The output of the SME manufacturing industry rose 1.2% year-on-year in August in real terms, while registering a 0.5% contraction in the monthly comparison (against July). In the accumulated January-August, it presents a year-on-year increase of 2.6%, according to the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME). In this sense, the use of the installed capacity of the companies in the sample stood at 71.1%, 0.4% below July, with the highest levels in Textile and Clothing (76.9%) and the lowest in Food and Beverages (68.2%). Half of the sectors surveyed increased the use of their facilities in the month, and the other half reduced it. In many cases the fall did not respond to lower demand, but to shortages of inputs.
On the other hand, 66.7% of the sectors surveyed grew in the annual comparison and 50.0% did so in the monthly comparison. The results come from the SME Industrial Production Index (IPIP) prepared by CAME, with observations from 394 industries. Regarding the level of activity, the best performance in August was in two industrial branches: “Chemicals and Plastics” and “Paper, cardboard, publishing and printing”, both with an annual increase of 9%. In Food and Beverage, on the other hand, production rose 2.9% year-on-year and 5.3% monthly.
“The domestic market, despite the price factor, remains firm, but exporting companies indicate that they are having more problems to place their products abroad due to lower international demand. Although the suppliers were normalizing the deliveries, the firms consulted marked that there are shortages and the increases in the amounts of the suppliers continue, “said the entity in its report.
Finally, in Clothing and textiles, there was a decrease of 13% per year and 2.6% per month, due to increases in inputs such as threads, stamps, fabrics, inks, or latex, among others.
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