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3 12.3 to 12.8.2018 At a press conference held on Thursday, 6, the president Antonio Megale acknowledged that the entity made a mistake: “Orders from our main trading partner, Argentina, have been dramatically reduced in recent months. Almost all the drop is due to the performance of the market there, responsible for 70% of our foreign sales”. In November, shipments were 53% lower than in the same month last year: 34 thousand 400 vehicles were sent to other markets, compared to 73 thousand a year earlier - in relation to October and its 38 thousand 700 units, decrease of 11.3%. In the accumulated of the year, exports totaled 597.4 thousand units, down 15.3% compared to the same period in 2017. “Our last projection was 700 thousand exported vehicles. But we should close the year with just over 600 thousand vehicles, maybe something close to 650 thousand units.” Megale said he did not expect resumption from the Argentine market before the end of the first half of 2019. Meanwhile the industry is seeking new markets to expand its presence, in addition to the traditional ones in South America: “We have sent a volume of around 5 thousand trucks to the Russian market recently. We are making efforts to win contracts in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East region”. Regarding value, the balance of exports also remains in the red from January until November: decrease of 5.2%, to US$ 13.8 billion. For Megale, it is an expressive value, despite the decrease compared to 2017. In November, the industry earned US$ 957.1 million from exports, a decrease of 32.8% compared to November last year and 1.4% below October’s results.