The sectors most affected by this problem in September were food and beverages, textiles and clothing, with 22.8% and 21.1% of reports respectively.
The Argentine Confederation of Medium-sized Enterprises (CAME) shared new data that reflects the crisis that the industry is going through: the 16.7% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reported problems paying September salaries.
Although these numbers represent an improvement compared to last month – the figure had been falling for 8 months until August, when 19.3% of companies had this problem – The reasons for financial stress that continue to concern the industry remain.
As reported CAME, the sectors most affected by the context are food and beverages, textiles and clothing, with 22.8% and 21.1% of their companies respectively reporting this inconvenience. Behind them are the industries related to the production of metal, machinery, equipment and transport material, with 19.3% of SMEs in the sector expressing similar problems.
Within the sectors of chemicals and plastics, he 15.8% of companies He said he was having difficulty meeting his salary obligations.
For their part, companies linked to paper and printing, wood and furniture seem to be in a slightly more stable situation, although the 10.5% of its companies still have problems paying salaries.
SME crisis: companies adopted changes in production to reduce costs
This context forced companies to adopt changes in their structure: the 29.5% of respondents had to reduce operating expenses, 29.1% diversified products and 13.4% reduced their employees’ working hours.
These numbers bring to light the difficult situation that the SMEs industrialists in Argentina, where traditional sectors such as food, beverages and textiles face serious problems in maintaining their operations in the face of the constant challenge of paying salaries with a inflation that has not fallen below 4% and has accumulated 94.8%.
The slow reactivation of industrial activity and the increase in input costs put pressure on companieswho are looking for strategies to stay afloat in a volatile economic context.
In its most recent report, CAME highlighted that there was a slight decrease in financial problems compared to the previous month, although they stressed that there is still no talk of sustained improvement.
Source: Ambito
