National industry
Industrial production back to growth in August, but pace is still below 2018
October 01, 2019 09h00 AM | Last Updated: October 01, 2019 10h12 AM
After three months of decline, the national industry production gets back to growth: 0.8% in August compared to July. The recovery of almost the entire cumulative loss since May was driven by the mining and quarrying industry, which grew 6.6% in the month, thanks to the increase in iron ore, oil and gas extraction.
Despite the increase in August, the industry shows a loss of pace compared to last year, with the cumulative index in 12 months decreasing from -1.3% in July to -1.7%. Compared to August 2018, the total industry fell 2.3%. These results are from the Monthly Survey of Industry, released today by IBGE.
With the fourth positive rate, the mining industry accumulates a 25.2% growth from May to August. According to the research manager, André Macedo, after the disaster in Brumadinho in late January, the activity showed production declines for three months. “Starting in May, some ore plants that had stopped production to implement the adjustments required by the environmental laws were back in operation,” he explained.
Petroleum products and biofuels, up 3.6%, and food products, up 2%, also contributed to the industry's result in August. The main negative influences came from motor vehicles, which fell 3% with the reduction in the exports to Argentina, due to the economic crisis in that country, and the clothing sector, which fell 7.4%.
“Of course, August shows growth, but it is very concentrated in one of four major economic categories and in 10 of the 26 surveyed sectors. That is, the expansion is not widespread,” explained André.
Among the major economic categories, intermediate goods were the only positive rate, up 1.4% from July. Durable consumer goods had the strongest decline this month, 1.8%, after advancing 0.4% in July. The segments of semi- and non-durable consumer goods and capital goods also posted negative results, both of -0.4%.
