In the seasonally adjusted series, the growth in the pace of the industrial output in Brazil between August and September 2017 was followed by six out of the fourteen places surveyed, highlighted by the more intense increase recorded in Rio de Janeiro (8.7%), which intensifies the 3.1% growth registered last August. Goiás (2.1%), Pará (2.0%), São Paulo (1.3%), Paraná (0.2%) and Santa Catarina (0.2%) also had positive indexes in September 2017. On the other hand, Espírito Santo (-3.0%), Pernambuco (-2.5%) and the Northeast Region (-2.0%) recorded the highest results this month, with the first state offsetting part of the 6.7%  expansion seen in the previous month; the second, eliminating the 2.2% advance seen in August; and the last place declining again after having accumulated a 3.1% gain in the months of July and August. The other negative rates were registered in Ceará (-1.1%), Amazonas (-1.1%), Bahia (-1.1%), Rio Grande do Sul (-1.0%) and Minas Gerais (-0.4%).

Also in the seasonally adjusted series, the evolution of the quarterly moving average index for the industry overall had a slight positive change (0.1%) in the quarter which ended in September 2017 over the previous month, keeping the upward trend in progress since May 2017. In regional terms, still in relation to the marginal movement of this index, eight places posted positive rates, highlighted by the sharper advances reported by Bahia (3.8%), Rio de Janeiro (1.9%), Pará (1.4%), Goiás (1.0%), Paraná (0.7%) e São Paulo (0.6%). On the other hand, Espírito Santo (-2.3%) and Rio Grande do Sul (-1.3%) registered the highest losses in September 2017.

In the comparison with the same month in the previous year, the industrial sector grew 2.6% in September 2017, showing positive figures in ten out of the fifteen places surveyed. It is worth mentioning that September 2017 (20 days) had one less business day than the same month in the previous year (21).  This month, Pará (13.2%) and Rio de Janeiro (11.3%) posted the sharpest expansions, leveraged mainly by the advances seen in the sectors of mining and quarrying industries (raw or processed iron ores) in the first place; and of coke, petroleum products and biofuels (diesel fuel, fuel oil, motor gasoline, aviation kerosene, basic lubricants and naphthas for petrochemicals) and motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (cars and trucks), in the second one. Paraná (8.9%), Goiás (7.3%), Amazonas (6.8%), São Paulo (5.0%), Bahia (4.7%), Mato Grosso (4.5%) and Ceará (3.3%) also posted steeper positive rates than the national average (2.6%), whereas Santa Catarina (2.4%) closed the set of places that registered a rising output this month. On the other hand,  Rio Grande do Sul (-5.0%) and Pernambuco (-4.1%) had the sharpest decreases in September 2017, pressed, to a great extent, by the negative behavior of the sectors of Pulp, Paper and Paper Products (pulp) and food products (crude soybean oil, cakes, bagasse, bran and other residues from the extraction of soybean oil, cheese, concentrated fruit juice and meat and cooled or fresh offal) in the first place; and of food products (crystallized sugar and refined cane sugar) and beverages (sugar cane brandy and soft drinks), in the second. The other negative results occurred in Espírito Santo (-2.7%), Northeast Region (-1.3%) and Minas Gerais (-0.8%).

Industrial output increases in 13 of 15 places in Q3

In a quarterly basis, the industrial sector, advancing 3.1% in the third quarter of 2017, registered the highest positive rate since the second quarter of 2013 (5.1%) and kept the positive behavior registered in the first two quarters of the year: January-March (1.2%) and April-June (-0.3%), all comparisons against the same period a year ago. It is worth highlighting that these results interrupted eleven quarters of negative rates in a row in this kind of comparison. The increasing pace of production was seen in the total of industry between the second (0.3%) and the third quarter of 2017 (3.1%) was seen in eleven of the fifteen places surveyed, with a highlight to Bahia (from -6.3% to 5.6%), Mato Grosso (from -2.7% to 7.4%), São Paulo (from -0.2% to 5.4%), Paraná (from 1.9% to 6.8%) and Goiás (from -1.4% to 3.5%). On the other hand, the main losses between the two periods were registered by Espírito Santo (from 5.0% to 0.2%) and Rio Grande do Sul (from 2.0% to -1.4%).

In the cumulative indicator in the January-September 2017 period, against the same period last year, the expansion seen in the national production (1.6%) reached 12 out of the 15 places surveyed, with a highlight to the sharpest advances seen in Pará (9.8%) and Paraná (5.1%). Santa Catarina (3,6%), Espírito Santo (3,0%), Rio de Janeiro (2,8%), Amazonas (2,5%), Goiás (2,4%), Mato Grosso (2,1%), São Paulo (2,0%), Ceará (1,6%), Minas Gerais (1,6%) and Rio Grande do Sul (0,9%) close the set of places with positive results in the end of the nine months of the year. In these places, the greater dynamism was particularly influenced by the expansion in the manufacture of capital goods (especially those related to the agricultural, transportation and construction sectors); of intermediate goods (iron ore, petroleum, pulp, steel industry, sugar and soybean extraction derivatives); of durable consumer goods (cars and brown goods); and semi- and non-durable consumer goods (footwear, textiles and wearing apparel). On the other hand, Bahia (-2.9%) registered the biggest decline in the cumulative index in the year, mainly pressed by the negative behavior coming from the sectors of basic metals (copper and copper alloy bars, profiles and rebars) and of coke, petroleum products and biofuels (diesel fuel, naphtha for petrochemicals and fuel oil). The Northeast Region, with a drop of 0.9%, and Pernambuco (-0.1%) also recorded negative rates in the cumulative indicator between January and September 2017.

By expanding 0.4% in September 2017, the annualized rate - cumulative indicator in the last 12 months - had the first positive result since May 2014 (0.3%) and kept the upward trend started in June 2016 (-9.7%). In regional terms, ten of the fifteen places surveyed had positive rates in September 2017 and twelve pointed out more dynamism over last August's indexes. The main pace gains between August and September 2017 were recorded by Amazonas (from -0.2% to 1.6%), Espírito Santo (from -1.4% to 0.4%), Paraná (from 2.9% to 4.6%), Mato Grosso (from -1.6% to -0.3%), Goiás (from -1.6% to -0.5%), Bahia (from -5.1% to -4.1%), Rio de Janeiro (from 2.0% to 2.9%), Ceará (from -0.4% to 0.5%) and Pará (from 8.4% to 9.2%), whereas Rio Grande do Sul (from 0.8% to 0.5%) recorded the steepest reduction between the two periods.