With the reduction of 0.7% in the national industry, in the seasonally-adjusted series, between January and February 2021, ten out of 15 places surveyed by the IBGE registered negative rates. The steepest drops took place in Ceará (-7.7%), Pará (-7.4%) and Bahia (-5.8%), whereas the major advances were in Mato Grosso (7.3%) and Espírito Santo (4.6%). Concerning the quarterly moving average, nine out of 15 places surveyed recorded positive rates in the quarter ended in February, highlighted by Mato Grosso (3.3%), Rio de Janeiro (1.7%), Minas Gerais (1.0%) and Santa Catarina (0.7%).

In the cumulative index in 12 months, eight out of 15 places surveyed posted positive rates in February 2021.

In the seasonally-adjusted series, ten out of 15 places surveyed registered negative rates. Ceará (-7.7%), Pará (-7.4%) and Bahia (-5.8%)  recorded the steepest drops, the first one stepping up the retreat of 1.6% reported in the previous month; the second one offsetting part of the cumulative advance of 9.1% in December 2020 and January 2021; and the third one posting the third consecutive negative rate and accruing a loss of 14.9% in this period. The Northeast Region (-2.6%), Paraná (-2.5%), Santa Catarina (-1.5%), São Paulo (-1.3%), Rio Grande do Sul (-1.1%), Pernambuco (-1.1%) and Amazonas (-0.9%) were the other places that registered a drop in the output in February 2021.

On the other hand, Mato Grosso (7.3%) and Espírito Santo (4.6%) recorded the biggest advances this month, both of them rising once again after declining last January: -1.3% and -10.1%, respectively. Goiás (2.0%), Rio de Janeiro (1.9%) and Minas Gerais (0.5%) registered the other positive figures this month.

The quarterly moving average for the industry rose 0.2% in the quarter ended in February 2021 over the level of the previous month, after rises in January 2021 (0.7%), December (0.9%), November (1.6%), October (2.4%), September (4.8%), August (7.0%) and July (9.0%) 2020, when it interrupted the downward trend started in November 2019.

Positive rates were recorded in nine out of 15 places surveyed. The biggest advances were in Mato Grosso (3.3%), Rio de Janeiro (1.7%), Minas Gerais (1.0%) and Santa Catarina (0.7%). In contrast, the major retreats were in Amazonas (-6.0%) and Bahia (-5.2%).

Compared with February 2020, the national industry grew 0.4% in February 2021, with rises in five out of 15 places surveyed. It is worth mentioning that February 2021 (18 days) had the same number of business days as the same month a year ago (18).

Santa Catarina (8.1%), Rio Grande do Sul (7.9%) and Minas Gerais (5.8%) registered the highest rises. In Santa Catarina, the advance was mainly due to the sectors of machinery and equipment, manufacture of wearing apparel and accessories, basic metals and electrical machinery and apparatus. In Rio Grande do Sul, the result came from the sectors of machinery and equipment and fabricated metal products. In Minas Gerais, it was leveraged by the sector of motor vehicles, trailers and bodies and by the mining and quarrying industries. São Paulo (4.4%) and Paraná (3.1%) recorded the other positive rates this month.

Conversely, Bahia (-20.9%), Pará (-11.4%), Espírito Santo (-10.1%), Amazonas (-9.9%), the Northeast Region (-9.7%) and Goiás (-7.7%) posted the most intense retreats in February 2021. The negative behavior of the activities of motor vehicles and petroleum products and biofuels influenced the negative figures in Bahia and in the Northeast Region. The weight of the mining industry explained the negative performance in Pará and Espírito Santo. Amazonas was influenced by the sectors of beverages, other transportation equipment (motorcycles) and computer equipment, electronic and optical products. Goiás was affected by the poor performance in the sectors of pharm-chemicals and pharmaceuticals (medicines), food products and mining and quarrying industries (like copper ore). Rio de Janeiro (-3.9%), Mato Grosso (-3.8%), Pernambuco (-1.5%) and Ceará (-0.5%) recorded the other negative figures in February 2021.

In the comparison between the last quarter of 2020 and the first bimester of 2021, both of them compared with the same periods last year, 11 out of 15 places surveyed decelerated, following the national index, which changed from 3.5% to 1.3%.

Amazonas (from 8.3% to -9.8%), Bahia (from -2.0% to -18.0%), the Northeast Region (from 3.3% to -6.6%), Espírito Santo (from -2.7% to -9.3%), Pernambuco (from 8.4% to 3.2%), Paraná (from 11.8% to 7.1%) and Ceará (from 9.4% to 4.9%) registered the sharpest losses, whereas Mato Grosso (from -10.6% to -9.0%) and Rio de Janeiro (from -6.1% to -4.5%) recorded the major gains between the two periods.

In the cumulative indicator in the year, against the same period in 2020, the expansion in the national production reached eight out of 15 places surveyed, highlighted by Santa Catarina (9.5%), Rio Grande do Sul (8.4%), Minas Gerais (7.8%) and Paraná (7.1%). São Paulo (5.0%), Ceará (4.9%) and Pernambuco (3.2%) also registered positive rates above the national average (1.3%), whereas Pará (1.0%) completed the number of places with cumulative rises in the year.

On the other hand, Bahia (-18.0%) recorded the biggest retreat in the cumulative index in the first bimester of the year, mainly pressed by the negative behavior of the activities of motor vehicles, trailers and bodies. Amazonas (-9.8%), Espírito Santo (-9.3%), Mato Grosso (-9.0%), Goiás (-9.0%), the Northeast Region (-6.6%) and Rio de Janeiro (-4.5%) also dropped in the cumulative indicator in the January-February 2021 period.

The cumulative index over the last 12 months (-4.2%) in February 2021 repeated the result of last January, its less intense decline since April 2020 (-2.9%). Thirteen out of 15 places surveyed recorded negative rates in February 2021, though the retreats were less intense in four of them than in last January.

Minas Gerais (from -1.3% to -0.5%), São Paulo (from -5.7% to -5.1%), Rio Grande do Sul (from -4.8% to -4.3%) and Santa Catarina (from -3.6% to -3.1%) posted the advances between January and February 2021, whereas Bahia (from -7.2% to -9.4%), Pará (from 1.5% to 0.1%), the Northeast Region (from -3.8% to -5.2%), Pernambuco (from 4.0% to 3.0%), Rio de Janeiro (from -1.1% to -2.1%), Espírito Santo (from -13.5% to -14.1%) and Amazonas (from -6.7% to -7.3%) registered the biggest losses between the two periods.