Industrial prices changed 1.23% in November 2024 over October 2024, the tenth positive figure in a row. In this comparison, 18 out of 24 industrial activities increased their prices. The cumulative index in the year was 7.81%, whereas the cumulative indicator in 12 months stayed at 7.59%. The IPP had been -0.34% in November 2023.

The Producer Price Index (IPP) of the Mining and Manufacturing Industries measures the evolution of the prices of products "at the factory gate", free from taxes and freight, and encompasses the broad economic categories.

In November 2024, industrial prices changed 1.23% over October 2024. Eighteen out of 24 industrial activities investigated in the survey registered positive price changes over the immediately previous month. On the other hand, 15 activities had higher average prices in October than the previous month.

The four most intense changes were in basic metals (3.62%), other transportation equipment (2.74%), computer equipment, electronic and optical products (2.56%) and tobacco (2.41%).

Food products was the industrial sector that most stood out in the composition of the aggregate result in the price comparison between November and October. The activity accounted for 0.53 percentage points (p.p.) of influence in the change of 1.23% of the overall industry. Still in this area, other activities that also stood out were basic metals, with 0.24 p.p. of influence, mining and quarrying industries (0.09 p.p.) and petroleum refining and biofuels (0.09 p.p.).  

The cumulative index in the year was 7.81% in November. As a comparison, the cumulative rate up to November had been -4.80% last year (2023). The value of the cumulative rate in the year until this reference month was the fifth highest ever registered for November since the beginning of the time series in 2014.

Among the activities that reported the highest changes in the cumulative index in the year in November 2024, the highlights were: basic metals (23.39%), tobacco (15.78%), wood (15.77%), and other transportation equipment (13.96%).

In the composition of the aggregate result of industry, from the perspective of this same indicator (cumulative in the year), the main influences were those of food products (2.93 p.p.), basic metals (1.37 p.p.), other chemicals (-0.96 p.p.) and motor vehicles (0.28 p.p.).

In the cumulative index in 12 months, comparing the prices in November 2024 with November 2023, the change was 7.59% in this reference month. In the previous month (October 2024), this indicator had registered 5.92%.   

The sectors with the four highest price changes in the comparison between November and the same month in the previous year were: basic metals (23.92%), wood (15.37%), tobacco (14.55%) and other transportation equipment (14.40%).

In the same comparison, the sectors that most influenced the aggregate result were food products (2.98 p.p.), basic metals (1.39 p.p.), other chemicals (0.89 p.p.) and petroleum refining and biofuels (-0.38 p.p.).

Among the broad economic categories, the November´s result showed: change of 1.52% in capital goods (BK); 1.39% in intermediate goods (BI); and 0.94% in consumer goods (BC), being the change in durable consumer goods (BCD) of 0.15% and 1.10% in semi and non-durable consumer goods (BCND).

The major influence came from intermediate goods, whose weight in the composition of the overall index was 55.13% and accounted for 0.76 p.p. out of the change of 1.23% in the mining and manufacturing industries.

Consumer goods (influence of 0.35 p.p.) and capital goods (0.11 p.p.) completed the list. In the case of consumer goods, the influence noticed in November was 0.01 p.p., due to the change in the prices of durable consumer goods and 0.34 p.p. related to price changes in semi-and non-durable consumer goods.

In the cumulative index in the year, the change hit 6.02% in the case of capital goods; 6.65% in intermediate goods; and 9.95% in consumer goods, being that durable consumer goods accumulated a change of 3.59%, whereas semi and non-durable consumer goods accumulated 11.25%.

In terms of influence on the cumulative result in the year, capital goods accounted for 0.46 p.p. of the rate of 7.81% registered by the overall industry up to November 2024. Intermediate goods, in turn, accounted for 3.71 p.p., whereas consumer goods exerted an influence of 3.64 p.p. on the aggregate result of industry, an influence that splits into 0.22 p.p. due to the changes in the prices of durable consumer goods, and 3.41 p.p. caused by changes of semi and non-durable consumer goods.

Considering the cumulative index in 12 months, the change of prices of capital goods was 5.69% in November 2024. The prices of intermediate goods, in turn, changed 6.30% in this period of one year and the change in consumer goods was 9.98%, being that durable consumer goods changed their prices by 3.38% and semi and non-durable consumer goods, by 11.34%.

Weighting 37.28% in the calculation of the overall index, consumer goods accounted for 3.64 p.p. out of 7.59% of cumulative change in 12 months in industry, in the reference month. In the result of November 2024, intermediate goods also influenced 3.51 p.p. and capital goods, 0.44 p.p. de bens de capital. 

The result of consumer goods was especially influenced in 0.21 p.p. by durable consumer goods, and in 3.43 p.p. by semi and non-durable consumer goods, the latter with a weight of 83.96% of that broad category.

Mining and quarrying industries: the average price change of this sector was positive for the second consecutive month, now at 1.99% (against 7.84% in October. As a result, the cumulative index in the year changed from -2.15% in October to -0.20% in November. In the 12-month comparison, the result returned to the positive side (2.09%), after two months of negative figures (-9.22% in September and -6.99% in October).

This sector exerted the third biggest influence on the monthly figure, with 0.09 p.p. out of 1.23% in the overall change.  

Food products: comparing the current month with the immediately previous one, food prices were positive for the eighth month in a row. In November, that change was 2.09%, the second highest in this period, losing only to September (3.60%). As a result, the cumulative index in the year was 11.85% (it had been -3.03% in November 2023) and the cumulative rate in 12 months, 12.12%, the highest one since August 2022 (12.72%).

