09/24/2020 - 9:50
Clarín.com
Economy
The president of Industriales Pymes Argentinos (IPA), Daniel Rosato, warned of increases in the prices of raw materials in sensitive sectors for national production that are
between 10% and 50% in dollars due
to the shortage of inputs derived from the circular economy as well as the fall in supply for its worldwide import, and stressed that the entity is "working to find joint solutions with the Government."
"The economic crisis that unleashed the pandemic had an alarming impact on the prices of national production, which faces
strong remarks that are impossible to transfer to the final product
, and puts the continuity of many Argentine SME factories at risk," said Rosato .
The leader spoke of both a supply-demand crisis in the local market and situations of speculation on the part of large companies with monopoly control of the market.
“In the plastic category, there was a lack of supplies that triggered the increase in prices throughout the chain, and that
affects the products that reach the shelf
.
For example,
nationally manufactured polypropylene
suffered a 30% reduction in supply due to the fact that the only producer faces a
lack of supply from the oil companies
, which carried out technical shutdowns for maintenance two months ago, "he said.
The shortage produced a double effect: the value of the polypropylene input increased 10%, and even so, there are clients who are experiencing shortages.
More serious is the increase in imported raw material in the absence of local primary producers, such as the case of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which is used for the automotive industry, electrical materials, and household appliances, among others.
“
There is a shortage worldwide,
which generated a strong price increase of the order of 50% in dollars.
And in Mercosur there is no plant that manufactures it, but it comes from the United States, Asia, Europe and Mexico, ”said Rosato.
The Minister of Production, Matías Kulfas, manages the area that deals with industries.
Photo Luciano Thieberger.
The plastic item faces other complications in the rest of the raw materials not manufactured in Argentina, such as
nylon, polycarbonate, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polystyrene (PS) and expanded polystyrene (tergopol).
In these last two cases there is local manufacturing, but without the possibility of covering the market.
“These raw materials all come from maritime import.
During these three months there were many delays because with the high demand for supplies from the United States, Europe and Asia, we cannot get ships for Latin America, and also the freight had a very strong price increase.
This causes a lack of inputs, and consequently an increase in prices due to the pressure of demand, which varies between 10% and 50%, ”Rosato warned.
In the case of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the IPA indicated that "
the supply fell between 30% and 35%
, due to the fact that due to the pandemic there was a reduction in the collection for recycling", but the fall in the consumption of plastic sodas that had started in the economic crisis of recent years.
"The price increase, since the beginning of the pandemic, is approximately 30% in raw materials.
To this is added that due to the lack of virgin plastic material, recovered materials, such as recovered polypropylene, begin to lack, which pushes to an increase in value due to the shortage.
We have a serious problem with the circular economy, ”said Rosato.
In the area of steel, IPA partners detailed that since the beginning of the sanitary quarantine they registered an "inexplicable increase in prices of products derived from steel, which reach
up to 25% in dollars for galvanized sheet",
and also maintained that verified an "inexplicable shortage in the market of materials derived from steel."
“Profiles, like hot rolled sheet, are usually priced well above 50% compared to international prices.
It is inconceivable because the importation of finished structures is allowed, while the importation of profiles and hot-rolled sheet metal is prohibited in order to transform it in the country, ”said Rosato, who also warned that in“ iron in sheets and bars, from the beginning of the pandemic suffered a 28% increase in dollars ”.
The SME factories of essential products did not escape the input crisis either, because although there is a "correct" supply from the mills, there was an increase of the order of 20% in the raw material, as in the case of the packaging, within the framework of the frozen price program to avoid inflation in the gondolas.
NE
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