With this new drop, industrial activity is just above last year’s levels, which were the worst since 2002.
Indicators continue to accumulate that the real economy, and especially the industry, is going through a critical situation. Activity in the sector fell 3% monthly and 4.5% year-on-year in Septemberaccording to the Industrial Production Index (IPI) prepared by FAITHFUL. “Industrial activity is heading to close the year in decline with some sectoral exceptions,” the study center noted.
The foundation noted that the collapse recorded last month cuts the accumulated improvement in the first nine months to only 0.6% higher compared to the same period last year. This is a discouraging fact if one takes into account that In 2024 the industry collapsed 9.4% year-on-year, its worst decline since the 2002 crisisaccording to the IPI that measures the Indec.
Unlike what was seen last year, where a strong contraction in activity was observed at the beginning of the year and then a recovery at the end, FIEL data indicate that the trajectory during 2025 follows an inverse path: The year began with increases and gradually began to decrease.
In this sense, in the third quarter of 2025 industrial activity fell 3% against the same period of 2024, while in Measured against the second quarter of this year, the decrease is 2.7%.
Photo Industrial Center
The situation in each sector
During the month, the best activity performances were recorded by oil refining and the food and beverage production. For their part, they mentioned that “two of the branches with above-average growth in the first part of 2025 showed a decline in comparison with the previous year“, in reference to the sector of non-metallic minerals and the automotive industry.
In reference to the first case, they highlighted that “the slight advance in cement shipments due to the contribution of bulk sales, moderated the fall of the block dragged by the decline of other inputs.”
Meanwhile, they explained that “the automotive branch had a quarter of decline in the year-on-year comparison, combining in September a contraction in automobile production with an advance in utility vehicles.” On that point, they explained that “The weakness that the branch has shown in recent months responds to the cessation of model production and the reconversion of production lines“.
In the case of metalworking, widespread falls are observed, with the exception of some plants dedicated to agricultural machinery and auto parts. So far this year, accumulates a decrease of 2.3% compared to the first nine months of last year.
Finally, the chemicals and plastics branch registered a significant contraction in the year-on-year comparison “as of slowdown in activities among basic chemicals, a drop in the production of soaps and detergents, and another deep drop in the production of tires“.
Source: Ambito
