The latest survey conducted by the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (Cuti) among its member companies, corresponding to 2015, reflected a stagnation of exports compared to the previous year, reaching US$ 277 million, while sales in the domestic market recorded an increase of 8.95% with sales of US$ 791 million, led by the IT Infrastructure and IT Services sectors.
This increase, which takes place in an international and regional economic scenario marked by uncertainty and low growth, allowed the total turnover of the Information Technology (ICT) sector to reach US$ 1,069 million, an amount 6.48% higher than in the same period of 2014.
"The growth of the domestic market allowed us to improve turnover in 2015. However, we are concerned about the stagnation of exports in 2017, due to the sharp drop in Brazil since 2015 and the uncertainties generated in our main customer, the United States," said Leonardo Loureiro, Vice President of Global Markets at Cuti.
The United States is the main export destination (40.7%), followed by Argentina (6.4%), Spain (6.1%), Colombia (5.6%) and Chile (5.4%). In terms of physical presence in other markets, 23% of Cuti's members reported that they are also present abroad, mainly in countries such as Argentina, the United States, Colombia and Chile. 12% have a direct presence and 14% are present indirectly.
Foreign sales from foreign branches reached US$ 66 million in 2015, an increase of 30% over 2014, while exports from Uruguay fell by 7% in 2015. However, exports have developed significant growth from a medium-term perspective, with an annual growth rate over the last five years of 3.5%.
The main overseas customer of Cuti's partner companies was the private business sector, accounting for almost 80% of exports in 2015. In particular, 46% of sales went to large companies, while 30% went to micro, small or medium-sized enterprises. Financial institutions account for 13% of exports and the public sector for 6%. At the level of local sales, the private sector also leads in purchases, absorbing 60% of them, but the weight of public companies is greater, with 28% of purchases.
In terms of sectors of activity, the financial sector stands out as the main sector with which companies traded last year, both locally and abroad. In second place is the ICT sector itself, suggesting the existence of significant intra-sector trade. In third and fourth place for exports are the logistics and industrial sectors respectively, and in the local market the industrial and retail sectors.
In the overall analysis by business segment, "IT Infrastructure" recorded the highest turnover with almost 40% of the total, followed by "IT Services" only 10 points behind. However, if Antel's sales are excluded, "IT Services" has the highest turnover.
The sector, according to Cuti's measurement, generates almost 12,000 jobs, with very low turnover rates. At the segment level, "IT Services" employs the most people with approximately 4,500 jobs, followed by "IT Infrastructure" with just over 3,000 jobs.
Female employment represents 32%, an increase of 2% compared to the last survey. The Chamber carries out activities that encourage the participation of women in the sector and that have helped to generate a trend towards the reduction of the gender gap.
In terms of age, 63% of jobs in the sector are held by people under 35 years of age and only 7% are over 50 years of age. Young people are concentrated in specialist, assistant and administrative positions, while the positions with the highest proportion of people over 50 years of age are in management, commercial and service staff positions.
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