The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) released the September results of the indicator that measures how optimistic or pessimistic companies in the manufacturing industry are and revealed that The business confidence index was -18.9%.
Although this number represents a minor relief when compared to the -20.2% that had been registered in August, The manufacturing sector cannot get out of a negative streak that has been going on since the beginning of last year.
Business Confidence Index
As for what is coming for the last quarter, between October and December 2026, the factory owners are cautious.
67.5% believe that their production levels will remain exactly the same as now. The problem appears among those who do expect changes: 19.3% anticipate that they will produce less, while only 13.2% are betting on an increase. This leaves a negative balance of -6.1% for the end of the year.
The biggest concern of industrialists isn the number of orders they receive. During September, almost half of the factories (48.4%) considered thate the demand of its clients was below normal.
On the other hand, only 3.0% felt that orders exceeded expectations, while the remaining 48.6% saw them as stable.
The demand balance was -45.5% red. Regarding the merchandise accumulated in warehouses, the situation is different. 62.7% of business owners considered that the level of stock they currently have is adequate.
For their part, 21.2% admitted to having more products stored than advisable and 16.0% said they were below what was necessary. This gives a positive balance of 5.2% with regard exclusively to the firms’ inventories.
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Confidence in supermarkets and wholesalers fell to -4.3% in September
The INDEC report, released by NA, also revealedThe results of the business trend survey for supermarkets and wholesale self-services corresponding to September.
The business confidence indicator (ICE) for the sector stood at -4.3%, and marked a break with respect to the previous months of the year where it had approached a neutral position.
The figure reflects a scenario of greater caution and a brake on high expectations. The evaluation that businessmen make about the current commercial situation of their firms showed a markedly adverse net balance of -31.4%. While 57.0% of respondents considered the state of their business to be “normal,” 37.2% rated it as “bad.”
In contrast, Only 5.8% of the managers consulted reported the situation in September as goodwhich showed the difficulties that the sector is going through at the counter.
On the contrary, projections for the next quarter (October-December 2026) show an optimistic bias that cushioned the general fall of the index.
22.1% of wholesale and retail businesses expect that the commercial situation will improve at the end of the year, compared to a mere 5.8% who anticipate that it will worsen.
The vast majority, represented by 72.1%, estimates that The outlook will remain the same compared to today, leaving a positive balance of 16.3%.
Finally, regarding the level of stocks in terms of volume, the September measurement showed a mostly balanced behaviorsince 60.5% of companies stated that their inventories are at levels “normal”.
Source: NA.
Source: www.perfil.com
