National industry
Industrial output grows 2.6% in September, eliminates losses of pandemic
November 04, 2020 09h00 AM | Last Updated: November 04, 2020 04h24 PM
Compared with August, the output of the national industry advanced 2.6% in September. This is the fifth monthly rise in a row, offsetting the losses of 27.1% accrued in March and April, when the sector registered its lowest level due to social distancing adopted to control the pandemic. These are the results of the Monthly Industrial Survey - PIM, released today (4) by the IBGE.
"Taking into account the September´s result together with the advances of the four previous months, the industrial output surpassed by 0.2% the pre-pandemic level, in February. With the months of March and April in the past and with the relaxation of the social distancing measures, the industrial sector kept on recovering, month after month, that level," says André Macedo, manager of the survey.
The industry grew 3.4% in relation to September 2019, interrupting ten consecutive negative results in this comparison. As a result, the industrial sector retreated 7.2% in the cumulative index in the year. On the other hand, the industrial output dropped 5.5% over the last 12 months, decelerating the losses started in March.
Between August and September, the advance was widespread along all the major economic categories and in 22 out of the 26 sectors surveyed, for the fifth month in a row, highlighted by durable consumer goods, whose results were leveraged by the car industry.
"Motor vehicles, trailers and bodies advanced 14.1%. It is worth highlighting that this activity accrued an expansion of 1,042.6% in five consecutive months of increasing production, though it is still 12.8% below the level of February," explains Macedo.
Like motor vehicles, other activities also grew for the fifth month in a row: machinery and equipment (12.6%), manufacture of wearing apparel and accessories (16.5%) and leather, travel articles and footwear (17.1%). Food products (1.2%), basic metals (3.5%) and non-metallic mineral products (4.2%) also contributed to the September´s result.
On the other hand, four activities reduced their production in September, highlighted by mining and quarrying industries (-3.7%), which recorded the major negative impact on the month, interrupting three consecutive positive figures, which accrued a rise of 18.2%. The others were printing and reproduction of recorded media (-4.0%), miscellaneous manufacturing (-1.3%) and other chemicals (-0.3%).
"The mining industry retreated in September, but it came from three months of increasing production. In other words, it interrupts the positive behavior, but it does not eliminate the positive balance of the last months. Even considering the drop in September, this activity is 5.7% above the level before the pandemic," notices André Macedo.
Major economic categories advance for the fifth month in a row
Having increased 10.7%, durable consumer goods posted the steepest positive rate in September and the fifth consecutive month of expanding production, accruing a rise of 520.3% in this period. "It is worth mentioning that, even with these recent positive results, this segment is still 2.8% below the level of February," adds the manager of the survey.
The sectors producing capital goods (7.0%), semi and non-durable consumer goods (3.7%) and intermediate goods (1.3%) also rose in September, all of them expanding for the fifth consecutive month and accruing gains of 93.2%, 30.7% and 26.9%, respectively, in this period.
