Several Argentine companies have changed their business model as they start to import the products they used to manufacture, a report by the Institute for Public Policy and Thought (IPyPP) said. 

The investigation found that the shift in strategy implies mass layoffs and the sale of imported goods in Argentina “well above their import costs.”

According to the report, the shift is seen across several sectors — “kitchenware, automobiles, household appliances, footwear, furniture, cell phones, food, and personal care products.” 

“In all the cases examined, the same trend emerges: increased imports of finished goods, decreased local production, and a decline in industrial employment,” the report added.

Less industrial production

According to the IPyPP report, three umbrella policies, implemented since Javier Milei took office in December 2023, pushed companies to shift their strategies: tariff liberalization, currency appreciation, and contraction of the local market due to falling wages.

According to INDEC, the government’s statistics institute, manufacturing industrial........

© Buenos Aires Herald