Footwear factory reopens in Chivilcoy to produce NEW BALANCE and JOMA
Officials from the Ministry of Productive Development of Argentina received at the end of March businessmen from the JMC GROUP -representative of international brands- and from BICONTINENTAR FOOTWEAR TECHNOLOGIES, owners of the former PAQUETÁ footwear factory in the city of Chivilcoy, who announced the reopening of the plant that had closed its doors in 2018. Starting in May, the company will once again produce sneakers for the NEW BALANCE and JOMA firms, and will hire 200 people to start up the first four production lines.
The Minister of Productive Development, Matías Kulfas, celebrated the news and assured: “This is the result of having recovered industrial policy in Argentina. While during the previous government the companies closed, now we can announce that they are reopening their doors, to give work, and to produce both for the domestic market and for export”.
The Secretary of Industry, Knowledge Economy and External Commercial Management, Ariel Schale, received Jorge Coral, representative of JMC Group, and Juan Recce, of Bicontinentar, to coordinate the joint work in the reopening of the historic footwear plant. The businessmen announced the reopening of the factory for the first days of May, which in its initial phase foresees the incorporation of 200 jobs and reaching a production of 300 thousand pairs of footwear for the second half of this year.
"The reopening of this plant was an objective of the industrial policy of the national government and is a very important first step to recover the jobs and production lost during the previous government", said Secretary Schale.
The Chivilcoy plant had been inaugurated in 2007 by former president Néstor Kirchner but in 2018 it was forced to stop manufacturing and close, given the considerable decrease in the domestic consumption of these products.
At the end of 2020 BICONTINENTAR/FT, acquired the PERCHET ARGENTINA factory, a subsidiary of the Brazilian PAQUETÁ, and after closing the manufacturing agreement with JMC GROUP, it will resume the production of sports footwear at the Chivilcoy plant for the aforementioned international firms. On the other hand, both companies continue in negotiations with other international firms to expand production in the country.
On the other hand, the president of BICONTINENTAR/FT, Juan Recce, in statements to the Chivilcoy press, confirmed the return by the government of the province of Buenos Aires to the company, of 24 million pesos -approx. US $ 240 thousand- in concept of taxes withheld for investment in working capital.
“We are very grateful to all the people who have helped us, and for the recovery of taxes that the Province had withheld and made us a refund. It is very interesting how public policies are being aligned with private efforts”, said the businessman.
After reporting on personnel hiring plans and production projections based on internal and external demand, he referred to the possible indirect job creation, related to the use of materials and components produced in the country.
“This depends on the type of footwear we manufacture and the needs of each client. There are probably products that we can produce with local supplies and others that we cannot. We have the aspiration to use local components, to generate income, work, competitiveness, investments and new suppliers to form a virtuous circle in the long term”.
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