Regional industry
Industrial production increases in 12 of the 15 places surveyed in May
July 08, 2020 09h00 AM | Last Updated: July 09, 2020 10h09 AM
The Brazilian industrial activity increased in May in 12 of the 15 locations analyzed by the Regional Monthly Survey of Industry, in comparison with April. The result, released today (8) by the IBGE, “a stems from the resumed production in some plants after the suspension of activities due to the pandemic of Covid-19 in March and, mainly, in April", explains survey analyst Bernardo Almeida.
São Paulo, the biggest industrial park of Brazil, rose the national average (7%) by recording increase in the industrial activity 10.6% in May. Paraná (24.1%) and Rio Grande do Sul (13.3%) were the other two places with the greatest influences in the positive national rate. "The sector of vehicles, quite string in São Paulo and om Paraná, played an important role in the increase of May", exemplifies Mr. Almeida, also mentioning the sectors of food and petroleum derivatives as responsible for that index.
Besides Paraná, Pernambuco (20.5%) and Amazonas (17.3%) were the tow other places with the strongest increases. The first two resumed growth after negative results in March and April, when they accumulated decreases of 31.8% and 25.4%, respectively. Amazonas, in turn. interrupted three months of negative rates in a row, with cumulative drop of 53.4%.
In addition to those places, the Northeast Region (12.7%) and Bahia (7.6%) had results bigger than the national average. Minas Gerais (6.3%), Santa Catarina (5.4%), Rio de Janeiro (5.2%), Mato Grosso (4.4%) and Goiás (3%) close the set of places with increase in the industrial activity in May. Just three places presented retreat: Espírito Santo (-7.8%) with the sharpest one, resulting in the third consecutive month of negative results for the state, with a cumulative loss of 30.9% in this period. The other two were Ceará and Pará, both with decrease of 0.8%.
Increase does not represent full recover
Despite the growth from April to May, Mr. Almeida clarifies that the index is still quite below the usual level, as it can be seen in the comparison with the same month a year ago. "In São Paulo, even with the positive rate over April, May recorded the second worst level of industry in the time series, losing exactly to the previous month, April of 2020", he highlights. The time series began in January 2002.
In the comparison with May 2019, there was decrease in 14 of the 15 places surveyed. Besides the so-called negative calendar effect - May 2020 had 20 working days, two less than May 2019 - the decline in the production pace due to the pandemic has affected the producing process of several plants in the country. São Paulo had a 18.1% reduction, the fourth consecutive negative rate in this comparison. Ceará (-50.8%) and Amazonas (-47.3%) had the sharpest drops.
In the cumulative index of 2020 (January-May), whose national rate was of 11.2% decrease, 13 of the 15 places had reduction in their activities, with a highlight to Ceará (-21.8%), Amazonas (-20.7%) e Espírito (-18.5%). Just Rio de Janeiro (2.8%) and Pará (0.9%) had increases in that index.
In the cumulative index in the last 12 months (national loss of 5.4%), 12 of the 15 places surveyed had negative rates in May 2020. All of them, however, had loss of pace over the results recorded in April. Ceará (from -3.1% to -7.9%), Amazonas (from 0.5% to -3.8%), Santa Catarina (from-2.6% to -6.6%), Rio Grande do Sul (from -3.7% to -7.7%), Paraná (from 1.7% to -2.0%), São Paulo (from -2.5% to -5.6%), Bahia (from -2.5% to -5.1%), Northeast Region (from -3.5% to -5.9%), Pernambuco (from -2.5% to -4.5%) and Rio de Janeiro (from 5.1% to 3.9%) showed the main losses in this comparison.
