In the seasonally-adjusted series, the national industrial output advanced 0.6% in May 2015 over April 2015, interrupting three consecutive months of negative figures, when it registered a cumulative loss of 3.2%. Compared with May 2014, the overall industry dropped 8.8% in May 2015, the fifteenth negative rate in a row. Therefore, the industrial sector recorded a cumulative reduction of 6.9% in the first five months of 2015. Having declined 5.3% in May 2015, the annualized rate, which is the cumulative indicator of the last twelve months, maintained the downward trend started in March 2014 (2.1%) and posted the most intense negative figure since December 2009 (-7.1%).

The complete publication of the survey can be accessed here.

Industrial Output Indicators by Major Economic Categories
Brazil - May 2015

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas, Coordenação de Indústria
*Seasonally-adjusted series

14 of 24 sectors surveyed increase in May

The expansion of 0.6% in the industrial activity between April and May showed positive figures in two out of the four major economic categories and in 14 out of the 24 sectors surveyed. Among the sectors, the main positive influences were reported by other transportation equipment (8.9%), coke, petroleum products and biofuels (1.1%) and toiletries, soaps, detergents and cleaning products (1.9%). Other positive contributions came from the activities of beverages (2.7%), pharm-chemicals and pharmaceuticals (3.6%), manufacture of wearing apparel and accessories (3.4%), miscellaneous manufacturing (6.2%), wood products (4.9%) and pulp, paper and paper products (1.7%). Among the ten sectors that reduced the production in May, the most important performances were registered by food products (-1.9%), machinery and equipment (-3.8%) and textiles (-6.5%). It is also worth mentioning the negative impact reported by mining and quarrying industries (-0.5%), fabricated metal products (-2.1%), motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-0.5%) and plastic and rubber products (-1.2%).

Among the major economic categories, semi and non-durable consumer goods (1.2%) registered the highest growth in May compared with April 2015, interrupting seven consecutive months of negative figures, when they recorded a cumulative loss of 8.5%. The segment of capital goods (0.2%) also posted a positive rate in May. On the other hand, the sectors producing intermediate goods (-0.5%) and durable consumer goods (-0.1%) dropped.

Quarterly moving average falls 0.5%

Still concerning the seasonally-adjusted series, the evolution of the quarterly moving average index declined 0.5% in the quarter ended in May 2015, against the level of the previous month, keeping the downward trend started in September 2014. Among the major economic categories, in relation to the marginal movement of this index, capital goods (-2.8%) recorded the sharpest drop. The segments of durable consumer goods (-1.6%), semi and non-durable consumer goods (-0.6%) and intermediate goods (-0.5%) also recorded negative rates in May.

Industrial output falls 8.8% in relation to May 2014

Compared with the same month a year ago, the industrial sector dropped 8.8% in May 2015, pointing to a widespread profile of negative figures and reaching the four major economic categories, 23 out of the 26 sectors, 64 out of the 79 groups and 72.4% out of the 805 products surveyed. It is worth highlighting that May 2015 (20 days) had one business day less than the same month a year ago (21). Among the activities, that of motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-25.5%) exerted the highest negative influence on the industry average. Other relevant negative contributions came from food products (-8.7%), machinery and equipment (-20.8%), computer, electronic and optical products (-32.4%), fabricated metal products (-14.3%), basic metals (-8.0%), pharm-chemicals and pharmaceuticals (-16.4%), plastic and rubber products (-10.0%), beverages (-10.9%), electrical machinery and apparatus (-11.7%), textiles (-17.3%), manufacture of wearing apparel and accessories (-11.9%), non-metallic mineral products (-6.9%) and other chemicals (-4.4%). Among the three activities that increased the production, the main impact was caused by mining and quarrying industries (7.7%), leveraged, at a large extent, by the advances in crude and pelletized iron ore and in crude petroleum oil.

Still comparing with May 2014, capital goods (-26.3%) and durable consumer goods (-17.8%) registered the steepest declines among the major economic categories. The sectors producing semi and non-durable consumer goods (-10.4%) and intermediate goods (-4.9%) also posted negative rates.

Cumulative industrial output drops 6.9% in 2015

In the cumulative index for the January-May 2015 period, over the same period in the previous year, the industrial sector dropped 6.9%. Negative rates prevailed, since the four major economic categories, 24 out of the 26 sectors, 67 out of the 79 groups and 71.4% out of the 805 products surveyed declined their production. Among the sectors, the main negative impact was reported in motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-22.3%). Other relevant negative contributions came from the sectors of computer, electronic and optical products (-29.2%), coke, petroleum products and biofuels (-6.4%), machinery and equipment (-11.0%), pharm-chemicals and pharmaceuticals (-18.1%), food products (-3.4%), basic metals (-7.6%), fabricated metal products (-9.1%), manufacture of wearing apparel and accessories (-13.2%), beverages (-7.5%), plastic and rubber products (-6.5%), non-metallic mineral products (-5.7%), other chemicals (-3.3%), electrical machinery and apparatus (-6.0%), textiles (-9.0%) and other transportation equipment (-7.0%). Among the two activities that increased the production, the main influence was exerted by mining and quarrying industries (9.9%).

Among the major economic categories, the behavior of the results for the first five months of 2015 showed lower dynamism for capital goods (-20.6%) and durable consumer goods (-16.4%), pushed especially by the reduction in the manufacture of capital goods for transportation equipment (-26.8%), in the first category, and of cars (-16.0%), in the second one. The segments of semi and non-durable consumer goods (-7.5%) and intermediate goods (-3.4%) also registered negative figures in the cumulative index of the year.