In the seasonally adjusted series, the industrial output in Brazil declined (-0.3%) in April 2014 over the immediately previous month, registering the second consecutive negative figure in this type of comparison and a cumulative loss of 0.8% in this period. Compared with the same month last year in the seasonally unadjusted series, the industry overall recorded a drop (-5.8%) in April 2014, after falling 2.0% in January, rising 4.6% in February and declining 0.7% last March. As a result, the industrial sector recorded a cumulative drop (-1.2%) in the first four months of the year. By advancing 0.8% in April 2014, the annualized rate - cumulative indicator in the last 12 months - posted a clear reduction in the growth pace over last March (2.1%).

The complete publication of the survey and all its results can be accessed on page https://www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/industria/2014/pimpfbr/.

Industrial Output Indicators by Major Economic Categories
Brazil - April 2014

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

In April 2014, the industrial sector reduced the pace once more, registering the second consecutive month of drop. Negative rates also prevailed, since three out of the four major economic categories and the majority of the activities reduced the production. Considering the result of April, the industry was 4.5% below the record level reached in May 2011. Still considering the seasonally adjusted series, the reduced pace of the industrial activity in April was also reflected in the evolution of the quarterly moving average index. By recording a negative change of 0.2% in April, it reduced the pace against March (0.7%).

Compared with the same month last year, the industrial sector also posted a drop in the production in April 2014 (-5.8%). It was the steepest decline since September 2009 (-7.3%), showing the predominance of negative rates among the major economic categories and the activities surveyed. Besides the reduced pace of production, it should be highlighted the influence of the calendar effect upon the result of April, since April 2014 had two less business days than the same month a year ago.

Considering the index that closed the first four months of 2014, the overall industry declined 1.2% and recorded a reduced pace against the results of the first (3.1%), second (2.5%) and third four-month periods of 2013 (1.0%), all of them compared with the same periods of the previous year. Among the major economic categories, the biggest loss of dynamism was reported in capital goods, which changed from 11.4% in the last four-month period last year to -4.8% in the first four months of 2014, mainly influenced by the reduced manufacturing of capital goods for transportation equipment (from 7.3% to -10.3%). The segments of durable consumer goods (from 0.9% to -1.0%) and of intermediate goods (from -0.5% to -1.5%) also registered negative rates in the first four months of the year. The former segment reversed the expansion recorded in the last four-month period of 2013, pressed at a great extent by the reduced manufacturing of cars (from -5.5% to -10.6%), and the latter accelerated the pace of decline against the last four months of 2013. By changing from 0.7% to 1.1%, the sector producing semi and non-durable consumer goods was the only one to post a gain between the two periods, maintaining the sequence of positive figures started in the last four months of 2012.

12 out of 24 sectors surveyed drop in April

The negative change of 0.3% in the industrial activity between March and April showed the predominance of negative figures, reaching three out of the four major economic categories and 12 out of the 24 sectors surveyed. Among the activities, the main negative influences were registered in basic metals (-2.7%), non-metallic mineral products (-1.5%), wearing apparel and accessories (-1.6%), wood products (-3.2%), rubber and plastic products (-0.9%) and furniture (-2.3%). Except for the last sector, which recorded a cumulative expansion of 5.7% between January and March, the others also posted a drop in the production last February: -2.4%, -0.9%, -0.6%, -2.3% and -1.4%, respectively. Among the 11 sectors that expanded the production, the most important performance for the overall average was registered by food products (2.6%), offsetting the fall of 1.3% posted in the previous month. Other relevant positive contributions to the overall industry came from the increased manufacturing of soaps, detergents, cleaning products, cosmetics, toiletries and personal care (3.1%), pharm-chemical and pharmaceutical products (4.9%), coke, petroleum products and biofuels (1.0%), machinery and equipment (1.5%) and motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (0.6%).

Still comparing with the immediately previous month, durable consumer goods registered the sharpest fall in April 2014 among the major economic categories. By declining 1.6%, second negative figure in a row in this type of comparison, it registered a cumulative drop of 4.8% in this period. By also declining more than the overall industry (-0.3%), the segment of capital goods (-0.5%) recorded the second consecutive month of drop, posting a cumulative loss of 4.5% in this period. By negatively changing 0.2%, the sector producing intermediate goods halted three consecutive months of positive rates, a period in which it registered a cumulative expansion of 0.9%. The segment of semi and non-durable consumer goods (0.4%) was the only one to increase the production in April, maintaining the predominantly positive behavior in 2014.

