National industry
Output of industry changes by 0.3% in May after a drop in April
July 04, 2023 09h00 AM | Last Updated: July 06, 2023 01h15 PM
From April to May, industrial production in the country changed by 0.3%, recording a positive result after a drop of 0.6% last month. In March, industry had advanced by 1.1%, which interruped a sequence of two decreases. The cumulative loss in the year for this sector is 0.4%, whereas the cumulative result in the last 12 months recorded no change (0.0%). These are the results of the Monthly Survey of Industry - PIM, released today (4) by the IBGE.
“Despite its result close to stability, in comparison with the level in December last year, industry has a positive balance of 0.4%. The result of May also has widespread positive rates in three of the four major economic categories and 19 of the 25 subsectors investigated. These are the best spread results since September 2020, when 23 activities recorded increases,” says the manager of the survey, André Macedo. At the time, the industrial sector recovered from intense losses in March and April that year, in the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With these results, the industrial sector was still 1.5% below the pre-pandemic period (February 2020) and 17.9% below the record level of May 2011. From April, the biggest positive influences on the result of industry came from petroleum products and biofuels (7.7%), motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (7.4%) and machinery and equipment (12.3%).
In the activity petroleum products, the result is the fourth consecutive positive result, with a cumulative increase of 15.0% in the period. The segment of motor vehicles, trailers and bodies increased again after two consecutive months of decrease, with a cumulative drop of 2.6%. “March and April were marked by interruptions and collective vacation im concessionnaires of the sector. The resumption of production accounts for the increase in May,” Mr. Macedo says.
In this same comparison, the increase in machinery and equipment helped the sector recover part of the loss observed in April “In this segment, the highlight is the increase of production of capital goods aimed at the agricultural sector and for the construction field.” Capital goods are those used in the production of other industry items, such as machinery and equipment.
Other activities with positive results in May were mining and quarrying industry (1.2%), metal products (6.1%), other transportation equipment (10.2%), basic metals (2.1%), miscellaneous products (6.6%) and leather, travel articles and footwear (4.9%).
Among the sectors affecting industry negatively are food products (-2.6%), which fell for the fifth consecutive month and pharmaceuticals (-9.7%), which also had fallen in April (-0.4%).
André Macedo highlights, however, that the food sector had recorded a sequence of good results in the end of last year. “This sector had a positive balance, considering a longer period. Besides being preceded by high positive rates, the negative result in May is related to other factors such as the production of beef and soybean products.” The food sector, which is responsible for about 15% of the general index, has a cumulative increase of 8.3% when the three last months of 2022 are added, as well as the first five months of the year. With five decreases in a row, the sector has a cumulative loss of 9.7%.
Industry increases by 1.9% from May last year
Compared with May 2022, industry advanced 1.9%, with positive results in three of the four major economic categories and nine of the 25 subsectors surveyed. Among them, mining and quarrying industry (12.0%), coke, petroleum products and biofuels (7.1%) and food products (5.8%) were the ones accounting for main contributions to the overall industry.
Compared with May 2022, industry advanced 1.9%, with positive results in three of the four major economic categories and nine of the 25 subsectors surveyed. Among them, mining and quarrying industry (12.0%), coke, petroleum products and biofuels (7.1%) and food products (5.8%) were the ones accounting for main contributions to the overall industry.
As for negative results, the highlights among the 16 activities recording decreases in comparison with May last year were chemicals (-6.4%), electrical machinery and apparatuses (-16.7%) and computer equipment, electronic and optical products (-13.6%).
More about the survey
PIM Brazil has been producing short-term indicators since the 1970s regarding the behavior of the real product of mining and quarrying and manufacturing industries. March 2023 marked the beginning of the release of the new time series of monthly indexes of the industrial production, after a redesign to update the sample of activities, products and informants; create a new weighting structure of the indexes based on the most recent industrial statistics; update the base year of reference of the survey; and incorporate new Federation Units in the release of regional results of the survey. These methodological changes are required and they aim at incorporating the economic changes of the society. Os resultados da pesquisa também podem ser consultados no banco de dados Sidra. The next release is scheduled for August 1st.
