White line production resumes to pre-crisis level
O Estado de S. Paulo
Large manufacturers of refrigerators, stoves and washing machines, products that benefited from the cut in the Excise Tax (IPI), say they have already resumed, in May, the pre-crisis levels of production. Some have even started hiring temporary workers again in order to meet the increase of the sales. Whirlpool, owner of the Brastemp and Consul brands, for example, hired 300 temporary workers in May for the plants of Joinville (SC) and Rio Claro (SP), which produce refrigerators, washing machines and stoves. Besides that, it transferred 140 employees of Embraco, unit of the group that produces compressors, to the plants that produce electric households.
At the rival Mabe, owner of the GE and Dako brands, which had even given its employees blanket vacations in order to decrease the production, the movement was similar. Patricio Mendizábal, the company CEO, tells the production of washing machines increased 25%, in refrigerators the increase achieved 15% and, in stoves, 10%. Also, Esmaltec Eletrodomésticos, headquartered in Fortaleza (CE), is currently already producing at the pre-crisis level, tells the superintendent, Annete de Castro. She tells the production of stoves, refrigerators and washing machines increased from 7% to 10%, after the cut in the IPI.
For Lourival Kiçula, president of Eletros, association that gathers the producers of the sector, after the IPI cut, from April to May, there was an increase from 20% to 25% in the amounts sold in the industry for the retail. He believes that, if the benefit, which is expected to end in July, is maintained, it is possible to repeat this year the volume of sales of 2008.