In March of 2011, the regional indexes of the industrial output, in the seasonally adjusted series, increased in seven of the fourteen places surveyed...

In March of 2011, the regional indexes of the industrial output, in the seasonally adjusted series, increased in seven of the fourteen places surveyed, against February.

The most considerable increases were observed in Bahia (7.0%) and in the Northeast region (6.2%). They had registered losses of 5.8% and 2.2% in the previous month, mainly attributable to the lower production in the sector of chemical products, which, in turn, was due to electric shutdowns in the Northeast region in the beginning of February. The remaining positive rates were observed in the following places: Ceará (2.0%), Rio Grande do Sul (1.9%), São Paulo and Espírito Santo (both with 1.6%) and Paraná (1.1%). Conversely, Amazonas (-8.9%), Pará (-4.6%), Rio de Janeiro (-3.8%), Pernambuco (-2.2%), Santa Catarina (-1.2%), Goiás (-0.6%) and Minas Gerais (-0.1%) recorded negative rates.

Regarding the seasonally adjusted series, the acceleration of the productive pace in the first three months of 2011 made the national industrial sector advance 1.3% in the first quarter of the year against the immediately previous quarter.

In regional terms, eight of the fourteen places surveyed followed that movement. The highlights were Espírito Santo (8.3%), Paraná (5.7%), Amazonas (3.7%), São Paulo (2.2%) and Ceará (2.1%).

Compared with March of 2010, ten of the fourteen places surveyed registered a drop in production, mainly due to the calendar effect: March of 2011 had two trading days less than the same month a year ago. The places recording drops above the national average (-2.1%) were: Amazonas (-14.6%), Ceará (-9.9%), Paraná (-8.9%), Pará (-8.2%), Pernambuco (-7.3%), Santa Catarina (-4.7%), Bahia (-3.7%) and Northeast region (-3.6%). The remaining negative results were registered by Goiás (-1.4%) and Rio de Janeiro (-0.4%). Conversely, Espírito Santo, with an advance of 10.5%, recorded the most considerable growth, whereas Minas Gerais (2.0%), São Paulo (1.2%) and Rio Grande do Sul (0.9%) registered more moderate expansions.

At the end of the first quarter of 2011, against the same period a year ago, seven places recorded growth in production. The places that registered advances above the 2.3% for the total of the country were: Espírito Santo (11.3%), Paraná (4.8%), Minas Gerais (4.5%), São Paulo (3.8%) and Rio de Janeiro (2.7%). The strong presence of sectors associated with the production of durable consumer goods (automobiles, cell phones and motorcycles), capital goods (for construction, transportation and for industrial purposes), mining and quarrying sectors (petroleum, natural gas and iron ores) and manufacture of basic metals explains the more intense growth of those places. With gains lower than the average of the country, Rio Grande do Sul (1.5%) and Santa Catarina (0.3%) completed the set of places with positive rates. The negative results were registered in Goiás (-1.5%), Pará (-2.1%), Amazonas (-2.5%), Pernambuco (-4.9%), Northeast region (-6.2%), Ceará (-7.3%) and Bahia (-9.2%).

The regional indicators of production showed that the reduction in the growth pace, observed in the national indexes between the fourth quarter of 2010 (3.3%) and the first quarter of 2011 (2.3%) – both comparisons against the same period a year ago – was also reflected in ten of the fourteen places surveyed. The highlights were Goiás (from 15.0% to –1.5%), Pará (from 11.5% to –2.1%), Amazonas (from 4.1% to –2.5%), Pernambuco (from 1.7% to –4.9%) and Northeast region (from –1.5% to –6.2%). Conversely, Espírito Santo (from 6.6% to 11.3%) recorded the highest gain in pace between both periods and was the only one to point a growth rate of two digits in the first quarter of 2011.