The evolution is higher than that reported on May 9 by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec), which in its Manufacturing Industrial Production Index showed increases of 3.1% and 2.6%, respectively.
“With these data, the first quarter closed with an annual increase of 5%, partly due to the low base of comparison due to the third wave of Covid”, indicated the UIA in the comparison without seasonality of the first quarter of 2023 with the fourth and last of 2022.
Meanwhile, when comparing with the fourth quarter of 2022, the rise was of 23%driven by the good performance of the automotive sector, to the point that if it is excluded, the rise would be reduced to 2% year-on-year and 0.8% quarterly without seasonality.
“Despite a more complex macroeconomic context, in the first months of the year industrial activity managed to sustain production levels for some specific sectors,” the entity noted, which did not rule out that “the exchange rate tensions at the end of April will impact activity , especially from the difficulties for the supply of inputs and the rise in costs and the rate of monetary policy”.
Likewise, he estimated that “the impact of the drought on the milling and chained industrial sectors will continue”, although this could be “partially” compensated with “measures aimed at sustaining consumption and the demand for durable goods”.
The manufacturing center indicated that the general growth of the industry in March showed “disparity in the performance of the sectors, in line with what has been observed in recent months.”
In this regard, he pointed out that “the growth of up to 25% in sectors related to the consumption of durable goods such as automobiles and also oil refining associated with the good performance in the hydrocarbons sector” was highlighted, but also “falls of up to 4% in other sectors linked to the lower dynamism of construction (non-metallic minerals) and particularly with the impact of the drought”.
Industry: which are the most prominent sectors
Among these sectors, the UIA identified “food and beverages (grinding), chemical substances and products (biodiesel and agrochemicals) and agricultural machinery”.
Among the sectors that continue with good dynamism, the Automotive sector stood out, with a rise of 25.4% with the production of 61,104 units, boosted “both by sales to the domestic market and by exports.”
There was also an increase in the Electronics sector of 37.4%, mainly driven by the production of cell phones.
The UIA highlighted the “dynamism in the Petroleum Refining sector (+14.9%), which was boosted by the production of gasoline and diesel”, as well as that of Basic Metals, which registered an increase of 7%, mainly due to the production of aluminum , although steel production recorded a smaller rise (+1.8%).
Other sectors, although they registered year-on-year increases, showed a lower performance, among which are Paper and Cardboard (+1.2%), which has registered a lower boost in packaging paper since recent months, which had been the sub-item that most had been pulling upwards over the past year.
Likewise, the Metal-mechanic industry marked an increase of 1.1%, with a heterogeneous situation within the sector, marked by the rise in auto parts and capital goods, while agricultural machinery registered a strong year-on-year drop.
On the other hand, non-metallic minerals (-3.8%) registered year-on-year falls, although unevenly, since “cement shipments registered a rise while the Construya Index marked a fall”, indicated the UIA.
funes de la rioja
The same trend was observed by the manufacturing center in the Food and beverages sector (-3.6%), with a poor performance of oilseed milling as a result of the drought.
Likewise, the production of Chemical substances and products registered a fall (-0.9%), driven downward by the production of biodiesel and agrochemicals, affected by the lower demand in the agricultural sector due to the drought.
Regarding the industrial diffusion index, the UIA specified that seven of the 12 sectors and 69% of the subsectors ended the month with positive variations, while the use of installed capacity reached 67.5%, with an interannual increase of 0.8%.
Source: Ambito
