Argentine manufacturing output rose 1.9% in August from July but remained 3.2% below a year earlier, the national statistics agency INDEC reported on Wednesday.

Construction followed the same pattern. INDEC's construction activity index rose 0.4% from July and fell 4.4% from August 2025. Over January to August, factory output is down 2.7% from the same months of 2025, while construction is up 0.8%. The monthly figures are seasonally adjusted.

Both gains follow steep falls in July, when INDEC's revised figures show manufacturing down 5.1% and construction down 4.4% from June. The factory rebound therefore recovered well under half of what July took away, and INDEC's trend-cycle series, which smooths out month-to-month noise, fell 0.6% for industry and 1.1% for construction.

The year-on-year decline is broad. Eleven of INDEC's 16 manufacturing divisions produced less than a year earlier, led by machinery and equipment (down 24%), with farm machinery down 37.9% on weaker output of tractors, seeders and sprayers, according to INDEC. Clothing, leather and footwear fell 14.7%, and motor vehicles, bodies and parts fell 8.8%.

Economy Minister Luis Caputo highlighted the monthly gain on X, noting that six of the nine categories INDEC uses to break down the industrial index grew from July, and attributed the weak year to date in part to July's "combination of transitory shocks." Diego Coatz, executive director of the consultancy I+D, said 13 of the 16 manufacturing sectors did not recover July's fall.

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En el acumulado de los primeros 8 meses de 2026, la industria tuvo una baja de 2,7%. Este período incluye el mes de julio, donde se dio una combinación de shocks transitorios con un impacto generalizado sobre el nivel de actividad

Translation: "Over the first 8 months of 2026, industry fell 2.7%. This period includes July, when a combination of transitory shocks had a widespread impact on the level of activity."

Luis Caputo @LuisCaputoAR · October 7, 2026

In construction, demand for materials fell from a year earlier in most categories, including asphalt (down 18.4%), cement (down 8.1%) and rebar and construction steel (down 8.1%), INDEC reported. Registered private-sector construction jobs stood at 375,158 in July, 0.3% fewer than a year earlier.

The carmakers' association ADEFA reported on October 5 that vehicle production fell 15.6% in September from a year earlier.