The local automotive industry achieved in 2022 a production of almost 540,000 vehicles, with which it has regained a rhythm that it had lost eight years ago. However, this increase in volume was not enough to compensate for the unstable situation of the companies that make up this value chain, which depend on daily imports of inputs and spare parts to function.
In early February, both car terminals regrouped ADEFAsuch as the auto parts companies that make up the room AFAC extension They sent a note to the head of the Central Bank, Miguel Fishin which they demanded that the monetary authority make them more flexible access to the foreign exchange market be able to afford capital goods and spare parts.
The claim was no longer focused on improving deadlines for importing inputs (which the BCRA it was postponed to 180 days since March of last year) but to be able to specify the multi-million dollar investment What automakers and their suppliers need to do for the rollout new models convey.
According to ADEFA and AFAC, with the new SIRA import system, the Government has managed not only to block the daily operations, but also the investments that the local automotive industry is able to obtain, in droppersfrom their parent companies.
This year the only new model of local production that will be launched is the new Ford Rangerwith an investment of 580 million dollars.
In that context of obstacles to production, paying external suppliers or sending dividends to parent companies In the case of multinationals, that of one of the auto parts companies that supply local terminals emerged on Friday will draw down the curtains at the end of the month.
as revealed Financial spherepipe manufacturer EN Automotivewith an establishment in the city of Victoria, has informed its suppliers and customers that it will stop producing on February 28th AND On April 30, it will completely cease activity.
The company, in its note, says that the decision was taken by the British parent company TI Fluid Systems, “recital the dire economic situation we are going through”.
The company has not issued any external communications about its situation, but has sent an internal memo to suppliers and customers. The truth is that just a few months earlier, in Spain, the Iberian branch of TI Fluid Systems went in search of 60 new workers to add to its 500-employee plant.
In Argentina, the course would be the opposite: if the information is confirmed, it is the first closure of a local auto parts manufacturer after the pandemic.
During the quarantine and the following months they were there three closures of auto parts companies joining the roster of 50 auto parts companies that went out of business in the country over the past 10 years.
But after the pandemic, the local industry gained momentum, despite the growing difficulties in accessing the foreign exchange market. 540,000 vehicles were produced, with a strong demand from abroad (322,000 were exported) and during 2022 there were no closures between autoparts. That of TI Automotive would be the first case that cut that strip.
Another company, a supplier of rubber compounds (whose name was withheld), informed its customers that the prices of the imported raw material would be calculated on the basis of the dollar rate. “contacted with liquid”.
In the note, which was circulated among customers of the company based in General Hivear (a neighbor of Rosario and automaker General Motors), the company apologized for the change in payment terms and said it was trying to accommodate “the limited possibilities we have to continue to provide with little or no clear horizon.
Context is context every time more blocked to obtain imported spare parts and supplies. The note from AFAC and ADEFA addressed to the Central Bank details it, underlining the new difficulties associated with the modification of the import authorization system, of which IF MY current SIRA.
“The new system no longer provides for advance payments, which generates serious difficulties for companies in the automotive value chain; especially with regard to the payment of imports capital goods and their spare parts“, says the note, signed by Fernando Rodríguez Canedo (ADEFA) e John Cantarelli (AFAC).
Capital goods, the managers explained, cannot be included because now the Central Bank “makes it impossible to pay the advances required at each stage of processing (of these machines), an essential condition for advancing with the subsequent investment stages”. .
As for the import of spare parts for these machines, they added with SIRA “the situation is even more critical“, since most of the foreign suppliers require the advance payment of 100% of the spare part value, “which is totally limited and makes essential maintenance and repair impossible (…) and greatly increases the risk of production stoppages and shortages“.
Source: Clarin
