In 2006, the 764 biggest industrial companies (those with 1,000 or more employed persons) accounted for 0.5% of the 155,057 companies at work and concentrated 60% of the value of manufacturing - R$ 333.3 billion out of R$ 555.0 billion.

In 2006, the 764 biggest industrial companies (those with 1,000 or more employed persons) accounted for 0.5% of the 155,057 companies at work and concentrated 60% of the value of industrial manufacturing¹ - R$ 333.3 billion out of R$ 555.0 billion. The data in the Annual Survey of Industry (PIA) – Enterprise show that this concentration increased between 1996 and 2006, the period in which most companies grew in importance in the industrial productive chain. Considering the results of the Annual Survey of Industry – Product, it is observed that 56.8% of the sales of products from companies with 30 or more employed persons were generated by those which had at least 1,000 in 2006.

Industrial companies with 5 or more employed persons in the country employed about 6.8 million persons, generated net revenue of about R$ 1.3 trillion and registered, considering salaries and withdrawals, a total of R$ 118 billion, paying an average monthly wage of R$ 1,343. On average, each company employed 44 persons and generated revenue of R$ 9 million.  

In 2006, there were 3,448 big industrial companies (with 250 or more persons employed) at work, which represented 2.2% of the total; they employed about 50.0% of the persons, with an average number of 980 persons employed by company, and paid 67.3% of the total salaries and withdrawals of the sector, accounting for 78.9% of the value of manufacturing and by 76.7% of the net sales revenue.

Work productivity² was R$ 82 thousand for the total of industry, being R$ 130 thousand in big companies, more then three times the value of productivity in small and medium companies (R$ 35 thousand). Companies with 250 or more persons employed paid, on average, higher salaries - 5.3 minimum wages - twice as the amount paid by small and medium companies (2.6 minimum wages).

The indicator that measures the cost of work³ was 31.4% for industry in 2006 and 27.8% in big companies, indicating, in this case, a competitive advantage.

The number of big industrial companies was high in terms of petroleum refining and alcohol production (36.8%) and tobacco (15.9%), sectors which accounted for over 95.0% of the value of manufacturing.

Big industrial companies were located mainly in the Southeast (52.2%) and South (25.1%) Regions. The other areas had the following levels of participation: Northeast, 12.6%; Central-West, 5.9%; and North, 4.2%. In big companies, as well as in the total of industry, the biggest groups of employed persons and of value of manufacturing remained concentrated in the Southeast Region, with the figures 51.2% and 63.4%, respectively, and significantly above the second most important area, South Region (with 24.5% and 16.0%, respectively).

In terms of productivity, both for the total companies and to the group of big ones, the Regions with results above the national average (R$ 82 thousand) were the North (R$ 144 thousand and R$ 237 thousand, respectively) and Southeast (R$ 104 thousand and R$ 181 thousand).

In the group of big companies (with 250 or more employed persons) the biggest ones, with 1,000 or more employed persons made up 22.2%. Compared to the total of industry, they accounted for 0.5% of the universe and obtained the following levels of participation in the variables analyzed: 31.9% of the total number of employed persons, 55.4% of net revenue of sales, 60.0% of the value of manufacturing, and 46.1% of the salaries paid.   

This group of biggest companies had average revenue of R$ 973 million, productivity (R$ 155 thousand) above the total of industry (R$ 82 thousand) and of big companies in general (R$ 130 thousand), besides the highest average wage (5.7 minimum wages). The cost of work was 25.1%, less than the figure for the total of industry (31.4%) and for the total in the group of big companies (27.8%).

Companies with over 1,000 persons employed have grown in importance in ten years

In 1996, there were 3,168 big industrial companies (with 250 or more persons employed) at work. In ten years, this figure increased to 3,448 (8.8%), an increase which, between companies with over 1,000 persons employed was significantly higher, reaching 29.9% (from 588 to 764).

In relation to the number of persons employed, the movement was the same, with the number of persons in big companies changing from 2.7 million persons, in 1996, to 3.4 million in 2006, increase of 24.9%. Among companies with over 1,000 persons employed, the increase was 42.7% (from 1.5 million to 2.2 million). In the period of ten years, the average size of industrial companies⁴ only increased for the group with 1,000 or more persons employed (9.8%).

The analysis of the evolution of the biggest companies confirms the gain in participation of this group in the distribution of persons employed in industry in ten years, having changed from 29.4% in 1996 to 31.9% in 2006. The movement was similar in what concerns the participation in the value of manufacturing, which changed from 48.7% in 1996 to 60.0% in 2006.

Biggest companies were the highlights in petroleum refining, mining and quarrying and cellulose

The behavior observed in this group (with 1,000 or more persons employed) tends to be specifically relevant in the activities based on technical scale economy, in the differentiation of products and in the access to natural resources. In petroleum refining and alcohol production, for example, companies with 1,000 or more persons employed accounted, in 1996, for 83.4% of the value of manufacturing, changing to 95.4% in 2006.    

It is also worth mentioning the evolution observed in the mining and quarrying sector: in 1996, companies with over 1,000 persons employed accounted for 50.5% of the production, a percentage which reached 71.9% in 2006. The movement resulted from the significant increase of the internal production of petroleum and iron ore and from the growing valuing of these products in the international market.

In the ranking of activities with the highest productivity among companies with over 1,000 persons employed, the sector of petroleum refining and alcohol production was the leader in 2006 (R$ 1,019), followed by mining and quarrying industry (R$ 396); metallurgy (R$ 328); and cellulose and paper (R$ 280). In the ranking, the first subsector moved from the 4^th position in 1996 to the 1^st position in the years 2000 and in 2006. Metallurgy also had some evolution, leaving the 7^th (1996) and 8^th position (2000) to the 3^rd one in 2006, whereas cellulose and paper had some continuous gain, moving from the 6^th (1996) to the 5^th (2000) and 4^th (2006) positions.

