RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina’s industrial activity registered a year-on-year growth of 10.1% last September, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) reported on Tuesday.
Year-on-year improvements were observed in the ninth month of the year in 14 of the 16 industrial branches included in the indicator.
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The industrial branches that recorded the most significant recovery were machinery and equipment (35.9%), clothing, leather, and footwear (56.1%), basic metal industries (20.2%), and automotive production (18.8%).
On the other hand, furniture production (-12.2%) and wood and paper and publishing and printing activities (-1.5%) declined.
“The recovery in Argentina is strong. This year the GDP will be growing between 8% and 9%, with the industrial sector leading the growth”, highlighted this Tuesday the Secretary of International Economic Relations of the Argentine Foreign Ministry, Cecilia Todesca Bocco, during a business forum organized by the French-Argentine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the French Embassy in Buenos Aires.
According to official data, industrial production in September showed an increase of 1.1% over the levels of last August, the first positive variation after two months of decline.
According to a Latin American Economic Research Foundation (FIEL) report, “the greatest drop in production was in the metal-mechanic block”, but there were also decreases in the production of chemicals and plastics and food and beverages.
According to official data, Argentina’s industrial production accumulated a rise of 18.7% in the first nine months of the year.
Amid a severe economic recession in Argentina – aggravated by the covid-19 pandemic – local industrial activity fell by 7.6% in 2020.
For 2021, in general, private consultants expect a recovery of the industry, although with an uncertain evolution going forward.
According to FIEL’s report, “the industrial activity entered a stage where the tensions associated with supply restrictions of imported inputs, logistic problems, and trade union conflicts begin to hinder the dynamics of the recovery observed at the end of the pandemic in the last part of 2020 and the first half of 2021”.