Industrial production
Truckers' strike takes industry to the steepest drop since 2008
July 04, 2018 09h00 AM | Last Updated: July 04, 2018 04h10 PM
The domestic industrial production fell by 10.9% in May, compared to April, which was the worst rate since December 2008 (-11.2%). The result, which brought the industry close to the levels recorded at the end of 2003, stemmed from the negative behavior of the four major economic categories and of 24 of the 26 sectors investigated, which had not had so many lows since February 2002.
The information is from the Monthly Survey of Industry, released today by IBGE. The survey manager, André Macedo, explained that the main cause for this result was the truckers' strike during May, which affected the industrial plants: "the strike disrupted the production process itself, from the raw material supply to the distribution logistics. From April to May, there was a significant reduction in the production pace".
As a result, the industry lost pace and accumulated a 2% growth in the first five months of 2018, below the 4.5% registered until April. The cumulative index in the last 12 months changed from 3.9% to 3% in May 2018, and interrupted the upward trend started in June 2016 (-9.7%).
The categories of durable consumer goods and semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods fell by 27.4% and 12.2% respectively, the sharpest decreases since February 2002. Capital goods (-18.3%) and intermediate goods (-5.2%) also had negative results. Among the activities surveyed, the main negative influences were the production of motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-29.8%), food (-17.1%) and beverages (-18.1%), all affected by the strike.
The only activities with growth in May, in comparison with April, were two: coke, petroleum products and biofuels (6.3%) and mining and quarrying (2.3%). Both repeated the positive behavior of the last three months, with cumulative gains of 12.5% and 5.9%, respectively. According to the survey manager, these are the two segments with less dependence on highways. "In addition, biofuel was favored by the sugar cane crop, which is mainly destined for ethanol. The mining and quarrying sector was driven by the production of iron ore," he said.
Fall is less intense when compared to May 2017
In comparison with May 2017, industry fell 6.6%, the greatest decline since October 2016 (-7.3%), which interrupted 12 consecutive months of positive rates.
