São Paulo – The auto industry should expand its daily average production of vehicles from 8,900 units in January to 10,800 in February. With regard to sales of new national and imported vehicles, the daily average should be 9,800, as against 9,400 in January.
These figures were presented yesterday (9) by the president of the National Association of Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea), Jackson Schneider. He, however, said that, different from previous years, the sector is not presenting projections it traditionally discloses each year because "there is market volatility and lack of equilibrium on the dollar exchange rates, which may affect exports, as well as lack of understanding of the repercussion of the measures promoted by the North American government."
Notwithstanding, Schneider believes that there is space for carmakers installed in Brazil to grow. "I have no doubt that the conditions of the Brazilian macroeconomy allow for the country to tide the crisis better than the rest of the world, in the automotive sector," he said.
Regarding the expressive growth when comparing production in January to December, 92.7%, the executive admitted that it was the reflex of the stimulus measures adopted by the Brazilian government in late December, for evaluation purposes, with reduction of the Industrialized Product Tax (IPI) and the Tax on Financial Operations (IOF), which allowed for reduction of the price of cars and for greater offer of credit.
The president at Anfavea emphasized that the growth does not show recovery. It is simply expansion over a very weak period, in December, when many factories had given their employees leave due to the low demand caused by the worsening of the international financial crisis, in September.
In January, production reached 186,124 vehicles, against 96,586, in December. The volume is 27.1% lower than in January 2008, when the assembly lines put out 255,228 units. Sales, in turn, rose 1.5%, reaching 197,454 units, including national and imported vehicles.
With regard to exports, in terms of financial volume, they dropped 50.5%, to US$ 428.3 million in January, against US$ 865.3 million in December. Over January 2008, when foreign sales reached US$ 1.023 billion, there was a reduction of 58.2%.
When asked about the greater participation of imported vehicles in the domestic market, which reached its greatest level since 2007, the Anfavea president said that the sector has a natural movement of purchases and sales with its trade partners, like Argentina and Mexico, but that companies are being very careful with the movement of the globalised market. In January, participation of imported vehicles in the Brazilian market was 19.6%, whereas in December it was 16%. In January last year, participation was smaller, at 13.9%.
According to Anfavea figures, when adding the units that are not being sold in the United States and Europe, there are around 13 million vehicles waiting to be put on the market. He informed that the industry does not yet plan to ask the government to extend the tax breaks.
*Translated by Mark Ament
