After the poor results in February, the manufacturing industry and construction managed to recover in March, although only the former closed the first quarter with positive accumulated values.
According to a report published by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) in the third month of the year on manufacturing industrial production index (IPI) registered a growth of 3.1% in relation to March 2022 and improved by 3.4% in the seasonally adjusted monthly variation compared to February.
Thus, the industry as a whole closed the first quarter of the year with a recovery of 2.6%. with most activities growing.
Although the general results of the industrial production level were positive, there were sectors that failed to follow the general trend and closed the third month of the year with negative numbers.
The worst performing item in March was “wood, paper, edition and printing”whose level of activity contracted 4.2% compared to the same month of 20022. The sector of “food, beverages and tobacco”which suffered a retraction of 0.8% in the year-on-year comparison.
It should be noted that within the food industry the worst results were obtained by oilseed milling and wine, both with falls of more than 20%. Other items, such as bovine meat and the production of dairy products, had positive values.
Now, going back to the general numbers, you can find several items with very marked growth during March. The one that did best in the third month of the year is the sector of “other equipment, apparatus and instruments”which achieved a growth of 17.2% compared to the same month in 2022. Within this item, for example, the manufacture of computers and cell phones appear.
Also highlighted was the Automotive industry, which reached a rise of 16.7%. Their results also improved furniture manufacturing (7.8%), the metalworking industry (7.3%) and the elaboration of “metal products, machinery and equipment” (7%), among others.
He synthetic indicator of construction activity (ISAC) also had a good third month of the year. According to official statistics, in March it registered a rise of 1.2% compared to the same month in 2022 and achieved an improvement of 3.5% compared to February of this year. However, the accumulated index for the first quarter of 2023 shows a drop of 0.8% compared to the same period of 2022.
To arrive at these results, the indec measured the level of demand for the main materials used for any construction work. The study shows a strong rise in the use of mosaics, granite and limestone (21.6% year-on-year improvement) and finished concrete (19.8%). The demand for Portland cement also grew (6.4%), a material with a high incidence in the general numbers.
At the other extreme was the demand for ceramic sanitary ware, which fell 25.8% between March 2022 and the same month this year. Nor was the third month of the year good for ceramic floors and coverings (-15.3%), hollow bricks (-12.8%) and asphalt (-9.7%), among other materials.
Meanwhile, INDEC measured a recovery of 16.4% in the number of registered jobs (they reached 467,201), although these are data corresponding to the month of February. Also for the second month of the year, an area authorized by building permits of 912,198 m2 was surveyed, which meant a drop of 27.2% compared to February 2022.
Although the numbers for the third month of the year were generally positive, specialists anticipate that 2023 could be quite difficult for industry and construction.
“The drought will have direct and indirect effects on activity, and we expect a contraction of 3% in real GDP. The lack of dollar flows will limit the probabilities of reducing the provisions on imports, so the industry and investment would continue to be affected by inputs,” he said. Juan Manuel FrancoChief Economist of SBS Group.
“Furthermore, within the framework of a renegotiation of the program with the IMF, there is hardly room for fiscal-monetary stimulus. Finally, the uncertainty in the face of the electoral event will limit any impulse through private investment until more certainty is available, ”he added.
Keep reading:
