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BUENOS AIRES, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Argentina's industrial output expanded as expected in July from a year ago, driven by recovering food output and a surging automotive industry.
Industrial output rose 2.8 percent in July from the same month a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, slightly above the median forecast of a 2.6 percent expansion in a Reuters poll of ten analysts.
Argentina's economy, the third largest in Latin America, is recovering this year from a sharp slowdown in 2012, supported by a busier construction industry and government spending ahead of midterm elections in October.
Car factories have also driven the strongest industrial growth in two years, although economists say many auto sales are going to families interested in stockpiling material goods as a way of saving. Rampant inflation and tight currency controls have limited other forms of investment available to Argentines.
Auto production was the fastest-growing industrial sector in July, expanding 8.2 percent from a year earlier, followed by a 5.1 percent increase in food output. After a slow start to the year, food producers in the first seven months of the year have nearly matched their output from the same period of 2012.
Industrial output rose 0.3 percent in July from June on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the INDEC national statistics institute. (Reporting by Brad Haynes; Editing by Kenneth Barry)