With a negative change of 0.3% in national industry in February, in the seasonally adjusted series, five of the 15 locations surveyed by the IBGE in this indicator presented negative rates.

The biggest declines were recorded in Mato Grosso (-3.3%), Goiás (-2.4%) and Pará (-2.2%). Santa Catarina (-0.6%) and São Paulo (-0.5%) completed the set of places with negative results. Rio Grande do Sul (9.4%), Amazonas (7.3%) and Espírito Santo (5.9%) recorded the highest expansions of the month. Ceará (5.2%), Pernambuco (5.2%), Rio de Janeiro (2.0%), Bahia (1.8%), Northeast Region (1.6%), Minas Gerais (0.9% ) and Paraná (0.6%) showed the other positive results in this indicator.

In relation to the quarterly moving average, the industry showed a negative change of 0.1% in February 2024 compared to the previous month, interrupting the upward trend begun in February 2023. Five of the 15 places surveyed recorded negative rates in the quarter ending in February, with a highlight to Pará (-1.6%) and Goiás (-1.1%). In comparison with February 2023, there was growth of 5.0% in the country's industrial sector, with growth in 16 of the 18 locations surveyed. Among them, Rio Grande do Norte (67.3%), Rio Grande do Sul (18.3%), Amazonas (17.2%) and Ceará (14.3%) stand out with the biggest expansions.

In the cumulative indicator of 2024, the industrial sector recorded an expansion of 4.3%, compared to the same period of the previous year. In the last 12 months, the industrial sector advanced 1.0%, with positive rates in 12 of the 18 areas surveyed.

In the 0.3% decline in industrial production from January to February, in the seasonally adjusted series, five of the 15 areas surveyed showed negative rates. Mato Grosso (-3.3%), Goiás (-2.4%) and Pará (-2.2%) recorded the sharpest drops, with the first eliminating part of the 3.6% increase recorded in the previous month; and the last two marking the second consecutive month of decline in production, a period in which they accumulated losses of 6.2% and 7.8%, respectively. Santa Catarina (-0.6%) and São Paulo (-0.5%) completed the set of locations with negative indices in February 2024.

On the other hand, Rio Grande do Sul (9.4%), Amazonas (7.3%) and Espírito Santo (5.9%) showed the sharpest expansions this month, with the first eliminating the 5.7% drop recorded last January; the second completing the third consecutive month of growth in production, a period in which it accumulated a gain of 35.1%; and the last one returning to growth after falling 5.8% in the previous month. Ceará (5.2%), Pernambuco (5.2%), Rio de Janeiro (2.0%), Bahia (1.8%), Northeast Region (1.6%), Minas Gerais (0.9% ) and Paraná (0.6%) recorded the other positive results in February 2024.

The quarterly moving average index of the industry showed a negative change of 0.1% in the quarter ending in February 2024 compared to the level of the previous month, thus interrupting the predominantly upward trend begun in February 2023. Five of the 15 places surveyed showed negative rates this month, with a highlight to the sharpest declines recorded by Pará (-1.6%) and Goiás (-1.1%). On the other hand, Amazonas (10.4%), Pernambuco (5.6%), Ceará (3.4%), Northeast Region (2.3%), Rio Grande do Sul (1.9%) and Minas Gerais (1.0%) showed the main advances in February 2024.

In comparison with February 2023, the national industry grew 5.0% in February 2024, with positive rates in 16 of the 18 locations surveyed. It is worth mentioning that February 2024 (19 days) had one more working day than the same month in the previous year (18). This month, Rio Grande do Norte (67.3%), Rio Grande do Sul (18.3%), Amazonas (17.2%) and Ceará (14.3%) recorded double-digit advances and were the sharpest ones.

In Rio Grande do Norte, growth was mainly influenced by the positive behavior observed in the sector of coke, petroleum products and biofuels (diesel fuel and motor gasoline).

In the case of Rio Grande do Sul, the explanation for the positive result lies in the behavior of petroleum-derived products and biofuels (diesel fuel, motor gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas, naphthas and fuel oils).

