Regional industry
Industry up in 12 locations in August and six surpass pre-pandemic levels
October 08, 2020 09h00 AM | Last Updated: October 08, 2020 11h01 AM
The national industrial sector increased in 12 of the 15 locations analyzed by the Monthly Survey of Industry (PIM-Regional), from July to August. The result, released today (8) by the IBGE, shows that six areas have already surpassed the pre-pandemic level of Covid-19: Amazonas (7.6%), Pará (5.5%) Ceará (5%), Goiás ( 3.9%), Minas Gerais (2.6%) and Pernambuco (0.7%) are above the production level of February 2020.
The survey manager, Bernardo Almeida, explains that this result is linked to the economic reopening and relaxation of social isolation measures. "The survey reflects, to a large extent, the expansion of production resumption in plants, after pandemic lockdowns". The domestic industrial production grew 3.2% in August, the fourth consecutive increase.
PIM-Regional shows that Pará had the biggest increase in production in August, with 9.8%. The state now ranks as the second in influence on the overall result. "It is the third consecutive positive rate in Pará, with a gain of 18.2% in this period", says Mr. Almeida, explaining that the index was influenced by the performance of the mining and quarrying sector, which represents nearly 88% of the industrial production in Pará.
A showcase for Brazilian industry, the industry in São Paulo remains as the biggest influence in the series of booms in the sector. In August, the increase was 4.8%. “The vehicle sector leverages the result, since it is very influential in the São Paulo industry”, describes the expert, also mentioning the good performance of the machinery and equipment sector. São Paulo accumulates the 4th consecutive positive rate, adding 39.8% to the period. However, it is still 0.6% below the pre-pandemic period.
Rio de Janeiro increased by 3.3%, the seventh highest rate in the month, but the third biggest influence on the national result. “This index was driven by petroleum derivatives, more specifically, refining. Basic metals also helped”, adds the survey manager. It is also the fourth consecutive positive rate in the industry of Rio de Janeiro, with a cumulative result of 19.1% in the period. Rio de Janeiro is almost reaching the level of February 2020, standing 0.1% below the pre-pandemic production level.
Santa Catarina (6.0%), Ceará (5.7%), Rio Grande do Sul (5.2%), Amazonas (4.9%) were the other areas that had increases above the national average. The other places with highs in August were: the Northeast Region (3.0%), Paraná (2.9%), Mato Grosso (2.6%), Goiás (1.2%) and Bahia (0.9%).
On the other hand, Pernambuco (-3.9%) and Espírito Santo (-2.7%) had the biggest falls in the month. The industrial production of Pernambuco, after three months of increases that totaled 40.3%, fell due to the result of beverages, very relevant in the state. Even so, Pernambuco is on the list of places that surpassed February level. Minas Gerais, with a negative change of 0.4%, completes the list of falls.
Over August 2019, 9 out of 15 places faced decrease
In comparison with August 2019, industrial production fell by 2.7%, dropping in nine of the 15 surveyed locations. It is worth mentining that August 2020 had 21 days, one less than August 2019.
Espírito Santo (-14.7%) and Paraná (-7.6%) had the biggest falls in this comparison. Bahia (-6.1%), Mato Grosso (-4.4%) and São Paulo (-4.1%) also had sharper negative rates than the national average. Pará (-1.8%), Rio Grande do Sul (-1.6%), Santa Catarina (-1.3%) and Minas Gerais (-0.1%) integrate as well the set of places with decrease between August 2020 and August 2019.
Among the places with highs in this comparison, Pernambuco (10%) recorded the biggest advance. The other areas with increases are Ceará (5.3%), Rio de Janeiro (4.0%), Goiás (3.1%), Northeast Region (2.7%) and Amazonas (0.7%).
