Industrial production
Industry grows 0.9% in January, best result for the month since 2017
March 10, 2020 09h00 AM | Last Updated: March 10, 2020 10h09 AM
Brazilian industrial production grew 0.9% in January, compared to December, according to the Monthly Survey of Industry, released today (10) by the IBGE. The result interrupted two months of negative rates and is the best January since 2017, when it stood at 1.1%. In comparison with January last year, the sector had a drop of 0.9%, with a decrease of 1% in the cumulative index of the last 12 months.
In comparison with December, 17 of the 26 industrial sectors surveyed and three of the four major economic categories showed positive rates in January. “This has not happened since April last year. The positive results were concentrated in a few areas of the industry for eight consecutive months in 2019 ”, highlights the survey manager, André Macedo.
The main positive influences came from machinery and equipment (11.5%), motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (4.0%), basic metals (6.1%) and food products (1.6%), after the registered decreases in December. Coke, petroleum products and biofuels (2.3%) increased for the third consecutive month.
Among the eight sectors that reduced production in January, the most important performances for the global average were recorded by printing and reproduction of recorded media (-54.7%) and mining and quarrying industries (-3.1%), which had the fifth consecutive month of drops in production and has accumulated a loss of 8.9% since then.
Among the major economic categories, Mr. Macedo notes that capital goods (12.6%) and durable consumer goods (3.7%) grew above the average in January with the resumption of production in the vehicle industries after the period of collective vacation.
“As a result, capital goods interrupted the negative results since May 2019, a period in which it accumulated a reduction of 14.8%. January's result was the sharpest advance since June 2018 (23%). The advance in durable consumer goods partially offset the 6.8% cumulative loss in the last two months of 2019 ”, added the survey manager.
Also according to the survey, intermediate goods (0.8%) also registered a positive rate in January. On the other hand, the sector producing semi and non-durable consumer goods had a negative change of 0.1% and marked the third consecutive month of production decrease, accumulating a drop of 2.2% in this period.
