09/14/2020 - 16:40
Clarín.com
Economy
The quarantine aggravated a trend that had already come before:
there is a continuous departure of companies from the country
.
From aviation to auto parts, local subsidiaries of foreign companies give up on the Argentine market.
In the same situation as
Falabella,
which has already announced the search for a partner to lower its exposure in Argentina, is
Walmart.
The difference is that the hyper has not closed establishments.
In total and so far this year there are at least ten cases.
One of the first to announce that it will leave the country was
Latam, the Chilean airline that is closing the local operation.
It meant the start of the departure of several airlines, such as
Emirates and Air New Zealand.
In the cabotage market, the Norwegian
Norwegian
had already ceded its positions to Jetsmart.
And there are doubts about the continuity of Flybondi due to the problems at the El Palomar Airport.
Telefónica de España
announced that it will divest of some business units in Latin America, including
those it has in Argentina
.
The American
Nike
will also hand over to local firms the development of the brand in the country.
Within the fashion labels
, Wrangler and Lee
are others who announced their retirement.
The German
car
paint
manufacturer
Basf is
not escaping the situation.
It moves its local production to Brazil, where it finds a larger and more established market.
Axalta, from the United States,
dedicated to the same area of the automotive market, began the exit process.
Walmart is looking for a strategic partner.
The French
Saint-Gobain, an auto parts company,
is another in the same process: it closed its Campana plant, with more than 150 workers who were laid off.
Brazilian firms were evaluating following a similar path, but the Government of his country asked him to
reconsider
, after some management of the Argentine Foreign Ministry.
The reasons for the departures are dissimilar.
Some say
their local business was down,
they were losing money, or they don't have attractive margins to continue.
In the commercial aviation market, all airlines are hit hard, but the official decision seems to be aimed at
favoring Aerolineas, to the detriment of the other firms
that operate cabotage.
The records of passengers transported by plane in recent years seem unrepeatable, even when the pandemic passes.
In private, they often express other complaints.
The problems to access the exchange market is one of the most mentioned.
The exchange restriction complicates firms that depend on imports to carry out their production processes.
BASF plant in Tortuguitas, where the production of paints and repainting for cars, the distribution center and the color laboratories operate.
There are also the
constant changes of local rules of the game.
From the exchange rate to the tax - new increases in the income tax paid by the companies are being analyzed - through the political framework.
The announced expropriation of Vicentin
-which did not materialize- got scared in international markets.
The telecommunications sector, which is usually one of the most dynamic and requires permanent investment to avoid becoming outdated, is regulated by a decree that threatens to turn it into a public service.
"In most markets, governments are seeing
how they help companies to sustain employment and not to fall,
" details the executive of a multinational that is on the way out.
And he compares: "In Argentina, there was assistance in the payment of salaries, but the general rules of the game
are very changeable, unstable
. From the exchange rate to regulations and taxes. You have to be an investor who looks at the very long term. ".