Quarterly moving average changes -0.2%

Still concerning the seasonally adjusted series, the evolution of the quarterly moving average index for the overall industry pointed to a negative change of 0.2% in the quarter ended in April against the level of the previous month, after advancing 0.7% in March, when it halted the downward trend started in October last year. Among the major economic categories, still in relation to this index on the margin, capital goods declined (-0.6%) and registered the most intense drop in April, after rising 5.2% in March, when it reversed the negative behavior since November 2013. The segment of durable consumer goods (-0.2%) also recorded a negative index in April 2014 and halted the downward trend started last January. The sectors producing semi and non-durable consumer goods (0.2%) and intermediate goods (0.1%) posted the positive rates in April, yet reducing the growth pace against March (0.8% and 0.3%, respectively).

Industrial output falls (-5.8%) compared with April 2013

Compared with the same month last year, the industrial sector fell 5.8% in April 2014. Negative figures prevailed, since all four economic categories and 20 out of the 26 sectors declined the production. It is worth mentioning that April 2014 (20 days) had two working days less than in the same month last year (22). Among the activities, motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-21.3%) exerted the biggest negative influence on the industry average, pressed at a great extent by the reduced manufacturing of cars, vehicles for transportation of goods, trucks, tractor trucks for trailers and semi-trailers, diesel engines for buses, trucks and cars, chassis with engine for buses and trucks, trailers and semi-trailers, bodies for trucks and buses and car pieces. Other relevant negative contributions to the overall industry came from the reduced manufacturing of machinery and equipment (-9.9%), food products (-4.0%), other chemicals (-9.0%), electrical machinery and apparatus (-15.1%), fabricated metal products (-10.8%) and basic metals (-6.2%).

In terms of products, the most important negative pressures in these sectors were, respectively, valves, taps and cocks; ball bearings, needles and cylinders for industrial equipment; turbines and water wheels and their parts and pieces; centrifugal pumps, compressors used in refrigeration devices, farm tractors and their parts and pieces, harvesters, seeders, planters or spreaders, trailers and semi-trailers for agricultural use, cranes, overhead travelling cranes and crane girders, self-propelled stacker forklifts, backhoe excavators and excavators; frozen poultry and giblets, frozen pork, fresh, refrigerated and frozen beef, crystallized and VHP sugar; unsaturated ethylene, unsaturated propene, benzene, unsaturated butadiene, fungicides and insecticides for use in agriculture, herbicides, additives for lubricants and paints and varnishes for printing and construction; wires, cables and electrical conductors with insulating layer, for electrical voltage less than or equal to 1000v, switches, disconnectors and commutators, circuit breakers for any electrical voltage and boards, panels, cabinets and other supporting devices, refrigerators or freezers for domestic use, stoves, washing machines and household appliances; iron and steel structures, tubular scaffolds, iron and steel bridges and parts, prefabricated metal constructions, iron and steel window frames, artifacts of forged iron and steel and iron and steel forged in forms and pieces; and steel plates, coils, tapes and foils, steel bars and rebars and wires, carbon steel wires, artifacts and pieces of cast iron and aluminum. Among the six activities which increased the production, still comparing with April 2013, the main impacts were reported in mining and quarrying industries (4.8%) and coke, petroleum products and biofuels (4.0%), leveraged, at a large extent, by the increased manufacturing of items crude or processed iron ores, in the former sector, and fuel oil, lubricants, petroleum asphalt and diesel oil, in the latter.

Still comparing with the same month a year ago, capital goods (-14.4%) and durable consumer goods (-12.0%) registered the steepest declines among the major economic categories in April 2014. The segments of intermediate goods (-4.5%) and semi and non-durable consumer goods (-3,9%) also recorded negative figures, though at a lower level than the overall average (-5.8%).

By declining 14.4% in April 2014, the sector of capital goods posted the most intense drop since December 2012 (-18.0%) and registered the second consecutive month of negative figure in this type of comparison. In the formation of the April´s rate, this segment was influenced by the decline in the majority of its groups, highlighted by the reduction of 21.8% of capital goods for transportation equipment, mainly pressed by the reduced manufacturing of trucks, tractor trucks for trailers and semi-trailers and vehicles for transportation of goods. The other negative rates were recorded by capital goods for industrial use (-8.1%), for agriculture (-11.0%), for construction (-15.1%) and for mixed use (-6.4%), whereas capital goods for electricity (0.0%) remained at the same level of April 2013.

