In March 2007, industrial production changed by 1.2%, in the seasonally adjusted series. In comparison with March 2006, industry grew by 3.9%. The first quarter of 2007 also brought positive results, both in comparison with the same period last year (3.8%) and in relation to the last quarter of 2006 (1.2%), in the seasonally adjusted series. The annualized rate, an indicator accumulated in the previous twelve months (2.7%), was almost the same as in February (2.8%).

 The expansion of 1.2% observed from February to March has kept the sequence of six positive results in this type of comparison. In terms of subsectors, there was increase in the comparison March 2007/February 2007 in 15 of the 23 activities surveyed which have seasonally adjusted series; the main positive result were relative to automotive vehicles (6.0%), which was followed by machinery and equipment (4.2%) and petroleum refining and alcohol production (2.3%). It is worth mentioning that the latter has increased for the second consecutive month, having accumulated increase of 6.7% in this period. The most significant negative contribution came from pharmaceutical industry, with decrease of 8.8%. In the indexes by category of use, the sector of intermediate goods, the most relevant one in industry, with rate of 1.8%, has had accumulated increase of 2.4% in the last two months. The production of durable consumer goods (2.1%) has had a positive result for the third consecutive month, having increased 6.5% in this period. Capital goods (-0.4%) has had the first negative rate since October 2006. The segment of semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods (-0.4%) had a negative result again, after having increased 0.7% in February.

In March, the quarterly moving average index increased 0.6% in comparison with February, interrupting the virtual stability observed in the last two months. In the analysis by category of use, the sectors of durable consumer goods (2.1%), intermediate goods (0.7%) and capital goods (0.5%)  had increase from February to march, whereas the production of semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods had the only negative change (-0.2%).

In relation to March 2006, the industrial production increased by 3.9%, maintaining a sequence of nine months with positive rates. In this comparison, there was increase of production in most (18) of the 27 subsectors surveyed, and the main positive impacts on the overall index came from machinery and equipment (15.5%), automotive vehicles (8.2%), metallurgy (10.5%), food products (3.9%), office machines and computer equipment (23.9%) and mining and quarrying industry (5.6%), which, together, accounted for 3.5 percentage points. In these activities, the main highlights were, respectively, microwave ovens, automobiles, ingots, blocks and steel plates and bars, poultry meat, computers, and iron ore. As negative contributions, the highlights were the subsectors of electronic material and communication equipment and pharmaceutical articles, with decrease of 13.8% and 13.1%, respectively.  

Among the categories of use, still in comparison with March 2006, the production of capital goods surpassed by 12.7% the production of the same month in the previous year. This was a consequence of the results of computer science, transportation (planes and trucks); machines for industrial use. The production of intermediate goods and of durable consumer goods (both with 4.8%) also increased above the average of industry, supported by the positive performance of all their subsectors, especially steel industry products and automobiles, respectively. The sector of semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods 90.6%) was the only one which increased below the national average, thus reflecting the negative contributions from the groups of semi-durable goods (footwear) and other non-durable goods (medicines), once food products and beverages for domestic consumption (2.6%) and fuels (6.2%) increased.

In the first quarter of the year, in comparison with the same period in 2006, the growth of overall industry was 3.8%, with increased production in 17 activities. The production of machinery and equipment (14.4%) has kept the leadership in terms of impact on the overall index, and, in this case, the production of microwave ovens and refrigerators were the most important positive contributions. Other relevant positive impacts to the overall result of industry came from automotive vehicles, followed by food products (4.8%), in which the highlights were the items orange juice and poultry meat. On the other hand, among the ten falling industries, the most negative contributions on the overall rate were those of electronic material and communication equipment (10.9%) and pharmaceutical articles (-4.8%).

Industrial activity maintains, in the end of the first quarter of the year (3.8%), rhythm of growth above that for the last period of the previous year. The indexes by category of use confirm the leadership of capital goods, which increase 7.8% in the fourth quarter and 14.8% in the next one. In this category, the highlight was the favorable behavior of the subsectors of capital goods for transportation and capital goods fro agricultural use, which reversed the fall of 1.9% and of 2.2% in the last quarter of last year, to increase of 9.5% and 13.1% in the first three months of 2007, respectively. Intermediate goods also increased, although more slightly, between the two quarters (from 2.2% to 3.8%), with the highlight being the subsector of complex industrial inputs (from 1.9% to 3.2%). The sector of consumer goods loses rhythm in this comparison: durable consumer goods changed from 4.3%, in the last quarter of 2006, to 2.3%, in the first quarter of 2007, being influenced by the performances of the “brown type” electronic appliances (from -3.1% to -24.3%) and mobile telephones (from 4.3% to -8.9%), whereas semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods changed from 2.8% to 1.3% especially due to the group other non-durable goods, which went from 3.8% in the last quarter of 2006, to null change (0.0%), in the following quarter.

In summary, the evolution of the indexes in the first three months of 2007 revealed a positive scenario in industrial activity. In the comparisons with equivalent periods in the previous year, the industrial sector has had very positive results: the monthly indicator has increased since July 2006 and the quarterly one has advanced since the last quarter of 2003. Another favorable sign came from the seasonally adjusted comparisons: general industry grew 1.2% and has kept a positive rate for the sixth consecutive month, with increment of 3.6% in the period. From the fourth quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007, the growth rhythm changed from 0.9% to 1.2%. The biggest gains between these two quarters occurred in the industries of durable consumer goods (from 0.4% to 4.2%) and capital goods (from 3.3% to 6.9%); at a lower level was the segment of intermediate goods (from 0.2% to 1.6%). The sector of semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods was the only one which did not grow between these two periods, having reached 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2006 and being practically stable in the following quarter (0.1%).