Among all activities surveyed, the highlight in the sector was due to the fact that it accounted for the most intense influence on the three comparisons: in the change between November and October, 0.53 p.p. out of 1.23%; in that between November in the current year and December last year, 2.93 p.p. out of 7.81%; and in that between current November and November last year, 2.98 p.p. out of 7.59%.

The four products that most influenced the monthly result accounted for 1.43 p.p. out of 2.09%. It should be mentioned that three out of four products recorded a positive change, except "sterilized milk/UHT/long life milk". Currency, with a depreciation against the dollar of 3.3% between October and November, and of 18.6% between November 2024 and December or November 2023, was a strong element that explained the increases registered, especially in the case of the exportable products (like those three). The domestic demand also contributed to that increase, as it benefited from a warm labor market. In the case of milk, the drop in the prices reflected a more intense acquisition period in the dairy belts.

Petroleum refining and biofuels: after two months of negative changes in the comparison month against immediately previous month, the prices in this sector returned to the positive side (0.89%). As a result, the cumulative index in the year stayed at 0.63% (it was -11.89% in November 2023) and the cumulative indicator in 12 months remained on the negative side (-3.42%) as it has been since September.

The highlight of this sector was in line with the behavior of its prices in the perspectives of the monthly and annual comparisons. In the first case, it was the fourth influence among all the industrial sectors, accounting for 0.09 p.p. out of 1.23%. In the other case, it accounted for -0.38 p.p. out of 7.59%, the fourth most intense and the only negative value among the four highlights.

The four products that most influenced the monthly result accounted for 0.74 p.p. out of 0.89%. It should be mentioned that "gasoline, except for aviation" was among them, the second highest weight in the calculation of this sector (23.05%).

Other chemicals: the chemical industry stood out in November for showing the third highest weight in the calculation of the IPP (7.98%) and for being among the four most intense influences, both in the cumulative indicator in the year and in the cumulative rate in 12 months.

In November, the average prices of the chemical industry rose 0.80%, reversing the reduction of -0.55% registered in October. With such result, the cumulative indicator up to November stayed at 11.71%, whereas it was -16.31 in the same period in 2023. The chemical sector contributed with 0.06 p.p. out of the total change of 1.23% of the November´s index, and with 0.90 p.p. out of the change of 7.81% of the cumulative index in the year of the overall industry.

The cumulative result in 12 months, in turn, changed from 9.24% in October to 11.62% in November, reversing the deceleration started in August 2024.

The positive change of the average prices of this activity (0.80%), noticed between October and November 2024, was also followed by the three dissemination groups investigated, highlighted by the advance of 2.87% in "inorganic chemicals", of 1.03% in "manufacture of agricultural defensives and household disinfectants", and of 0.51% in "manufacture of resins and elastomers". In general, changes in costs of acquisition of raw material and changes in terms of sales were among the major reasons mentioned by companies to rise prices in November.

Basic metals: in November, the change in the prices of this activity was 3.62% in relation to the previous month, the most intense among 24 activities analyzed, besides being the second biggest influence (0.24 p.p. out of 1.23%) and the tenth consecutive positive figure in this indicator. As a result, this activity accumulated a rise of 23.39% in the first 11 months of 2024 and also stood out as the highest change and the second biggest influence (1.37 p.p. out of 7.81%) in this indicator among the activities surveyed. In the cumulative index in 12 months, the prices in November 2024 were, on average, 23.92% higher than those in November 2023. That change also stood out among the other activities as the most intense one in this indicator and as the second major influence (1.39 p.p. out of 7.59%).

The group that mostly influenced both the month´s result and the results of the longer-term indicators was that of non-ferrous metals. Their changes are usually linked with quotations in international markets and they have been mainly impacted by changes in the quotation of aluminum (as in November), gold and copper. The importance of the currency exchange should be reminded to explain the result of this sector: in November, the dollar appreciated 3.3% against the real and it already accumulated a rise of 18.6% in the year and in the last 12 months.

The group of steel products, which has helped to explain the sectoral result in the last months, changed 0.98% in November, reaching the second consecutive month of positive changes. The November´s figure could be mainly explained by an upturn of the demand for steel products and by the recent recovery of the prices of iron ore, the major input used in its productive chain. With the November´s result, this group accumulated a rise of 7.14% in the year as well. And, in the cumulative indicator in 12 months, the group maintained the acceleration with a change of 8.03%, the highest result of this indicator since June 2022, when it had accumulated a rise of 8.18%.

Motor vehicles: compared with the immediately previous month, this sector changed 0.43% in November, the sixth consecutive figure on the positive side and the tenth rise registered in the 11 months of the year. Therefore, this activity accumulated a change of 3.69%, a result above that accumulated up to the same month a year ago (2.11%). In the cumulative indicator in 12 months, this sector changed 3.51%, the highest change for this indicator since October last year (when it accumulated a rise of 3.53%), though was still 12.43 p.p. below the highest change recorded by the cumulative indicator in 12 months in the entire time series, which happened in January 2022 (15.94%).

The analysis of the products of this sector showed that, among the four most influential products in the month, three of them followed the sector average and impacted positively the index (“chassis with engine for buses or for trucks”, "tractor truck for trailers and semi-trailers" and "steering/suspension pieces for motor vehicles except springs"). Only the product "gear boxes for motor vehicles" negatively influenced the result. The influence of these four products that most impacted the change in relation to the previous month was 0.33 p.p., i.e., the other 19 products of this activity contributed 0.10 p.p. to the sector result.

Among all the sectors analyzed in the survey, the activity of motor vehicles stood out in November for showing the fourth biggest influence on the overall result of industry in the cumulative indicator in the year (0.28 p.p.  out of 7.81%) and for reporting the fourth highest weight in the calculation of the overall indicator, with a contribution of 7.41%.