The utilization of the installed capacity of the industry was 66.7% in September, almost six percentage points more than the 60.8% registered in the same month last year, reported the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec).
Compared to last August, the use of installed capacity also reflected an improvement in September, marking a recovery of 2.3 percentage points compared to 64.4% the previous month.
66.7% is the maximum level for a month of September since the beginning of the series in 2016, and just 2.5 percentage points below the maximum of the series, of 69.2% registered in November 2017, highlighted sources from the Ministry of Economy.
With the improvement in September, the use of installed capacity in the industry accumulated seven consecutive increases.
The sector blocks that present levels of utilization of installed capacity higher than the general average of 66.7% corresponded to Basic metal industries, 83.8%; Non-metallic minerals, 79.1%; Paper and cardboard, 78.5%; Oil refining, 75.8%; and Food and beverages, 68.5%.
The sectoral blocks that were below the general level were Tobacco products, 66.1%; Chemical substances and products, 64.9%; Textiles, 60.6%; Edition and printing, 60.1%; Rubber and plastic, 60%; automotive industry, 55%; and Metalworking, 53.6%.
In this last segment, the increase in the use of installed capacity was mainly related to the year-on-year increase in the manufacture of agricultural machinery.
#DatoINDEC
The industry used 66.7% of its installed capacity during September 2021 https://t.co/a5bTTnO5lipic.twitter.com/aK1AvNMHaz– INDEC Argentina (@INDECArgentina) November 17, 2021
In the case of oil refining, naphtha production showed a year-on-year increase of 41.9% in September, and diesel production 27%.
The September increase in the use of installed capacity was consistent with the 10.1% rise in the level of industry activity in the same month in the inter-annual measurement..
This rise in the UCII was consistent with the 10.1% rise in year-on-year activity during September and 1.1% compared to August.
After the dissemination of the Indec data, the Minister of Productive Development, Matías Kulfas, said that “this was the best September in four years, with a growth in industrial activity of 14.3% compared to 2019 and 8.6% against September 2018 and where 15 of 16 sectors grew between September 2021 and September 2019 “.
The minister highlighted, through his account on the social network Twitter, that “although the industrial performance was positive in most sectors, the case of machinery and equipment stands out particularly, an investment thermometer, with an extraordinary rise of 66.2% against September 2019 “.
Kulfas explained that “within the machinery and equipment segment, agricultural machinery stands out particularly where 2021 is being the best year so far in the 21st century with the production of tractors that is heading to be the highest since 1986, and that of harvesters the best since 2012 and where both a sustained demand for agriculture, accessible credits and import substitution have an impact “.
