MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's SME industry records new interannual fall in February

CAME is also taking center stage in Argentine politics

Argentina's small- and medium-sized manufacturing industry fell 9.9% last month compared to February last year at constant prices, the Argentine Confederation of Medium-sized Companies (CAME) said in a report released over the weekend. It was the third straight month downwards despite a slowdown from December's 27% and January's 30%, the survey also showed.

The Industrial Production Index for SMEs (IPIP) showed that companies operated in February at 70.9% of their capacity, maintaining the January levels (70.8%).

“Although 32.7% of the industries continue to report problems for the replacement of stock, these difficulties are of a much smaller scale than in previous months,” CAME's study also noted. “What was most worrying in February were the cost increases, especially in services and fuels,” it went on. “The industries consulted expressed the difficulties involved in transferring these increases to prices in the current context,” the Chamber added.

Regarding the Government's authorization to import basic food basket products to bring down retail prices, CAME warned that “there is uncertainty about the impact that the opening of imports could have on some sectors.”

Five of the six manufacturing sectors of the SME segment surveyed had dropped in the annual comparison, but the most affected were “Paper and Printing” (-24.6%) and “Chemicals and Plastics” (-23.1%).

CAME is also taking center stage in Argentine politics since the Chamber leaders are scheduled to meet with all Patagonian Governors in Buenos Aires on Mondy to draft a productive understanding.

Ignacio Torres (Chubut), Gustavo Melella (Tierra del Fuego), Claudio Vidal (Santa Cruz), Alberto Weretilneck (Río Negro), Rolando Figueroa (Neuqén), and Sergio Ziliotto (La Pampa) will participate in the meeting together with the Patagonian Council for Economic Development at the CAME headquarters.

The Patagonian governors are convening again after their gathering earlier this month in Puerto Madryn to demand from President Javier Milei a new federal co-participation scheme given the tightening measures adopted by the Libertarian administration. On that occasion, they said they were willing to reach agreements “as long as they are not imposed or preceded by conditionalities.” These remarks were targetting Milei's proposed May Pact.