With a decrease of 2.4% in the national output of industry, eight of the fourteen areas surveyed recorded negative rates from December 2017 to January 2018, in the seasonally adjusted series.

The main decreases were those of Paraná (-4.5%), which reversed part of the 1.5% growth in the previous year, Rio Grande do Sul (-3.5%), which returned part of the 10.1% expansion in November and December 2017, and São Paulo (-3.3%), which had an increase of 4.8% in the last two months last year. 

Ceará (-2.2%), Rio de Janeiro (-2.1%), Northeast Region (-1.1%), Espírito Santo (-0.9%) and Santa Catarina (-0.1%) also recorded negative indexes in January.

The positive results of industry came from: Pará (7.3%), which fell by 1.5% in December 2017; Amazonas (7.1%), which had a cumulative increase of 20.4% in two consecutive months; Goiás (2.4%); Pernambuco (1.5%); Minas Gerais (1.4%) and Bahia (0.9%).

 Also in the seasonally adjusted series, the quarterly moving average of industry increased 0.3% in the quarter ended January 2018, against the previous month, and it has remained on an upward trend since April 2017. Ten subsectors recorded increase, the main highlights being Amazonas (4.8%), Pará (2.4%), Rio Grande do Sul (2.0%), Minas Gerais (1.4%), Espírito Santo (0.9%) and Bahia (0.9%). The biggest decreases were those of Paraná (-1.3%), Goiás (-1.0%) and Rio de Janeiro (-1.0%).

Against the same month in 2017, industry grew 5.7% in January 2018, with positive results in 11 of the 15 areas surveyed. In the month, Amazonas (32.7%), Pará (14.1%) and Santa Catarina (10.9%) recorded significant increases, mainly due to the sectors of beverages and computer equipment, electronic and optical products, in the first location; mining and quarrying industry, in the second one; and basic metals, food products, textiles, metal products and manufacture of wearing apparel, in the last one.

São Paulo (7.5%) and Rio Grande do Sul (6.6%) also recorded figures above the national average (5.7%), whereas Bahia (5.6%), Rio de Janeiro (5.1%), Ceará (4.9%), Minas Gerais (4.0%), Goiás (3.0%) and Northeast Region (0.4%) completed the group of areas with increase of output in the month.

Espírito Santo (-7.8%) recorded the biggest decrease in January 2018, mainly due to the negative performance of basic metals, of mining and quarrying industry and of non-metallic mineral products. The other negative results were those of Pernambuco (-2.4%), Paraná (-1.8%) and Mato Grosso (-0.4%).

The comparison of the last quarter of 2017 with the first month of 2018 (seasonally-adjusted series), eight of the fifteen areas surveyed recorded increase of dynamism, following the movement of the national index, which changed from 4.9% to 5.7%. In that same type of comparison, Amazonas (from 9.2% to 32.7%), Rio Grande do Sul (from -1.0% to 6.6%), Bahia (from -0.6% to 5.6%), Santa Catarina (from 7.5% to 10.9%), Pará (from 11.1% to 14.1%) and Minas Gerais (de 1,5% para 4,0%) recorded the biggest increases. Mato Grosso (from 11.8% to -0.4%), Goiás (from 10.6% to 3.0%), Espírito Santo (from -2.2% to -7.8%), Paraná (from 2.4% to -1.8%) and Rio de Janeiro (from 7.8% to 5.1%) accounted for the main decreases between the two periods.

The cumulative index in the last 12 months (2.8%) recorded the biggest increase since June 2011 (3.6%), having remained on an upward trend since June 2016 (-9.7%). By area, 11 of the 15 areas surveyed recorded increases in January 2018, but only seven of them had bigger dynamism against the indexes of last December, following the movement of national industry, which recorded a change from 2.5% to 2.8%.

Amazonas (from 4.2% to 6.1%), Bahia (from -1.8% to 0.0%), Rio Grande do Sul (from 0.1% to 0.9%), São Paulo (from 3.5% to 3.9%) and Santa Catarina (from 4.6% to 4.9%) had the biggest increases between December 2017 and January 2018. The main decreases between the two periods were those of Espírito Santo (from 1.7% to -0.1%), Pernambuco (from -0.9% to -2.3%), Mato Grosso (from 3.9% to 3.0%) and Paraná (from 4.4% to 3.7%).