In April 2015, the national industrial output shrank 1.2% over the previous month, in the seasonally adjusted series, the third consecutive negative result, accumulating in this period a 3.2% loss. In the comparison with the same month a year ago, the industry overall fell 7.6% in April  2015, the fourteenth negative rate in a row and sharper than the one seen in the previous month. 

In the year, the industrial sector accumulated a drop of 6.3%. The cumulative index over the last 12 months (-4.8%) had the most intense negative result since December 2009 (-7.1%) and kept the downward trend started in March 2014 (2.1%).

The industrial sector, in April 2015, is again showing a low pace of production, expressed not only in the third negative result in a row in the comparison with the previous month, but also in the widespread profile of negative rates this moth, since all major economic categories and the majority of the activities posted reduction in the production. It is worth mentioning that with April's result in 2015, the industry overall is 12.3% below the record level reached in June 2013. In the seasonally adjusted series, the signs of lower intensity prevail in the industrial activity, clearly shown in the evolution of the quarterly moving average index, which goes on in a downward trend started in October last year.

In the seasonally adjusted series, all four categories of industry going down

The 1.2% reduction of the industrial activity between March and April spreads over the four major economic categories and 19 of the 24 segments surveyed. Among the sectors, the major influences were recorded by Motor Vehicles, trailers and bodies (-2.5%) and toiletries, soaps, detergents and cleaning products (-3.3%), with the first segment registering the seventh month in a row of production drops and accumulating in the period a loss of 21.9%; and the second one sharpening the intensity of drops seen in the previous month (-0.9%).

Other important negative contributions to the industry overall came from electrical machinery and apparatus (-5.4%), other transportation equipment (-8.5%), basic metals (-2.4%), pharmaceuticals (-5.3%), fabricated metal products (-2.5%), rubber products and plastic material (-2.3%), beverages (-2.2%), pulp, paper and paper products (-2.2%), computer, electronic and optical products (-3.2%), food products (-0.4%) and machinery and equipment (-1.2%). On the other hand, among the five segments which increased the output in the month, the main influences were seen in mining and quarrying industries and coke, petroleum products and biofuels, both with an advance of 1.5%.

Among the major economic categories, still considering the comparison with the previous month, capital goods, dropping 5.1%, showed the sharpest reduction in April 2015 and the third consecutive negative rate, accumulating in this period a drop of 12.7%. The sectors of semi- and non-durable consumer goods (-2.2%) and durable consumer goods (-1.8%) also recorded more intense negative results than the national average (1.2%) with both recording the seventh month in a row of production drops and accumulating in this period losses of 8.4% and 15.3%, respectively. The segment of intermediate goods (-0.2%) had a more moderate drop this month, but kept the negative behavior seen since February, accumulating in the period a decrease of 1.1%.

In the seasonally adjusted series, the evolution of the quarterly moving average index for the industry overall had a reduction of 1.1% in the quarter ended in April 2015 against the previous month and kept the downward trend initiated in October 2014.

Industry drops 7.6% in relation to April 2014

In the comparison with the same month a year ago, the industrial sector fell 7.6% in April 2015, with widespread decrease in the four major economic categories, in 23 of the 26 segments, in 66 of the 79 groups and in 69,7% of the 805 products surveyed. Among the activities, motor vehicles, trailers and bodies, which fell 23.2%, exerted the major negative influence on the industry, pushed by the output reduction in the manufacturing of cars, tractor trucks for trailers and semi-trailers, trucks, car parts and trailers and semi-trailers and bodies for trucks and buses.

Other negative contributions with a relevant impact came from coke, petroleum products and biofuels (-8.4%), computer, electronic and optical products (-32.6%), pharmaceuticals (-23.5%), machinery and equipment (-11.8%), basic metals (-9.8%), beverages (-13.1%), rubber products and plastic material (-8.7%), wearing apparel and accessories (-13.0%), fabricated metal products (-8.8%), electrical machinery and apparatus (-10.1%) and other transportation equipment (-13.9%).

On the other hand, still comparing with April 2014, among the three activities that increased production, the main impact was seen in mining and quarrying industries (11.1%), leveraged to a great extent by the advances in the items pelletized and raw iron ores and crude petroleum oil.

Comparing with the same month a year ago, capital goods (-24.0%) and durable consumer goods, (-17.1%) recorded, in April 2015, the sharpest drops among the major economic categories. The producing segments of semi- and non-durable consumer goods (9.3%), with a drop above the national average (-7.6%), and of intermediate goods (-3.2%) also recorded negative rates this month.

