São Paulo – Brazilian vehicle production fell by 10% in January compared with the same month of last year. According to data published this Wednesday (6) by the Brazilian National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (ANFAVEA, acronym in Portuguese), 196,000 units were produced last month over 218,700 in January of last year. Domestic sales, however, grew by 10.2% in the same comparison, reaching 199,800 units.
The decreased production was caused by exports. “Our expectations were at odds with exports. The numbers were not good, we shipped only 25,000 vehicles. It is a number below the one we’d like to see,” said ANFAVEA president Antonio Megale. The number of shipped vehicles is 46% lower than the one registered in January last year.
In figures, there was a 29.1% drop in exports in the same comparison, down to USD 712 million. Argentina is the main market for the Brazilian automotive industry and that country’s economy is still in crisis. “We are monitoring the Argentine market, which is our main market, and they are still struggling. So, we are going to spend the next few months still down on exports. We expect that things start to change by the middle of year,” declared Megale.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
