actively participated in lobbying for the industry it represents in topics such as price arrangements and regulations.

From that year onwards CAFAGDA is dedicated to more administrative and technical activities that have been coordinated, permitting the Chamber to carry on more permanent tasks in what regards foreign trade, bromatological aspects and food regulations.

The Chamber also actively participates in integration activities that take place among nations in South America, and CAFAGDA works towards developing new markets for Chamber products through its member-companies. The Chamber has also been an active actor in the MERCOSUR agreements and forums that arise.

Some of the activities the Chamber provides are as follows:

Internal Trade: information flow, and costs and prices evolution analysis. Analysis of service costs. Follow-up of competitive and competitor prices. Research and negotiations for introducing amendments to the Argentine Food Code.

Foreign Trade: Statistics on imports and exports of products and byproducts handled by the industry. Follow-up on Customs legislation. Analysis of Custom tax treatment of products the member companies produce. Participation in MERCOSUR negotiations as well as other integration forums and new business negotiations.

Cereal Business: stock analysis and study of the geographic distribution of cereal stock. Participation in Red de Tecnología de Postcosecha de Granos (Interest-based net dedicated to post-harvest grains). Relations with INTA (National Institute of Agricultural Technology), INTI (National Institute of Industrial Technology), SENASA, Secretariat of Agriculture, etc. Participation in the Cereal Exchange Market as an adhered entity, and also as part of the Board of Directors. Active participation in proceedings regarding corn standard definitions. Cost analysis of grains. Statistics on sowing, reaping and stock. Develop of quick measurement systems on aflatoxins.

Legislation: follow-up on projects presented to Argentine Congress on topics of interest of the CAFAGDA sector. Follow-up on legislation that involves the business. Participation in the Federación de la Industria de Productos Alimenticios (representative of the Food Products Industry owners) in regards to labor agreements for the sector.

One of the main priorities of the Chamber as an institution is to constantly adapt its operational structure and work flow in order to meet needs and circumstances that arise in this dynamic business.
The objective of Chamber is to continue finding ways to extend services to member companies, in full use of all available resources.

The current authorities of the Chamber are as follows:
- President: ----------------------- Lic. Claudio Schmulewitz
- First Vice-president: -------------Eng. Marcelo Maranzana
- Second Vice-president ---------- Lic. Eduardo Nougués
- Secretary: -----------------------.Lic. Marcela Giscafré
- Treasurer: ----------------------- Mr. Martín Semino
- Manager------------------------- Eng. Aníbal Álvarez

Although this same industry is and has been strongly subsidized in Europe, in Argentina business has developed comfortably on the domestic market and no need for government subsidies has been demanded.

In the last few years neighboring markets have been lured back to Argentine production. These markets had lost ground to European items strongly subsidized, thus curbing Argentine exports.

Thence the sector has been able to rapidly adapt to changes in the economy, integrating successfully to globalized business without any need for subsidies or protectionism.

Since the majority of these transformation processes have only recently been developed worldwide (during the 80s) hand in hand with bioengineering, prominant technological levels have had to be reached; thus all machinery and installations at production plants are up to international standards.

The manufacturers have high tech laboratories in what regards scientists and equipment and instruments used.
Finally it must be mentioned that investment in technology in this industry is significantly expensive. For example, if you want to install a medium size plant with a milling capacity in the order of 200 tons daily, the total investment is around 20 million dollars. This figure includes machinery, buildings, installations and all the services required to operate the plant.
So as is clearly visible from the above, it is an industry that requires intensive capital and technology in order to continue in state of the art operations.

Cafagda take active part in different Institutions : COPAL, FIPAA, MAIZAR, IAMA, etc.