Metallurgics are working less than half their capacity, but some sectors begin to recover

However, The sector is working at 47.6% of the installed capacity4.9% less than the previous month, when 52.5% of the maximum possible occurred.

This is what the January 2025 metallurgical activity report affirms that the Association of Metallurgical Industrialists of the Argentine Republic (Adimra).

The increase in the level of activity was due to the fact that In January 2024 there had been a parate in production for the change of governmentdevaluation and adjustment measures implemented. This resulted in 4.4% decrease in metallurgical activity in January and February last year.

After the first cimbronazo, which generated a market retraction and concern among entrepreneurs, the negative trend changed its course towards a rise in July, although it did not maintain the same line along the last semester.

From the metallurgical sector they explain that the contradiction between the increase in the activity of last month of 1.2% compared to December and the decrease in the proportion of available capacity used 4.9% in the same period happened because Many producers sold stock that they had accumulated.

The trend of consumption was also affected by the adjustment, and 2024 closed with a 13.9% decline in mass consumption, which directly impacted production.

Elio del Re, President of Adimra said: “The sectors where we see that There will be a strong decrease will be those that have to do with mass consumption and also the sectors that have to do with public purchaseof course, that’s very bad, next to those linked to construction. In those three sectors we see an important decrease. One part due to the decrease in consumption and an important part of import substitution. ”

According to Adimra, In December, sector exports decreased 0.7% year -on -yearmarking an amount of around US $ 400 million, while imports increased by 31.5% and registered more than US $ 2.1 billion.

The interannual increase in the activity that was reflected last month, of 2.6%, is mainly due to the impulse they gave Agricultural machinery (16.4%) and bodies and trailers (15.3%), strongly impacted the general average.

“The sectors close to agriculture, like Agricultural and Coupled and Semi -Molquesthey show the dynamism of growth, always compared to previous years, where they were very bad for the theme of dry, “said the re.

On the other hand, The foundry sector (-11.9%) continued to be one of the most affected followed by auto parts manufacturers (-7.1%).

In turn, Bodybuildings and trailers It was the only item that had a higher year -on -year growth recorded the previous year. The rest of the sectors could not yet recover from the year -on -year fall of January 2024.

In terms of value chain, the ones that grew the most were The agricultural sector, which marked an interannual increase of 11%, followed by food and drinks, with 5.8%and the miner, with 5.1%.

“Petroleum, gas, mining, energy that can be growing and there we will also have to do what happens with imports and how they will play in that type of machines and equipment,” added the RE.

The only value chain that worsened was Automotive, which fell 3.6% year -on -year.

The report shows that all provinces increased their metallurgical production, among which they stood out Santa Fe, where an interannual increase of 5.4% was recorded, followed by Mendoza, which presented 3.8% and Córdoba, thirdly, with an interannual increase of 3.6%. Buenos Aires and Entre Ríos reached 2.2% and 2.1%, respectively.

For the coming months, 54% of metallurgicals expect an increase in their production, while 21.2% indicated otherwise, according to Adimra.