The drought had a strong impact on the countryside, which remains in emergency at least until the end of the year, and set back the activity of the agricultural sector 27.4% year-on-year in the second quarter, according to the report on national accounts prepared by the Chamber of Commerce and Services of Uruguay (Ccsuy).
He agro Not only was it the area most affected by the climate phenomenon, but its fall was the one that had the most weight on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with a negative impact of 2.1% on activity, which registered a drop of 2.5% year-on-year according to the latest report from the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU).
From the Ccsuy They specified that, beyond the general decline, agricultural activity was the most affected, mainly due to the low yields of the 2022/2023 harvest of summer crops, the effect of the drought.
However, they evaluated that livestock activity also performed poorly, as a result of a drop in levels of task, which resulted in lower production in livestock farming. meat.
The drought also had an impact on the energy sector
The second most affected sector was Electricity, Gas and Water, which had a contraction in activity of 11.8% year-on-year in the second quarter, also linked to the effects of the drought, in this case for the water crisis, which harmed hydroelectric power generation.
In this sense, the Chamber of Commerce and Services indicated in its report that there was an increase in energy imports, mainly from Brazil.
On the other hand, the study specified that the Manufacturing industry fell 1.5% compared to the same period last year, something linked to lower production in the food industries, mainly due to lower activity in the refrigeration industry, partially offset by the dairy industry, and the manufacture of cellulose pulp following the start-up of the new plant UPM.
Meanwhile, there was a more pronounced decrease of around 6.6% in Constructiondue to a decrease in the construction of buildings and other constructions, both related to the third pulp mill and the works of the Central Railway.
The sectors that improved their numbers
Finally, among the sectors that performed best in the second quarter of 2023, there appears Transportation and storage, Information and Communications, with an interannual increase of 2.5%. In any case, it implies a slowdown compared to the record at the beginning of the year, when it had grown 7.7%.
The Ccsuy indicated that this phenomenon is explained by a greater production of Information and Communications, both in terms of information technology services and telecommunications services.
On the contrary, Transportation and Storage They had a negative behavior when compared to the second quarter of 2022, explained by a drop in cargo transportation that could not be offset by greater passenger transportation.
At the same time, Professional activities and Leasing was another of the sectors on the rise, with a rise of 3.5%, fundamentally associated with an increase in the added value of administrative activities and support services.
Source: Ambito