The sector producing durable consumer goods declined 12.0% in the monthly index of April 2014, posting the sharpest fall since February 2012 (-23.8%) and registering the second consecutive negative figure in this type of comparison. In April, this sector was particularly pressed by the reduced manufacturing of cars (-21.0%). It is worth mentioning the negative impacts coming from furniture (-14.5%),  white goods (-7.9%), other household appliances (-13.0%) and motorcycles (-10.0%). Conversely, the main positive influence was reported in the groups of brown goods (20.9%), especially leveraged by the increased production of TV sets.

Still comparing with the same month a year ago, the segment of intermediate goods (-4.5%) also registered a negative figure in April 2014, after recording two consecutive months of increased production. The performance in April was influenced by the decline in the products associated with the activities of motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-17.9%), other chemicals (-9.0%), fabricated metal products (-13.0%), basic metals (-6.2%), non-metallic mineral products (-6.3%), machinery and equipment (-13.0%), textiles (-12.7%), food products (-2.3%), rubber and plastic products (-4.1%) and pulp, paper and paper products (-1.8%), while the positive pressures were reported in mining and quarrying industries (4.8%) and coke, petroleum products and biofuels (4.7%). Still in this category, it is also worth mentioning the negative figures recorded by the groups of inputs for civil construction (-9.7%), which posted the second consecutive decline in this type of comparison, and of packaging (-2.0%), after two months of positive rates in a row.

The reduced manufacturing of semi and non-durable consumer goods (-3.9%), which halted two consecutive months of positive rates, was explained at a large extent by the declines coming from the groups of semi-durable (-10.3%), food and beverages for domestic consumption (-3.2%) and non-durable (-2.2%), mainly pressed by the reduced manufacturing of leather and plastic footwear for women, mattresses and trousers for women, in the first sub-sector, of frozen poultry and giblets, fresh, refrigerated and frozen beef, wines, ice creams and popsicles, in the second, and of books, medicines and cigarettes, in the last. On the other hand, the group of fuels (1.9%) posted the only positive figure in April, leveraged by the increased production of ethyl alcohol.

Cumulative index in the year drops (-1.2%)

The industrial sector recorded a decrease of 1.2% in the cumulative index for the January-April 2014 period, against the same period in the previous year. Fifteen out of the 26 sectors surveyed reduced the production. The main negative impact was reported by motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (-10.2%), pressed, at a large extent, by the reduced manufacturing of approximately 81% of the products surveyed in this sector, highlighted by the declined posted in cars, tractor trucks for trailers and semi-trailers, trucks, vehicles for transportation of goods and car pieces. Other relevant negative contributions to the overall industry came from the sectors of fabricated metal products (-8.5%), electrical machinery and apparatus (-7.5%) and other chemicals (-3.3%). In terms of products, the most important negative influences in these sectors were, respectively, iron and steel structures, prefabricated metal constructions, iron and steel frames, tubular scaffolds and material for scaffolds, iron and steel bridges and pieces and iron and steel miscellaneous artifacts; wires, cables and electrical conductors, switches, disconnectors and commutators, boards, panels, cabinets and other mountings and refrigerators or freezers for domestic use; and unsaturated propene, unsaturated ethylene, herbicides, benzene, paint and varnish for printing, polypropylene and fungicides and insecticides for use in agriculture. Among the 11 activities which increased the production, the main influences were reported by computer, electronic and optical products (16.6%), mining and quarrying industries (3.9%) and pharm-chemicals and pharmaceuticals (9.5%), leveraged, at a large extent, by the increased manufacturing of TV sets, video displays for computers and mobile telephones, in the first, crude and processed iron ores, in the second, and medicines in the last.

Among the major economic categories, the profile of the cumulative index in the first four months of 2014 showed less dynamism for capital goods (-4.8%), specially pressed by the reduced manufacturing of capital goods for transportation equipment (-10.3%), highlighted by the losses coming from items tractor trucks for trailers and semi-trailers, trucks and vehicles for transportation of goods. The segments of intermediate goods (-1.5%) and durable consumer goods (-1.0%) also registered negative figures in the cumulative index in the year. On the other hand, the sector producing semi and non-durable consumer goods (1.1%) recorded the only positive rate, mainly leveraged by the increased manufacturing of medicines, motor gasoline and ethyl alcohol.