The industrial output fell 3.8% in August 2016 over the previous month (seasonally adjusted), interrupting five months of consecutive positive results in this kind of comparison. In that period it accumulated an expansion of 3.7%. It was the most intense since January 2012 (-4.9%) in this comparison.

In the comparison with August 2015 (not seasonally adjusted), the industry overall recorded decrease of 5.2% in August 2016, the 30th consecutive negative rate in this type of comparison, but, at the same time, the least significant since June/2015
(-2.6%).

In the cumulative index of the first eight months of the year, the industry recorded a drop of 8.2%. However, there was a slight reduction in the magnitude of decrease over the result of the first half of the year (-9.1%).

By falling 9.3% in August 2016, the annualized rate (cumulative indicator in the last 12 months) slightly dropped its pace of decline against the level recorded in June (-9.8%) and July (-9.6%).

The industrial sector, in August 2016, gives once again signs of less intense production, with a widespread fall, since three out of four major economic categories and 21 of the 24 activities recorded output reduction. Considering this month's result, the industry overall is 21.3% below the record level reached in June 2013.

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Against July, 21 of 24 sectors had output decrease

The drop of 3.8% in the industrial activity between July and August 2016 showed predominance of negative results, reaching three out of the four major economic categories and 21 out of the 24 segments surveyed. Among the sectors, the main negative influences were recorded by food products (-8.0%) and motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-10.4%), with the former offsetting the advance of 1.9% seen in July; and the latter registering the second consecutive drop and accumulating in this period a 14.0% loss. Other relevant negative contributions over the industry overall came from mining and quarrying industries (-1.8%),coke, petroleum products and biofuels (-1.9%), toiletries, soap, cleaning and personal hygiene products (-2.8%), non-metallic mineral products (-5.1%), wearing apparel and accessories (-6.9%), basic metals (-1.7%), machinery and equipment (-1.6%) and rubber products and plastic material (-1.9%). On the other hand, in the two sectors that increased the output this month, the most important performance to the overall average was registered by pharmaceutical products, which advanced 8.3%, offsetting, therefore, the loss of 7.3% reported in the previous month.

Among the major economic categories, in the comparison with the previous month, durable consumer goods (-9.3%) and intermediate goods (-4.3%) had the sharpest reduction in August 2016, with the former registering the sharpest drop since June 2015 (-13.5%) and returning part of the gain of 12.0% accumulated between last May and July; and the latter, besides recording the highest fall since December 2008 (-11.3%), offset two consecutive months of production expansion, when it accumulated an advance of 2.9%. Semi and non-durable consumer goods (-0.9%) also recorded a negative rate in August 2016, and had a 3.2% loss in two months of production decrease in a row. On the other hand, the segment of capital goods, with an increase of 0.4%, had the only positive result this month, after falling 2.1% last July, when it interrupted six consecutive months of growth. In this period it accumulated an advance of 14.8%.

Industry contracts 5.2% in comparison with August 2015

Compared with August 2015, the industrial sector showed a drop of 5.2%, in August 2016, pointing to a widespread fall, reaching three of the four major economic categories and 18 of the 26 sectors. It is worth mentioning that August 2016 (23 days) had two more workdays than the same month in the prior year (21). Among the activities, mining and quarrying industries(-11,7%)and coke, petroleum products and biofuels (-12.5%) exerted the highest negative influences on the formation of the industry average, pressed, to a large extent, by iron ores in the former; fuel oil, diesel fuel, ethyl alcohol and naphthas in petrochemicals, in the latter.

Other relevant negative contributions to the national overall came from motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-9.0%), food products (-2.9%), non-metallic mineral products (-11.0%), tobacco products (-45.2%), machinery and equipment (-6.3%), other transportation equipment (-14.0%) and wearing apparel and accessories (-7.3%). On the other hand, still considering the comparison with August 2015, among the eight activities that reported output expansion, the main pressures were registered by electrical machinery and apparatus (7.1%), leather products, traveling items and footwear (7.0%), and other chemical products (1.8%).

Comparing with the same month a year ago, durable consumer goods, (-12.4%) and intermediate goods (-6.9%) recorded, in August 2016, the sharpest drops among the major economic categories. The sectors of semi- and non-durable consumer goods (-1.9%) also marked negative rates this month, but less intense than the national average (-5.2%). On the other hand, the sector of capital goods, with an expansion of 5.0%, was the only one presenting a positive rate.

