Supply shortages, pandemic cause heavy drops in new car production and sales in February

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The crisis and supply shortages in the industry had a negative impact on domestic car sales in February. According to data released on Friday by automobile manufacturers’ trade association ANFAVEA, the market for cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks and buses fell 16.7% in February to 167,400 vehicles, compared to the same month in 2020.

In the year-to-date, retraction stood at 14.2% in the two-month period compared to last year. A total of 338.500 vehicles were licensed nationwide.

Stocks are still low. With 98,000 units, the industry and dealers have enough vehicles for 18 sales days.

In February, the automotive industry registereda 3.5% drop in production, with 197,000 vehicles. In the year-to-date, however, there was a slight improvement, with an increase of 0.2% to 396,700 units.

When releasing the sector’s performance data for the first two months of the year, ANFAVEA’s chairman Luiz Carlos Moraes, pointed out the shortage of components that is affecting the pace of assembly lines. According to him, in addition to semiconductors, a problem that is impacting the sector worldwide, automakers have faced shortages of other supplies such as plastics, rubber, tires and steel.

Moraes also complained about the pressure on freight costs, maritime and air, as a consequence of the worldwide logistic “disorganization” caused by the pandemic.

Employment level continues to drop in the automotive industry in annual comparisons. Automakers closed February with 104,600 employees, a drop of 2.4% compared to a year ago.

But there was an increase in vacancies when compared to January, mainly driven by the truck industry. There was a 1.2% growth in the sector’s workforce compared to the previous month.

Exports

With 33,100 units, vehicle exports last month registered the lowest volume shipped in the month of February since 2015.

The volume represented a drop of 12.2% in comparison with February 2020. On the other hand, revenue grew by 10.4%, at US$607.9 million. The increase in value is due to the higher volume of truck exports, according to ANFAVEA.

In the year’s accumulated exports totaled 58,100 vehicles, an increase of 0.2% compared to the first two months of 2020. This represented revenue of US$1.06 billion, up 15.9% compared to the same period last year.

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