Buenos Aires, Feb 25 (NA) – Brewery and Malt Quilmes has decided to proceed with a deep staff reduction, initially through voluntary retirements, with the aim of halving the number of employees at the plant opened five years ago in the Buenos Aires city of Zárate. After demanding an investment of 5,000 million pesos to produce the Mexican beer Corona in the country, it will go from a workforce of 260 employees to just 80, while production will be reduced from three daily shifts to just one, the Argentine News Agency could learn. Initially, the factory had 260 employees, but today only 140 remain, who with the new adjustment will be reduced to just 80, which means a 43% reduction in the total workforce – almost half the payroll. The plant's internal commission negotiated with management that, instead of firing, they will seek agreements with those who accept voluntary departure, because the reality is that they will have to adapt to the 45% drop in sales compared to 2025 and the financial problems that the brewing company had been dragging due to the contraction in consumption and the greater opening of imports. Drop in consumption and opening The sector is particularly affected by the drop in consumption as well as by the opening of imports, which in relation to beer in particular increased by 293% in the first quarter of last year according to a report from the Center for Research in Business and Export (CIEN) with data from INDEC. The brewery's announcement comes one week after the tire factory Fate confirmed its total and definitive closure of its tire production plant. The company will cease to produce in the country, which entails the dismissal of its 920 employees. IP Industrialists are concerned that the economic recession and the drop in purchasing power are hitting mass consumption in Argentina head-on.