The segment of durable consumer goods fell 12.4% in the monthly index of August 2016, the 30th negative rate in a row in this kind of comparison and slightly less intense than that of the previous month (-15.9%). This month, this sector was particularly influenced by the lower manufacture of cars (-19.7%), due to the reduction in the working hours and by the granting of collective vacation in a number of producing units. Other important negative influences came from motorcycles (-17.6%), “brown goods” (-3.1%), whereas the major positive results were seen in the group 'white goods' (8.7%), and other household appliances (11.4%) and furniture (2.4%).

The sector of intermediate goods, shrinking 6.9% in August 2016, recorded the 29th consecutive negative result in the monthly index and with a sharper drop than the one seen in the previous month (-4.8%). This month's result was mainly explained by the drops in the products related to the activities of mining and quarrying industries (-11.7%), coke, petroleum products and biofuels (-14.1%), machinery and equipment (-25.7%), non-metallic mineral products (-11.2%), food products (-5.5%), motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-4.8%), basic metals (-0.9%), fabricated metal products (-1.3%), rubber products and plastic material (-0.5%) and pulp, paper and paper products (-0.5%). Conversely, the positive pressures were registered by other chemical products (2.0%) and textiles (4.1%). In that same economic category, it is worth mentioning the decrease in the groups of typical civil construction input (-7.9%), which got the 30th drop in a row in the comparison with the same month a year ago, and of packaging (0.9%), which interrupted 19 months of negative consecutive rates.

In the comparison with the same month a year ago, the production of semi- and non-durable consumer goods fell 1.9% in August 2016, the fourth consecutive negative rate, but less intense than the one registered in the previous month (-6.4%). This month performance was mainly due to the drop in the group fuels (-8.8%), pushed, to a great extent, by the greatest production of ethyl alcohol. The sub-sectors of non-durable goods (-2.0%) and semi-durable (-1.4%) also had negative results this month.

The sector of capital goods, growing 5.0% in August 2016, interrupted 29 months of consecutive negative rates in the monthly index. In the formation of the index this month, the segment was influenced by the advance seen in the greatest part of its groups, with a highlight to the expansion coming from agricultural capital goods (21.9%), leveraged, to a great extent, by the greater manufacture of harvesting machines, metal silos for cereals and agricultural tractors. The other positive rates were registered by capital goods for construction (17.4%), for transportation equipment (1.9%) and for electricity (11.5%), whereas the groups of capital goods for industrial purposes (10.7%) and for miscellaneous use (-9.2%) recorded the negative results of August 2016.

Cumulative index in 2016 falls 8.2%

In the cumulative index for the January-August period of 2016, over the same period in the previous year, the industrial sector posted a decrease of 8.2%, with widespread fall, since the four major economic categories, 22 of the 26 segments, 64 of the 79 groups and 72.4% of the 805 products surveyed had reduction in the production. Among the activities, mining and quarrying, which fell 13.1%, and motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-18.8%) exerted the major negative influences in the formation of the industry average, pushed, to a great extent, by the items iron ores in the former, and cars, trucks and car parts in the latter. Other important negative contributions to the total national production came from coke, petroleum products and biofuels (-7.5%), machinery and equipment (-14.4%), basic metals (-9.1%), computer, electronic and optical products (-22.8%), non-metallic mineral products (-11.5%), fabricated metal products (-11.8%), other transportation equipment (-21.0%), rubber products and plastic material (-8.7%), wearing apparel and accessories (-9.4%), electrical machinery and apparatus (-7.8%) and furniture (-13.4%).

On the other hand, among the four activities that increased the output in the eight months of 2016, the major influence was seen in food products (1.7%), leveraged, to a great extent, by the advance seen in the manufacture of crystallized and VHP sugar.

Among the major economic categories, the behavior of the results of the eight months of 2016 showed lower dynamism for durable consumer goods (-20.2%) and capital goods (-15.9%), particularly pressed by the reduction in the manufacture of cars (-20.7%) and of household appliances (-20.1%), in the former; and of capital goods for transportation equipment (-16.5%), in the second. The segments of intermediate goods (-8.0%) and of semi- and non-durable consumer goods (-2.7%) also registered negative rates in the cumulative index of the year. The former segment declining below the magnitude of the drop of the national average (-8.2%), and the latter recording the most moderate decline among the major economic categories.