Biggest companies had more relative importance in the Northeast and less in the South

In 2006, industry in the Northeast had the highest level of participation of companies with over 1,000 persons employed both in the value of manufacturing and in the number of persons employed (43.8%). In this group of companies, the sectors with the highest value of manufacturing were petroleum refining and alcohol production; food products and beverages; chemical products; and mining and quarrying industry, which concentrated 71.0% of the total production of companies with over 1,000 persons employed.

In the Southeast, the region with the highest density and diversity of industries, companies with over 1,000 persons employed held 61.3% of the value of manufacturing, 26.4% of the total persons employed and 1.8% of the total local units, in 2006. By subsector, the presence of this group of companies was very relevant in terms of petroleum refining and alcohol production (95.2% of the value of manufacturing) and mining and quarrying industries (89.3%).

The South Region was characterized as having the least relatively importance among companies with over 1,000 persons employed. In 2006, this group accounted for practically half of the value of manufacturing (50.2%), 27.5% of the employed persons and 1.7% of the local units. It is worth mentioning, as an exception, the importance of biggest companies in the tobacco industry, the sector in which were reached 29.7% of the local units, 69.8% of employed persons and 91.0% of the value of manufacturing.

In ten years, the Southeast loses participation in production of biggest industries

Throughout the years, the Southeast Region lost participation in the national value of manufacturing of companies with over 1,000 persons employed, changing from 71.6% in 1996 to 68.6% in 2000, and reaching 64.4% in 2006. The same occurred in the South Region, which changed from 15.5% in 1996 to 14.7% in 2006. The other regions had increases in participation: Central West, from 1.2% in 1996 to 3.3% in 2006; Northeast, from 7.1% to 1.3%; and North, from 4.5% to 6.3%.

The Southeast and South regions concentrated 48.1% and 24.0% of the total persons employed among companies with over 1,000 persons in 2006, percentages below the figures registered by these regions in the universe of the survey (53.6% and 25.6%). On the other hand, in the Northeast (18.8%) and Central West (5.5%) there was more participation of employed persons in this group (12.6%) than in total industry (4.6%) probably reflecting a bigger presence of companies at work.

In value of manufacturing, differences were less significant: companies with over 1,000 persons employed in the Southeast (64.4%), Northeast (11.3%) and North (6.3%) had a level of participation closer to that observed in the total industry (63.1%, 9.9% and 6.0%, respectively).

In the Central West and North regions, where the industrial area is composed of a smaller group of industrial sectors, companies with over 1,000 persons employed determined the profile of industrial activity. In the Central West, this group of companies focused on the activity food products and beverages, with 77.1% of the value of manufacturing, 78.0% of the number of persons employed and 59.7% of the local units. In the North region, the predominant subsectors were mining and quarrying industry; electronic material and communication equipment; petroleum refining and alcohol production; and other transportation equipment, which concentrated 75.7% of the value of manufacturing of companies with over 1,000 persons employed, 58.1% of the employed persons and 35.6% of the number of local units.

56.8% of the industrial sales are generated by the biggest companies

PIA – Product presents information about the production line of industrial companies with 30 or more persons employed, bringing data about the production and sales of about 3,500 items, which amounted to R$ 1.1 trillion in sales in 2006. The state of São Paulo remained in the leadership, accounting for 41.5% of the total sales, and followed by Minas Gerais (10.4%), Rio Grande do Sul (8.0%), Paraná (7.3%) and Rio de Janeiro (7.3%).

In the ranking of the first 100 products in terms of volume of sales, the highlights were the items diesel, with about R$ 43 billion in sales, and processed iron ore (R$ 25.3 billion). The sales of crude petroleum oil (R$ 15.8 billion), as a consequence of its growing participation in exports, moved from the 8^th to the 6^th position between 2005 and 2006, whereas mobile telephones (R$ 13.7 billion) lost their relative position, from the 6^th to the 8^th position in 2006. 

In 2006, 56.8% of the industrial sales of companies with 30 or more persons employed were generated by those with a bigger size (1,000 or more employees). Companies with 250 to 999 persons employed accounted for 23.1% of the sales; and the ones with less than 250 persons, for the 20.1% left. Considering the 100 main products in terms of sales, figures show an even bigger concentration in companies with 1,000 or more employees, the participation of which accounted to 73.9% of the total in 2006, a higher percentage than in 2005 (72.9%). Considering this group of products, companies with 250 to 999 persons employed represented 17.0% of the sales revenue, and the ones with less than 250, 9.1%.

In the ranking of products sold by companies which employed from 30 to 249 persons, the main highlights were processed iron ore, with 1.6% of the sales, non-denatured, anhydrous or hydrated ethanol for fuel purposes (1.1%) and NPK fertilizers (1.0%). In the group of companies which employed 250 to 999 persons, the highlights were the items non-denatured, anhydrous or hydrated   ethanol for fuel purposes (2.3%), crystallized sugar (2.1%) and non-saturated ethylene (1.7%).

In companies with 1,000 employed persons, the main items were diesel (6.2%), automobiles with engine capacity >1.500 cm3 and <= 3.000 cm3 (4.0%) and processed iron ore (3.4%).

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¹ Value of production minus intermediate consumption. 

² Ratio between the value of manufacturing and employed persons.

³ Ratio between expenditure with persons and value of manufacturing.

⁴ Ratio between number of employed persons and number of companies.