Thursday March 30, 2023 | 7:51 p.m.
Industrial activity grew 8.1% in January compared to the same month of the previous year and 2% compared to December without seasonality, according to data from the report released this Thursday by the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA). . –
According to the report, ten of the twelve sectors that make up the index prepared by the Center for Studies of the manufacturing plant had year-on-year increases in the first month of the year, standing out Automotive (+45.8%), driven upwards by both car sales in the domestic market and by exports.
The UIA document highlighted that “the level of production is still at relatively high levels, despite the slowdown observed since the second part of 2022.”
However, the work explained that in the first month of the year “the year-on-year rise was linked to the poor performance of the month of January 2022, affected by the third wave of covid-19.” Meanwhile, “the monthly increase compared to December 2022 was mainly due to a greater number of business days.”
In the breakdown by sector, after the automotive sector, Basic Metals (+25.3%) came in second place, thanks to increases in the production of steel and aluminum.
The improvements in the Oil Refining (+8.5%) and Food and Beverages (+7.1%) sectors also stood out.
Other sectors showed less dynamism compared to previous months, with more moderate year-on-year increases. Among them is the Paper and Cardboard sector, which registered an improvement of 6.4% year-on-year; followed by Electronics (4.8%); and Non-metallic minerals (3.5%).
With negative records, the Chemical Substances and Products sector ended with a cut of -3.6%, thus registering the second consecutive year-on-year fall. In particular, the pharmaceutical products sector registered a drop of 5.4%, specified the document from the manufacturing entity.
Regarding the provisional data for February, the UIA maintained that they show a mixed situation, since “although some production and consumption indicators showed good dynamism, the demand for electricity from Large Industrial Users registered a year-on-year drop of 2. 9%”.
Facing the behavior of industrial activity in the coming months, the business chamber warned about some challenges that could generate tensions.
