Industrial activity in March recorded a 7% year-on-year growth

The Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) confirmed that, according to its own surveys, industrial production recorded in March a significant increase of 7% in comparison with the same month of the previous year, although it showed a decrease of 1.5% compared to February.

According to preliminary data from the Center for Economic Studies (CEU), the monthly decline is explained by the fewer working days in March compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, the year-on-year comparison takes as a reference a March 2024 that had been one of the lowest points for the local industry.

Manufacturing activity in March remained in line with the average observed in the last five months, although with differences among the various sectors. According to the CEU, some sectors showed strong dynamism: foreign exchange liquidation from agriculture grew by 25.2% year-on-year, and the registration of industrial machinery showed a notable rebound of 61.2% compared to the same month last year.

Meanwhile, construction also showed signs of recovery. In this context, cement dispatches increased by 17.1% year-on-year, while steel and aluminum production expanded by 37% and 1.9% respectively.

On the other hand, the automotive industry suffered a contraction of 3.7% year-on-year, impacted by both the fewer working days and technical stoppages in factories to modernize processes.

The report from the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) emphasized that the recovery in Argentine manufacturing activity is beginning to be perceived. During March, exports of industrial origin manufactures (MOI) recorded a year-on-year increase of 13.1%, mainly driven by shipments of land transport material.

There was also an increase in imports of intermediate inputs, although in this case, the rise was more moderate, at 6.1% year-on-year. Meanwhile, capital goods showed a considerable expansion of 74.1%. Meanwhile, external purchases from China—the main supplier of imports for Argentina—increased by 86.7% year-on-year, representing 24.7% of the total imported in March.

Regarding manufacturing activity in February, data from Indec reflected a year-on-year increase of 5.6%, thus consolidating the third consecutive month of growth. In the monthly comparison, the level of activity remained practically unchanged compared to January, with a slight advance of 0.5% adjusted for seasonality. According to the CEU, this performance allowed the industry to accumulate a 6.6% improvement in the first two months of the year.

Finally, at a disaggregated level, ten of the sixteen sectors that make up the industrial index showed increases in their production levels.