The producing sector of capital goods, shrinking 24.0% in April 2015, registered the fourteenth consecutive negative rate in the monthly index and increased the pace of decline seen last March (-12.5%). In the formation of the index this month, the segment was influenced by the drops seen in  all of the groups, with a clear highlight to the reduction of 29.8% in capital goods for transportation equipment, especially pushed by the lower manufacture of tractor trucks for trailers and semi-trailers, trucks, vehicles for the transportation of goods, trailers and semi-trailers. The other negative rates were registered by capital goods for mixed purposes (-27.8%), for industrial purposes (-7.8%), for construction (-35.4%), for electricity (-20.2%) and for agricultural purposes (-12.2%).

The segment of durable consumer goods shrank 17.1% in April 2015, the fourteenth consecutive negative result in this comparison and much sharper than that of March (-6.3%). The highest pressures came from cars (-14.0%) and household appliances - brown goods (-42.2%), both influenced by the reduction in the working hours and by the granting of collective vacation in several producing units. Other negative impacts came from motorcycles (32.8%), of white goods (-10.6%), of furniture (-10.1%) and other household appliances (-4.2%).

The output drop in semi- and non-durable consumer goods (-9.3%) in April 2015 was the sixth consecutive negative result in relation to the same month a year ago and intensified the pace of decline seen last March (-3.0%). The performance this month was mostly due to the falls in all groups: non-durable goods (-15.0%), food and beverages for domestic consumption (-6.5%), semi-durable goods (-8.7%) and fuels (-8.9%). In these subsectors, the main negative impacts were recorded due to the lower manufacture of medicine, in the first one; of beer, draft beer, soft drinks, ice creams and popsicles, in the second; of pants, female leather footwear, molded plastic footwear, women’s T-shirts, blouses and the like, of cotton or not, in the third; and of motor gasoline, in the last subsector.

Still in relation to April 2014, the production of intermediate goods (-3.2%) registered in April the fourteenth consecutive negative rate, sharper than the one seen in the previous month (-2.0%). The result this month was mostly due to the drops in the products related to the activities of motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-20.2%), coke, petroleum products and biofuels (-8.2%), basic metals (-9.8%), fabricated metal products (-11.1%), rubber products and plastic material (-9.3%), non-metallic mineral products (-4.9%), textiles (-8.3%), pulp, paper and paper products (-2.6%), machinery and equipment (-3.2%) other chemicals (-0.5%), whereas positive pressures were recorded by mining and quarrying (11.1%) and food products (4.1%).

Industry accumulates drop of 6.3% in the year

In the cumulative index for the January-April period of 2015, over the same period in the previous year, the industrial sector posted a decrease of 6.3%, with widespread fall, reaching the four major economic categories, 24 of the 26 activities, 64 of the 79 groups and 68,9% of the 805 products surveyed. Among the sectors, the main negative impact came from motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-21.3%), pushed  to a great extent by the reduction of nearly 92% of the products investigated in the activity, with a highlight to the drops seen in cars, trucks, tractor trucks for trailers and semi-trailers, bodies for trucks and buses, car parts and trailers and semi-trailers.

Other relevant negative contributions came from the sectors of coke, petroleum products and biofuels (-7.9%), computer, electronic and optical products (-28.5%), machinery and equipment (-9.1%), pharmaceuticals (-18.7%), basic metals (-7.3%), wearing apparel and accessories (-13.6%), fabricated metal products(-7.8%), beverages (-7.1%), rubber products and plastic material (-5.9%), non-metallic mineral products (-5.4%), food products (-1.4%), other chemicals (-3.0%), electrical machinery and apparatus (-4.8%).

On the other hand, among the two activities that increased production, the main impact was seen in mining and quarrying industries (10.5%), leveraged to a great extent by the advances in the items pelletized and raw iron ores and crude petroleum oil.

Among the major economic categories, the behavior of the results for the first four months of 2015 recorded lower dynamism for capital goods (-19.7%) and durable consumer goods (-16.0%), pushed especially by the reduction in the manufacture of capital goods for transportation equipment (-26.0%), in the first category, and of cars (-15.5%), in the second one. The segments of semi- and non-durable consumer goods (-6.8%) and of intermediate goods (-2.9%) also recorded negative rates in the year, but the first one falling above the national average (-6.3%), and the second one with a more moderate fall among the major economic categories.