The states that stood out were Bahia (5.4%) and Espírito Santo (3.8%)...

Brazilian industrial production grew in four of the 14 surveyed places from September to October 2010. The states that stood out were Bahia (5.4%) and Espírito Santo (3.8%). The other positive results were observed in Rio de Janeiro (0.7%) and Minas Gerais (0.1%), whereas Santa Catarina repeated the level of the previous month. Negative rates were recorded in the Northeast region (-0.1%), São Paulo (-0.5%), Pernambuco (-0.6%), Pará (-0.7%), Rio Grande do Sul (-0.8%), Amazonas (-3.3%), Goiás (-4.5%), Ceará (-5.9%) and Paraná (-7.6%).

In comparison to October 2009, national industrial production recorded a 12-month increase, with the 2.1% rate being the smallest expansion in the period. The less intense result reflected not only the effect of fewer working days (one fewer than the same month of last year) as well as the higher basis for comparison, because the second half of the previous year showed a slower rhythm than the first.

In regional terms, this behavior was observed in most of the surveyed places, once there was a clear loss of rhythm in October, compared to results of the first half-year and the third quarter of 2010, all comparisons against the same period of the previous year. Reduction in the intensity of growth was also confirmed in the number of expanding areas, as in October, nine areas showed positive rates, a smaller number than that verified in the first six months of the year and in the third quarter.

Still in the comparison with October 2009, the two-digit expansion of Goiás (20.0%) stands out, stimulated by the advances in the production of food items and beverages, as well as that of Espírito Santo (11.3%), explained by the growth in extraction industry. The other rises occurred in Minas Gerais (7.0%), Pará (6.2%), Bahia (5.3%), Rio de Janeiro (3.7%), the Northeast region (2.7%), São Paulo (2.5%), and Pernambuco (2.3%). The five places with decreased production were Amazonas (-2.1%), Paraná (-2.8%), Ceará (-3.3%), Rio Grande do Sul (-3.7%) and Santa Catarina (-3.8%).

For the indicator accumulated in the 10 months of the year, all places reached positive rates, confirming the generalized profile of growth observed in 2010. With increases above the 11.8% of the national average, are Espírito Santo (26.7%), Amazonas and Goiás (both with 18.1%), Minas Gerais (16.9%), Paraná (15.8%), Ceará (12.9%) and Pernambuco (12.5%). São Paulo (11.6%), industrial park with the greatest participation in the industrial structure of the country, the Northeast region (11.0%) and Bahia (10.2%) kept their two-digit rates. In these places we may observe a more dynamic production in automotive industry (cars, trucks, car pieces), sectors producing home appliances (white and brown goods) and machinery and equipment, besides activities associated to export commodities (iron ore and ironworks). The other positive results were: Rio de Janeiro (8.7%), Pará (8.3%), Rio Grande do Sul (7.5%) and Santa Catarina (6.9%).