The regional industrial output indexes advanced in nine of the 14 places surveyed between January and February of 2011...

The regional industrial output indexes advanced in nine of the 14 places surveyed between January and February of 2011 in the seasonally adjusted series.

The highlights are Goiás (9.1%), Pernambuco (8.0%), Rio de Janeiro (5.1%), Amazonas (4.6%), Minas Gerais (3.4%) and Espírito Santo (2.2%), which recorded a growth above the national average (1.9%). The other regions with positive rates were: Ceará (1.4%), Rio Grande do Sul (1.2%) and São Paulo (1.1%). Among the five areas that reduced the production, Paraná (-10.5%) and Bahia (-8.8%) recorded larger drops than Pará (-2.0%), Northeast region (-1.1%) and Santa Catarina (-0.2%).

The output also grew in eight of the 14 places surveyed compared with February a year ago. That reflects not only a higher production in the beginning of the year, but also the "calendar effect", that is, in 2011 February had two more working days than in 2010. Recording higher increases than the national rate (6.9%), there were Espírito Santo (14.4%), Amazonas (11.1%), Paraná (9.4%), Minas Gerais (8.8%), Rio Grande do Sul (7.9%) and Rio de Janeiro (7.0%). The remainder positive results were from São Paulo (6.8%) and Santa Catarina (4.1%). Bahia (-15.6%) registered the most considerable drop, reflecting a lower production in the chemical sector (-48.0%). That low was due to a shutdown caused by a stop in the electric sector, which affected the Northeast region in the beginning of February. Negative results were also observed in: Northeast region (-9.1%), Pernambuco (-3.4%), Goiás (-2.2%), Ceará (-1.6%) and Pará (-1.5%).

In the accumulated indicator for the first two months of the year, the increase of the production reached nine of the 14 places surveyed. Five grew above the national average (4.6%): Paraná (13.8%), Espírito Santo (11.7%), Minas Gerais (6.0%), Amazonas (5.6%) and São Paulo (5.1%). In those areas, dynamism was influenced by the increase in the manufacture of durable consumer goods (automobiles and cell phones) and of capital goods, as well as by the recovery of typical exporting activities, especially commodities. With gains lower than the average, Rio de Janeiro (4.4%), Santa Catarina (3.3%) and Rio Grande do Sul (2.0%) completed the set of places with positive rates. The negative results were: Goiás (-1.6%), Pernambuco (-3.7%), Ceará (-6.0%), Northeast region (-7.5%) and Bahia (-12.1%).

Compared with the last quarter of 2010, the accumulated index for the first two months of 2011, against the same period a year ago, pointed to a slight national pace acceleration, as it changed from 3.3% to 4.6%. That movement was followed by six of the 14 places surveyed, and the highlights were Paraná (from 3.5% to 13.8%), Espírito Santo (from 6.6% to 11.7%), São Paulo (from 2.8% to 5.1%) and Santa Catarina (from 1.3% to 3.3%). Goiás (from 15.0% to –1.6%) and Pará (from 11.5% to 1.1%) accounted for the main reductions in the pace between both periods.