Between August and September of 2011, the regional indexes of the industrial output registered negative rates in 7 of the 14 places surveyed by IBGE, in the seasonally adjusted series.

Paraná, with a drop of –13.5%, registered the most dramatic contraction, after accumulating a gain of 20.4% in the last four months of growth. The other places to register decreases larger than the national average (-2.0%) were: São Paulo (-4.2%), the most diversified and relevant industrial park in the country, Rio de Janeiro (-3.0%) and Minas Gerais (-2.7%). Rio Grande do Sul (-1.4%), Santa Catarina (-0.8%) and Pará (-0.2%) also recorded losses of output between August and September. Conversely, the seven areas to register advances in production were: Goiás (8.8%), Amazonas (4.3%), Ceará (2.5%), Espírito Santo (2.5%), Pernambuco (1.6%), Northeast region (1.1%) and Bahia (1.0%).

The complete publication of this survey can be accessed at www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/industria/pimpfregional/.

Comparing with the same month last year, 8 of the 14 places showed a decrease in production in September, having Ceará (-8.6%), Minas Gerais (-5.8%), Santa Catarina (-4.5%), São Paulo (-3.9%) and the Northeast region (-2.3%) registered higher losses than the national average (-1.6%). The remaining negative figures were observed in Bahia (-0.7%), Espírito Santo
(-0.1%) and Rio de Janeiro (-0.1%). Among the places that registered increase in production, Amazonas (11.3%) and Goiás (10.7%) showed the highest expansion, followed by Pernambuco (6.4%), Pará (4.8%), Rio Grande do Sul (2.8%) and Paraná (1.5%).

In the accumulated figures between January and September 2011, compared with the same period last year,

the expansion of the industrial activity at national level (1.1%) reached 9 of the 14 places surveyed, being Espírito Santo (8.2%) the most relevant, leveraged by the two-digit growth in the mining and quarrying sector. Goiás (5.7%), Paraná (4.4%), Amazonas (3.1%), Pará (2.8%), Rio Grande do Sul (1.9%), São Paulo (1.6%) and Rio de Janeiro (1.3%) also showed rates above the national average. Minas Gerais recorded a growth of 0.8% compared to the same period last year. The positive performance of these places shows the influence of sectors involved in the production of capital goods (for transportation and construction) and of durable consumer goods (motorcycle, mobile phones and clocks) as well as the growth in the sectors of mining and quarrying, pharmaceutical products, non-metallic minerals and basic metals. On the other hand, Pernambuco (-1.4%), Santa Catarina (-3.9%), Bahia (-4.3%), the Northeast region (-5.2%) and Ceará (-13.2%) registered decrease in production in the 9 first months of the year.

In the quarterly analysis,

the null growth (0.0%) shown by the industrial sector in the third quarter of the year kept the descending curve started in the first quarter of 2010 (18.2%), both figures compared with the same period in the previous year. It is important to mention that this result halted 7 consecutive quarters of positive rates in this kind of comparison. At regional level, 7 places showed positive rates when comparing the third quarter of 2011 with the same period in 2010, being the most relevant Goiás (9.7%), Paraná (9.6%), Amazonas (8.4%) and Pará (6.3%), while Ceará (-12.8%) registered the most significant decline. The less dynamism noticed at national level from the second quarter (0.6%) to the third quarter of the year (0.0%) was followed by 6 of the 14 places surveyed, being Espírito Santo (from 13.6% to 0.5%), Minas Gerais (from 0.5% to -2.2%), São Paulo (from 1.5% to -0.5%) and Rio de Janeiro (from 1.6% to -0.3%) the places with the largest declines between the two periods. On the other hand, Paraná (from -1.1% to 9.6%), Pernambuco (from -3.6% to 4.3%) and Amazonas (from 3.1% to 8.4%) were the places that showed the highest advances between the second and third quarters of the year.

The quarterly moving average at national level declined -0.6% between August and September, accelerating the dropping pace compared with the result of the previous month (-0.3%). At regional level, 7 of the 14 places surveyed also registered negative numbers, being the most relevant Bahia (-2.7%), Espírito Santo (-2.1%), Minas Gerais (-1.4%) and São Paulo (-1.3%). On the other hand, the largest growth was observed in Amazonas (1.4%), Rio de Janeiro (1.2%) and Ceará (1.0%). Still regarding the quarter-over-quarter index in the seasonally adjusted series, the industrial production also showed a contraction in the pace, by changing from an expansion of 1.3% in the first 3 months of the year to -0.6% in the second quarter, to -0.8% in the third quarter. At regional level, 8 places registered reduction in the pace from the second to the third quarter, being the most relevant Bahia (from 7.9% to -2.8%), Espírito Santo (from 1.2% to -7.5%) and the Northeast region (from 2.6 to -1.1%), whereas Paraná (from -0.7% to 7.7%), Santa Catarina (from -6.8% to -0.3%) and Ceará (from -4.4% to -0.4%) registered the highest gains between the two periods.