PREVIEW-Argentina Feb. industrial output seen up 6.7 pct

* What: Argentina February industry output

* When: Friday, March 19, at 4 p.m. local time (2000 GMT)

* Median view: 6.7 percent year-on-year growth, 4 analysts



FACTORS TO WATCH: Argentina's industrial output is expected to increase 6.7 percent in February from a year earlier, driven by rising car production, a Reuters poll showed.

Estimates from four analysts surveyed by Reuters ranged from 6.0 percent to 10.7 percent growth.

Auto production in Argentina, Latin America's third-largest car maker, doubled in the first two months of the year, said Fausto Spotorno, director at the Buenos Aires-based consultancy Orlando Ferreres and Associates.

'Something similar is happening at the steel industry, which is growing at a 30 percent annualized pace,' he added.

Some two-thirds of cars produced in Argentina are shipped to Brazil, where demand has been growing at a fast pace.

The February forecast for industrial output growth is also expected to be helped because it will be compared with weak data in the same period of 2009, when the global economic crisis slowed production.

Argentina's industrial production rose 5.2 percent in January from a year ago. It had fallen 1.5 percent in February, 2009 in the yearly comparison.



MARKET IMPACT: Industry output will offer further signs of the economy's rebound from a sharp slowdown last year. Analysts say the outlook for production this year is strong, but warn it could be affected by political turbulence and the quickening pace of inflation.

Private economists estimate Argentina's inflation will accelerate to more than 20 percent this year from 15 percent in full-year 2009.



LINKS:

Argentina's bureau of statistics web site: http://www.indec.gov.ar/

For historical Argentine statistical data in Spanish, please see pages through

To see a calendar of Argentine economic indicators please click on or type in ARECI02 on a quote page and press enter.

For separate pages detailing Argentine analysts' economic forecasts, click on:



(Reporting by Walter Bianchi; Writing by Walter Brandimarte; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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