FILE PHOTO: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles assembly workers build a 2020 Argo model, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Assembly Plant in Betim near Belo Horizonte, Brazil, May 20, 2020. REUTERS/Washington Alves/File Photo
December 7, 2020
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazilian automobile production plateaued in November, rising just 0.7% from October after several months of higher growth, as the head of automakers association Anfavea warned that shortages for crucial parts could lead to production issues in December.
“There is a high risk of disruptions,” Anfavea President Luiz Carlos Moraes told reporters at a monthly news conference. “We are having problems with steel, rubber, thermoplastics, tires.”
Industries across Brazil have experienced problems with their supply chains in recent months amid pandemic disruptions that have also affected the flow of trade.
Moraes added that one of the causes for parts shortages had been second-wave coronavirus closures in Europe. At the same time, coronavirus cases are also rising in Brazil but not at the same high rate.
“It is an immediate risk,” he added, referring to potential factory stoppages.
Overall auto production in November rose to 238,200 units, Anfavea said.
Auto sales grew by 4.6% to 225,010 units compared with the prior month.
(Reporting by Alberto Alerigi and Marcelo RochabrunEditing by Brad Haynes and Jonathan Oatis)