In the case of Amazonas, growth was influenced by computer equipment, electronic and optical products (ATMs, memory units, receiver-decoder of coded video signals, devices for reception, conversion and broadcast of images or data and televisions), machinery and equipment (wall, window or transportable air conditioning units – including split systems) and other transportation equipment (motorcycles and their parts and accessories).

In Ceará, the explanation for the positive result lies in the behavior of leather goods, travel items and footwear (leather sports shoes and molded plastic footwear) and the manufacture of wearing apparel  and accessories (panties, bra straps and bras).

Espírito Santo (10.5%), Goiás (10.4%), Rio de Janeiro (10.2%), Mato Grosso do Sul (9.4%), Mato Grosso (9.2%), Santa Catarina ( 6.6%), Bahia (6.1%), Pernambuco (5.3%) and Minas Gerais (5.2%) also presented positive rates above the national average (5.0%). Paraná (4.7%), São Paulo (4.6%) and the Northeast Region (2.8%) completed the set of places with growth in production in the monthly index of February 2024.

On the other hand, Maranhão (-0.5%) and Pará (-0.1%) recorded declines this month, largely pressured by basic metals (aluminum oxide) and mining and quarrying industries (pelletized or sintered iron ores) in the fisrt location; and mining and quarrying industries (iron and manganese ores – both raw or processed), in the second.

The cumulative result for the year increased 4.3%, compared to the same period of the previous year, with positive results in all the eighteen areas surveyed. Rio Grande do Norte (71.5%), Amazonas (14.0%) and Goiás (10.4%) recorded double-digit advances and the sharpest ones in the cumulative index for the first two months of the year.

In Rio Grande do Norte, growth was influenced by coke, petroleum products and biofuels (diesel fuel and motor gasoline).

In the state of Amazonas, the result was due to computer equipment, electronic and optical products (ATMs, televisions, encoded video signal receiver-decoder, memory units and devices for reception, conversion and transmission of images or data), machines and equipment (wall, window or transportable air conditioning units – including split systems) and other transportation equipment (motorcycles and their parts and accessories).

In Goiás, growth was influenced by food products (fresh or chilled beef, mayonnaise, frozen, fresh or chilled poultry meat and offal and pies, bagasse and bran from soybean oil extraction), coke, petroleum products and biofuels (ethyl alcohol and biodiesel), chemical products (mineral or chemical fertilizers of NPK formulas, liquid and bar soaps or detergents and superphosphates) and motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (cars).

Ceará (8.8%), Rio de Janeiro (8.7%), Mato Grosso (8.7%), Bahia (7.1%), Santa Catarina (6.6%), Espírito Santo (6.2 %), Rio Grande do Sul (6.2%), Mato Grosso do Sul (6.0%), Minas Gerais (5.8%) and São Paulo (4.8%) also recorded more intense positive rates than the national average (4.3%), while Paraná (4.0%), Pernambuco (3.2%), Pará (2.6%), Northeast Region (2.3%) and Maranhão (1.7% ) completed the set of locations with growth in production in the cumulative index in the year.

The cumulative result in the last twelve months, by increasing 1.0% in February 2024, intensified the pace compared to the results of January 2024 (0.4%) and December 2023 (0.1%). Twelve of the 18 locations surveyed recorded positive rates in February 2024 and 16 showed greater dynamism compared to the rates in January 2024. Rio Grande do Norte (from 21.4% to 27.5%), Rio Grande do Sul (from -4 .4% to -2.2%), Mato Grosso (from 6.8% to 8.5%), Ceará (from -4.7% to -3.1%), Bahia (from -0.4% to 0.6%), Espírito Santo (from 12.0% to 12.9%), Santa Catarina (from -0.4% to 0.4%), Goiás (from 6.4% to 7.3% ), Amazonas (from 2.0% to 2.9%) and Pernambuco (from 2.3% to 3.1%) recorded the main gains between January and February 2024, while Maranhão (from -3.6% to -4.1%) and Minas Gerais (from 3.2% to 3.1%) showed losses between the two periods.