Sergio Karin is Massey Ferguson’s sales director for Latin America. He has a degree in International Trade and Business Administration and has more than 25 years of experience in the automotive sales industry.
-Comes from the automotive sector. Are there differences with the agricultural machinery sector?
-Yes. One benefit of farming is loyalty. In agriculture, regardless of the brand, loyalty is much more respected, trust is generated over time, where relationships are somehow built.
-What is Massey Ferguson’s goal?
-We are recovering the market. We have production in Argentina and in a certain sense that production was insufficient for the volumes of the last two or three years because beyond the activity itself, it was a protection for the capital, the machinery was purchased to have the capital insured and now it isn’t anymore. We really have a lot of work to do to catch up. The opening of imports generates a great competitive advantage for us thanks to greater flexibility and not depending exclusively on local production.
The launch we made at Expoagro of the new low consumption products is produced in Brazil. One of the two tractors will soon be produced in Argentina.
-How much do the three of us want to grow this year or in the next two?
-Massey Ferguson is not a brand that goes below 20% in tractors and this is our objective, even in combine harvesters there is ground to make up. We are at a 5% quota due to import restrictions. Now it gives us back the competitiveness necessary to operate with a slightly broader mix.
-With this situation, do you foresee new investments in the General Rodríguez plant?
-The issue in Argentina is inexplicable. It always requires special attention. We can never get along just yet. Every company always thinks about investments, we have a global plan which, depending on what happens on the market, makes more or less investments. In Argentina we work with daily work and short-term planning. Always for context. Hopefully we have more predictability so it can be planned.
-How did the year start for the brand?
-We started very well, we are above the volumes we estimate for January and February. Now, in March, with ExpoAgro, pushed there by the dealer networks, we should have a good first quarter, which is indeed fundamental for the composition of the year’s results. We have been very strong since January with a product on very good commercial terms, with a very strong alliance with Agco Finance, which is our bank.
-How do you see the new Government?
We are on the right track when we talk about impacts. Opening up imports was a good decision. The industry still expects more support in relation to withholdings, I think this needs to be reviewed. We will still have a very tough first half of the year, even if we have favorable weather conditions, but I believe that on a structural level things are moving. The changes, in some ways, the decisions have not yet been directly on the field, but I think this will happen.
Source: Clarin
