The increase in the activity pace in March compared with February was observed in 13 of the 27 surveyed sectors. The highlights were electronic material and communication equipment (10.1%), which eliminated the loss of 3.1% recorded in the previous month; machines and equipment (1.8%); footwear and leather articles (9.2%); other transportation equipment (3.6%); metal products (2.5%) and electric machines, devices and material (2.9%).

Among the categories of use, still comparing with February, durable consumer goods (4.1%) and capital goods (3.4%) recorded the highest rates. The first one eliminated the loss of 1.1% observed in the previous month, and the second one accumulated a gain of 7.4% in three consecutive months of expansion. These categories reached the highest level since the beginning of the time series. The production of semi- and non-durable consumer goods also rose (1.0%), whereas intermediate goods (-0.2%) recorded the only negative result of March, after growing 1.3% in February.

Industrial output contracted by 2.1% compared with March a year ago.

Compared with March of 2010, the industrial output contracted by 2.1%, interrupting 16 consecutive months of positive rates. It is worth mentioning that March of this year had two less working days than in 2010. The index was pressured by the drop in production in all the categories of use, 17 of the 27 activities, 40 of the 76 subsectors and 53% of the 755 surveyed products. Among the sectors, the highest negative influences on the overall rate came from other chemical products (- 8.6%), edition and printing (-12.9%), textile (-15.7%), beverages (-9.7%), office machines and computer equipment (-14.8%) and food (-2.1%). In these sectors, the main contributors to the negative performance were, respectively: herbicides and paint and varnish for construction; books of any genre and newspapers; cotton fabric and cotton bathing suits; syrup for beverage preparations; monitors; and crystallized sugar. The main positive contributions were from petroleum refinement and alcohol production (13.8%); primary metallurgy (2.6%); medical-hospital, optical and other equipment (14.0%) and other transportation equipment (5.7%).

The indexes by category of use, still comparing with March of 2010, confirm the profile of predominance of negative rates in the industrial sector in March of 2011. Durable consumer goods (-5.2%) and semi- and non-durable consumer goods (-3.7%) recorded a dropping pace higher than the overall industry (-2.1%); whereas intermediate goods (-0.4%) and capital goods (-0.1%) recorded more moderate losses.

Durable consumer goods registered the highest reduction among the categories of use, pressured in great part by the contractions in the manufacture of automobiles(-7.8%); appliances (-14.0%), both "white line" (-9.6%) and "brown line" (-30.5%); and furniture (-18.1%). In this category, the positive pressures came from the higher output for cell phones (24.7%) and motorcycles (23.9%). The manufacture of semi- and non-durable consumer goods also showed a drop above the overall average. It was influenced by the contractions in other non-durable goods(-6.2%), semi-durable goods (-10.7%) and food and beverages elaborated for domestic consumption (-1.7%); attributable to the lower production of books and medicines, cotton bathing suits, plastic and leather footwear and soft drinks. Fuels (7.0%) registered the only positive impact on this category of use.

Comparing with March of 2010, intermediate goods (-0.4%) and capital goods (-0.1%) registered losses below the overall industry. In the first category, the negative influences came from products relative to other chemical products (-8.9%), textile (-14.0%) and food (-3.9%); while the main positive pressures were recorded from petroleum refinement and alcohol production (16.9%), primary metallurgy (2.6%), motor vehicles (3.9%) and non-metallic minerals (2.9%). In that category of use, the negative results of the producer goods for civil construction (-1.0%) and packaging (-0.9%) interrupted the sequences of 16 and 17 months, respectively, of positive rates in that type of comparison. The negative performance of capital goods was influenced by the drops in capital goods for electric energy (-17.2%) and for mixed use (-6.7%). The other subsectors recorded an advance in output: capital goods for transportation (5.5%), for construction (21.5%), for industrial purposes (4.0%) and for agricultural purposes (0.5%).

Output rises in 18 of the 27 activities in the accumulated index of the year

In the indicator accumulated in the first three months of 2011, the growth of 2.3% against the same period a year ago was sustained by the positive results in all the categories of use and in 18 of the 27 activities surveyed. Among the sectors, the manufacture of motor vehicles, with an increase of 10.0%, was the highest positive pressure, propelled by the expansion of 83% of the products surveyed. The highlights were automobiles, trucks, vehicles for the transportation of goods and tractor trucks. Other positive contributions came from machines and equipment (4.5%); other transportation equipment (13.3%); petroleum refinement and alcohol production (4.5%); medical-hospital, optical and other equipment (23.2%); mining and quarrying industry (3.3%) and non-metallic minerals (4.6%). In these activities, the highlights were: motor graders and wheel loaders; airplanes and motorcycles; diesel oil and gasoline; clocks; iron ores; ceramic tiles and plates and portland cement. Among the nine sectors with low output, other chemical products (-5.3%), textile (-10.4%) and edition and printing (-4.8%) exerted the highest negative impacts on the overall average.

In a quarterly base, one can observe that the industrial sector, having advanced 2.3% in the first three months of the year, has recorded positive results for six consecutive quarters; but it has registered an evident reduction in the pace of growth since the 18.2% recorded in the first quarter of 2010; both comparisons against the same period a year ago. Among the categories of use, capital goods, which changed from 7.1% in the last quarter of last year to 8.4% in the first three months of 2011, and durable consumer goods (from 1.5% to 5.0%) displayed gains between both periods. As for the other sectors, intermediate goods (from 3.8% to 1.6%) recorded the highest deceleration in the pace of growth between both periods, followed by semi- and non-durable consumer goods (from 1.6% to 0.3%), which recorded the lowest expansion in the first three months of 2011.