In February 2009, the industrial production increased 1.8% compared to the result in February, in the seasonally adjusted series. Compared to February 2008, there was retraction of 17.0%. As a consequence, the sector accumulated decrease of 17.2% in the first two-months of 2009, compared to the same period in the previous year. The annualized rate, that is, the indicator accumulated in the last twelve months, faced decrease in rhythm from January (1.0%) to February (-1.0%), having the first negative result since September 2002 (-0.4%). Considering the increases in February for the second consecutive month, the indexes in 2009 have remained below the production level observed at the end of the year, as shown in the evolution of the quarterly moving average indicator, which had change of -3.3% for the total of industry, between February and January this year.

With the increase of 1.8% observed in the total of industry between January and February, after increase of 2.1% in the previous month, the production level went back to a figure close to that in June 2004. among the 27 subsectors, 16 had increase, especially automotive vehicles (8.7%), which reflected mainly the restart of production in the automotive industry. This subsector accumulated increase of 52.2% in the first two months of 2009, after halt of activities in November and December. Other highlights are the subsectors of: other chemical products (8.0%), editing and printing (10.3%), electronic material and communication equipment (8.7%) and food products (1.4%). The main negative contributions to the index came from pharmaceutical industry (-6.9%); machinery and equipment (-3.2%) and other transportation equipment e (-4.2%).

Also compared to the previous month, the subsector of durable consumer goods (10.5%) reached its highest rate among the categories of use, with the second consecutive positive result, which led to increase of 50.6% compared to December 2008. The production of semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods 91.7%) changed from negative to positive after four months with negative rates, a period in which it accumulated decrease of 7.6%.  Intermediate goods (1.5%) had the second consecutive increase in 2009, whereas the sector of capital goods (-6.3%) was the only one to reduce its production from January to February.

The monthly indicator had decrease of 17.0% in February, with decrease in the production of 23 subsectors surveyed. The dissemination index, with decline in 77% of the 755 products surveyed, also indicates lower dynamism in the industrial sector, by presenting the lowest level in the time series. It is worth mentioning that February this year had one years less than the same month in the previous year.

Among the activities with decrease in production, the main contributions to the overall index, in order of importance, came from: automotive vehicles (-29.8%); machinery and equipment (-32.2%); metallurgy (-31.5%); other chemical products (22.3%); electronic machinery and communication equipment (-44.4%); and mining and quarrying industry (-18.8%). The main items accounting for the performance of this activity were, respectively: car and car pieces, carriers-transporters and compressors for refrigeration equipment; carbon steel ingots, blocks, and bars; herbicides for agriculture; switching appliances for mobile telephony; and iron ore. The most relevant positive contributions came from other transportation equipment (28.1%) and pharmaceutical industry (13.1%).

Also compared to February 2008, the indexes were negative for all categories of use. Capital goods (-24.4%) had a more negative rate in February than in the two previous months (December and January, both with –14.5%) and its performance was affected by all the subsectors, especially capital goods for mixed use (-34.6%), for industrial use (-34.4%), for construction (-70.3%) and for electricity (-24.3%).  

Durable consumer goods (-24.3%) remained affected by decreases in car production (-19.6%), mobile telephones (-49.1%) and electronic appliances. The subsector of intermediate goods (-21.0%) kept a sequence of five negative rate, with decline in practically all its subsectors. The main highlights came from products related to the activities of metallurgy (-31.5%), other chemical products (-22.4%), mining and quarrying industry (-18.9%), automotive vehicles (-39.2%) and rubber and plastic (-23.5%). It is worth mentioning the negative pressure of inputs fro construction, with decrease of 13.5%, the lowest result since June 2003 (-10.0).

The only category with performance above average (-17.0%) was semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods (-3.3%), which had a contribution from the subsector of fuels 90.8%), due to the bigger production of alcohol, whereas the other subsectors exerted negative influence: semi-durable (-20.4%), other non-durable goods (-1.2%) and food products and beverages elaborated for domestic consumption (-0.5%).

In terms of the indicator accumulated in January-February compared to the same period in 2008, the decrease of 17.2% reflected the decrease in 24 activities. The production of automotive vehicles, with decrease of 32.0% keeps the leadership in terms of highest negative contribution over the overall index, in which the decrease in cars and car pieces were the main items. On the other hand, among the three subsectors with rising results, the main highlight was other transportation equipment (33.9%). The profile of results for the first two months of 2009 confirmed the lower dynamism in all the categories of use: durable consumer goods (-27.6%), intermediate goods (-20.7%) and capital goods (-19.5%), whereas durable consumer goods and semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods (-5.9%) reduced production at a less significant degree.

The indicator accumulated in the last twelve months, on a downward trend since September last year, lost 4.1 percentage points in the first two months of the year in relation to the end of 2008. in this same period, the categories of use had the following performances: durable consumer goods (from 3.8% to -3.2%), capital goods (from 14.3% to 8.1%), intermediate goods (from 1.5% to -3.2%) and semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods (from 1.4% to -0.1%). Among the 76 subsectors, 69 faced decrease in rhythm in this comparison, being the highlights: extraction of iron ore, which changed from 1.9% until December to – 6.8% until February, pesticides (from 18.8% to 3.4%), tractors, agricultural machinery and equipment (from 31.6% to 15.8%), cast iron (from 2.4% to – 6.7%), steel laminated items (from 3.1% to -5.2%), cars (from 7.0% to – 0.4%), trucks (from 19.0% to 6.6%), parts and pieces for automotive vehicles (from -1.4% to – 10.4%) and electronic material and communication equipment (from – 0.7% to -10.9%).