The Annual Survey of Industry 2015 pictures an economic retraction against 2014, reflected in a number of economic indicators: the number of active industrial companies fell from 333,739 to 325,277. In terms of employment, the number of workplaces dropped by 642,138, concentrated in the sectors of wearing apparel, manufacture of vehicles and of machinery and equipment.  The gross value added – gross value of production less the cost of industrial operations –, at current values, changed from R$1,113 billion to R$1,097 billion. The investment in the industrial sector fell to R$193.3 billion, which represented a reduction of 13.0% in nominal terms, particularly noticed in the sectors of manufacture of coke, petroleum products and biofuels and of extraction of metallic minerals. See the complete survey here.

Table 1 - Results of industrial enterprises, according to selected variables - Brazil - 2014-2015

In terms of employment, the number of workplaces dropped by 642,138, concentrated in the sectors of wearing apparel, manufacture of vehicles and of machinery and equipment.

In 2015, the companies of the industrial sector recorded a net revenue of sales of R$2.8 trillion, which represented an average of R$8.6 million per company. Expenses with personnel reached R$423.0 billion, whereas investments in fixed assets added up to R$193.3 billion. The gross value of production and the intermediate consumption registered R$2.7 trillion and R$1.9 trillion, respectively. As a result, the value added hit R$744.7 billion. The gross value added was R$1.1 trillion, reached from a gross value of the industrial production of R$2.5 trillion less R$1.4 trillion concerning the costs of industrial operations.

The total gross revenue of the industrial companies hit R$3.8 trillion in 2015, a nominal value above that reported in the previous year. In terms of the structure of the revenue of industrial companies, the sale of industrial products and services remained as the biggest source of revenue in 2015 (about 78.8%), though with a significant loss of share (-4.3 p.p.) over 2014. On the other side, the revenue coming from the resale of goods and provision of non-industrial services increased its share by 0.5 p.p. and the revenue from non-productive activities gained, as a whole, 3.8 p.p. between the two periods.

The five industrial activities with the biggest share in the total gross revenue of  industrial companies accounted for about 54.9% of the total gross revenue in 2014, while the very same activities represented 56.1% of the total gross revenue of the national industry in 2015. The five sectors were: Manufacture of food products; Manufacture of coke, petroleum products and biofuels; Manufacture of chemicals; Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and bodies; and Basic Metals.

Deducting the taxes on sales from the total gross revenue gives the total net revenue of sales of industrial companies, which reached R$2.8 trillion in 2015. Led by the performance of the companies with 500 and more employed persons, they remained as the biggest share of the overall Brazilian industry. Those companies produced a net revenue of sales of about R$1.9 trillion, corresponding to 67.6% of the total, a percentage similar to that reported in 2014 (67.8%). The share of companies employing between 100 and 249 persons also stood out, as it changed from 8.8% in 2014 to 9.4% in 2015.

In 2015, the total costs and expenditures of industrial companies were R$3.3 trillion. The expenditure with the consumption of raw materials accounted for 35.7% and stood out as the biggest percentage in the structure of costs and expenditures in the year, despite the drop in relation to that reported in 2014 (40.5%). Except for the consumption of fuels and acquisition of electricity and other costs and expenditures, which increased their share by 0.2 and 6.8 p.p. (2.5% and 34.4% in 2015), respectively, all the other items dropped.

Expenses with personnel reached 12.7%, retreating in relation to 2014 (14.0%). The cost of resold goods (6.5%) remained stable over the previous year (6.6% in 2014). The relative share of payment for services provided by third parties and consumption of any kind for maintenance and repair of machinery and equipment also remained stable (3.0% in 2015). In the other items, which altogether accounted for 5.2% of the total, expenditures with depreciation, amortization and depletion of fixed assets hit 3.5%; expenses for the payment of royalties and technical assistance, 0.8%; and expenditures with advertisement, 0.9%.

The total investment made in fixed assets of industrial companies hit R$193.3 billion in 2015, representing a nominal drop of 13.0% over the previous year. Considering enterprises with up to 29 employed persons, the value was R$3.6 billion, about 1.9% of the amount invested. Concerning the investments of companies with 30 and more employed persons, industrial machinery and equipment stood out, as it did in 2014, adding up to R$86.3 billion and remaining as the biggest share in the total investments (it even increased from 41.3% in 2014 to 44.6% in 2015).