After the recovery in July, The first data for August meant a new step back for manufacturing industry activity. More than half of the companies in the sector expect recovery to occur in the second half of 2025 or later.
Through its report “Industrial News”, the Center for Industrial Studies Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) warned that “the early data for August indicate a new year-on-year fall and a decline in the monthly comparison, reversing the improvement in July.”
According to the data already released, for the eighth month of the year there was an acceleration in the year-on-year fall of the cement shipmentsas well as in the automotive industry and in the electricity consumption of large industrial users.
In the automotive sector the contraction was -18.6%, generated by a Fall in sales to the domestic market (-22.3% yoy)which could not be offset by the 13.5% increase in exports, which grew after six consecutive months of decline.
In terms of foreign trade, the UIA reported that the double-digit annual decline in exports continued. imports from Brazil, although the figure was less bad than the previous month. In parallel, a new improvement was seen in the exports to the neighboring country, although more limited in relation to the previous record.
The most encouraging data so far was the growth in the patenting of agricultural machinerythe first in a year and a half. Also, the Settlement of foreign exchange from the agro-industry recorded a year-on-year improvement of 40.4%, higher than the 35.9% in July, although it is worth remembering the low comparison base due to the drought in 2023.
Industrial companies expect a slow recovery in the sector
The UIA report showed that in July industrial companies used, on average, 58% of their installed capacity. For more than two-thirds of the firms, this figure was lower than that considered optimal; among them, 55.7% expect to recover those levels only in the second half of 2025 or later.
The results come from a Survey conducted on almost 1,200 companies throughout the first half of August.
July had given hope
According to the UIA, industrial production grew 12.8% monthly in July, while the year-on-year decline slowed to 5.8%.
On the one hand, there was a smaller drop in Chemical substances and products, with growth in the segment of cleaning and hygiene products and “other chemicals”. In the CIQyP segment, production of Agrochemicals, Inorganic chemicals and Basic organic chemicals grew.
Source: Ambito
