MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Industrial production up 7.3% in October

Argentina's October industrial output expanded a smaller-than-expected 7.3%, with the automobile and construction sectors continuing to drive growth, the government said on Friday. Local analysts had forecast a 7.9% rise in industrial output.

Industrial production rose 0.4% in October from September, marking a slowdown from the 1.1% expansion seen in September from August.

October's year-on-year growth was also slower than in September, when the growth rate was 7.6%.

"It is still a little premature to talk about worrisome signs or a significant economic slowdown, although it is true that there have been a few figures that were not as positive as expected," said Esteban Fernandez, an economist at MacroVision Consulting in Buenos Aires.

Fernandez noted that September's economic growth figures also came in slightly lower than expected, as did construction activity data from August and September.

Regarding the monthly rises in industrial production, he said: "From January through September, the average growth rate was 0.7%, so 0.4% nearly half that".

Automobile production surged 34.6% in October from a year earlier, but fell 5.4% from September, the Economy Ministry said in a statement.

A similar trend was seen in the production of building materials, which jumped 14.7% but slipped 0.7% in October from September.

Overall industrial output from January through October rose 7.6% from the same period last year, the Economy Ministry said in a statement. Argentine industrial output rose 7.7% in 2005, down from a 10.7% increase in 2004 and a 16.2% rise in 2003 -- benefiting from a sharp currency devaluation in 2002.