The fall of the SME industry continues: it falls by 11.9% annually in March and they demand measures

The activity of the SME manufacturing sector experienced a new setback, with an annual fall of 11.9% in March, according to the survey by the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME). This figure is in addition to a cumulative drop of 19.1% in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2023.The SME Industrial Production Index (IPIP) indicates that the companies surveyed operated in March with 70% of their installed capacity, showing a decrease of 0.8 percentage points compared to February. The most affected items were “Paper and Printing” (-27.4%) and “Chemicals and Plastics” (-20.7%), while “Textiles and Clothing” was the only one to increase (+10.9%). CAME warns about the critical situation of the sector, pointing out that “it is the fourth consecutive month that factory activity has declined” and that “SMEs do not see a floor in the short term”. In addition, they highlight concerns about high stock levels in some sectors, which could lead to the need to reduce production or staffing. Regarding the ability of industries to replenish stocks, 25.3% of the companies surveyed indicated that they are still facing difficulties. The implementation of measures to reverse this trend is also expected and, according to the union-business entity, they intend for the Government to take actions to boost manufacturing activity and support SMEs in this challenging context.

Original source in Spanish