Inflation in Industry
Chemicals trigger increase in producer prices in March
April 26, 2018 09h00 AM | Last Updated: June 05, 2018 10h41 AM
The Producer Price Index, released today by the IBGE, changed 1.05% in March compared to February. This is the greatest high since November 2017, when it registered an index of 1.40%. Of the 24 activities monitored by the survey, Other Chemicals, with a 2.86% change in February, was the category that most contributed to the result.
Even though the sector has only the fourth largest weight in the survey (10.44%) - behind Food (19.68%), Petroleum Products and Biofuels (11.78%) and Vehicles (11.24%) - the segment has been much affected by market instability, as IBGE manager of Analysis and Methodology, Alexandre Brandão, puts it.
"The rise in costs is closely linked to international results, to costs of imported raw materials, to prices of petroleum products, supply reduction of certain products due to interruptions in some production units, to the dollar increase and to the price change of products of the sector itself in the latest months," he says.
Among the other categories that exerted the greatest influence on the monthly result, the highlights are Food, with a 1.13% change, Mining and Quarrying, 4.37%, and Basic Metals, with 1.56%. On the other hand, Machinery and Equipment, Beverages and Petroleum Products and Biofuels decreased by 0.47%, 1.53% and 3.15%, respectively, in the month.
With the result of March, the IPP accumulated 1.91% in 2018. In the last twelve months, the change reached 6.23%.
