Regional industry
Chemicals lead to a reduced output of industry in Bahia
May 09, 2018 09h00 AM | Last Updated: June 05, 2018 10h40 AM
As a result of the reduced output of chemicals, petroleum products and fuels, industry in the state of Bahia declined 4.7% in March, against February results, and 5.3% against March 2017. These were the main decreases among the 15 areas covered by the Monthly Survey of Industry - Regional Output, released today by the IBGE.
Consequently, industry in Bahia recorded an increase of 0.9% in the year and of 0.3% in the last 12 months, being below the national averagr in the same period, 3.1% and 2.9%, respectively. Bernardo Almeida, reasearcher from the IBGE, considers these figures are related to the period between harvests, which marked by a reduced demand for intermediate goods.
“Industry has faced a difficult situation because of the low demand for chemicals in our state, mainly in the case of inorganic products and intermediate goods for the manufacture of fertilizers. In addition to that, the so-called calendar was also influential, since March this year had two business days less than March 2017”.
Against February 2018, there were decreases in: Rio de Janeiro (-3.7%), Northeast Region (-3.6%), Santa Catarina (-1.2%); Rio Grande do Sul (-0.9%); Paraná (-0.9%); Minas Gerais (-0.5%); and Ceará (-0.2%).
Pará has highest cumulative result in 12 months
As a consequence of the good performance of mining and quarrying industry, Pará recorded the highest increase in the month, 9.0% against February and 10.1% agains March 2017. The state also had the highest cumulative result in the last 12 months, with 10.1%.
São Paulo, which has the biggest industrial park in the country, recorded an increase of 2.0% in March versus February and of 4.0% versus March 2017, being above the average in the two periods, which had indexes of -0.1% and 1.3%, respectively.
“São Paulo, as industry as a whole, had a long and gradual increase, but it is not yet possible to speak of a recovery, because it is still far from the historic level of 2013”, says the researcher.
