Uruguay’s industrial production increased 4.8% year over year in August 2026. The expansion was driven chiefly by a 136.1% surge in petroleum refining, which contributed 3.8 percentage points to overall growth. This sharp rise was partly due to a low comparison base, as ANCAP’s refinery was offline for repairs during part of August 2025. Food manufacturing grew 5.4%, adding 2.3 percentage points to overall output, while production of paper and paper products rose 4.4%. In contrast, beverage manufacturing plunged 30.5%, posting the largest negative contribution, followed by computer, electronic and optical products (-90.1%) and chemicals (-5.6%).
The Index of Hours Worked increased 0.3%, whereas the Employment Index declined 0.9%. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, industrial production rose 0.4%. Year to date, industrial output was up 3.3%.
