Industry prices changed 0.83% in August, a result below July's (1.13%). In that same comparison, 22 of the 24 activites had positive price changes, against 20 in the previous month. In August 2017, the result was 0.29%. The cumulative index of the year, with the result of August 2018, reached 10.75% and the cumulative index in 12 months, 16.51%. The support material of the Producer Price Index is on the right of the page.

In August, the prices of the mining and quarrying and manufacturing industries (general industry), changed 0.83% when compared to July, a lower percentage than the one seen in the comparison between July/June (1.13%). The four greatest changes seen in August/2018 occurred in the following industrial activities: beverages (3.95%), wood (3.54%), tobacco (2.57%) and other chemicals (2.19%). In terms of influence between August/2018 and July/2018 (0.83%), the highlights were other chemicals (0.23 pp), beverages (0.10 pp), basic metals (0.09 pp) and motor vehicles (0.08 pp).

The cumulative indicator in the year (August/2018 versus December/2017) reached 10.75%, versus 9.83% in July/2018.  It was the biggest result for a month of August of the time series started in 2014. Among the activities that registered the highest percentage changes in this indicator, the highlights were: mining and quarrying industries (25.54%), other chemicals (23.28%), petroleum refining and ethanol products (16.32%) and other transportation equipment (15.06%). The sectors of higher influence were: other chemicals (2.24 pp), petroleum refining and ethanol products (1.87 pp), food (1.58 pp) and basic metals (1.18 pp).

The cumulative indicator in 12 months (August/2018 against August/2017) reached 16.51%, against 15.89% in July/2018. In this indicator, the month of August/2018 recorded the highest result of the time series. The four biggest changes were in mining and quarrying industries (58.61%), other chemicals (34.91%), petroleum refining and ethanol products (33.92%) and basic metals (24.42%). The sectors that exerted the biggest influence were: petroleum refining and ethanol products (3.55 pp), other chemicals (3.23 pp), mining and quarrying industries (1.91 pp) and basic metals (1.90 pp).

In August, there was a price change of 0.83% among the Major Economic Categories as it follows: 1.26% in capital goods; 1.03% in intermediate goods; and 0.36% in consumer goods, of which 0.91% were in durable consumer goods and 0.19%, in semi and non-durable consumer goods. From the general result, 0.83%, the influence of the Major Economic Categories was the following (table 5): 0.11 pp from capital goods, 0.61 pp from intermediate goods and 0.12 pp from consumer goods. In the case of consumer goods, -0.05 p.p. was due to price changes observed in semi- and non-durable consumer goods and 0.02 p.p. in durable consumer goods.

As to the cumulative index over the year (current month against December last year), the price changes of industry reached, until August, a change of 10.75%, of which 8.83% was the change of capital goods (with influence of 0.75 pp), 15.23% was of intermediate goods (8.67 pp) and 3.82%, of consumer goods (1.32 pp). In the latter, the result was influenced at 0.32 pp by durable consumer goods and at -1.00 pp, by semi-and non-durable consumer goods.

In the annual rate, in August, the price change in the industry reached 1.66%, with the following changes: capital goods, 3.94% (0.34 pp); intermediate goods, 1.49% (0.83 pp); and consumer goods, 1.38% (0.49 pp); the influence of durable consumer goods was 0.36 pp and of semi- and non-durable consumer goods of 0.14 pp.

The highlights in the results came from the following sectors:

Mining and quarrying industries: in August, the mining and quarrying industries recorded a change of 1.61% in prices, in relation to July. In the cumulative index over 12 months, the sector registered a positive change of 3.02%, against 2.37% in March.  In terms of influence, there was a contribution of 1.00 pp on the cumulative indicator of the general industry (10.75%). The result had the influence of 0.07 pp of the 0.83% observed for the indicator (M/M-1) for the general industry. "Iron ore" and "natural gas" influenced positively the monthly change of the activity. The sector presented a cumulative change in the year of 25.54%. In terms of influence, there was a contribution of 1.00 pp on the cumulative indicator of the general industry (10.75%).

In relation to August last year, the change observed was 58.61% in the prices of the sector. As to influence, the sector had contributions of 1.91 pp on the change of 16.51% in the general industry. All the products surveyed in the activity represented a positive contribution on this indicator.

Food: in August, the average price change in the comparison with July was of -0.40%, the second negative result in a row. As result, the cumulative index of the year was of 8.27%, the third consecutive around 8.0%, although the smallest one (8.93%, in June; 8.71%, in July). It is worth mentioning that in this kind of comparison and in August, since the beginning of the series, this is the second biggest result (only behind the 2012 result of 14.41%). In the comparison with August 2017, the change was of 9.22%, the highest one observed since November 2016, 9.46%. Finally, in terms of index-numbers, the last three results (126.78, 126.52 and 126.01, respectively of June, July and August) are the biggest ones of the series, which had its highest point in December 2016, 125.52.

The sector's highlight occurred because it was the third biggest influence in the cumulative result. Behind Other chemicals (2.24 pp) and Petroleum refinement and ethanol products (1.87 pp), the sector had an influence of 1.58 pp in 10.75%.

In terms of influence in August against July, of the four highlighted products ("residues of soybean extraction", "sterilized/UHT/Long Life milk", "fresh or cooled beef" and "granulated sugar") just "residues of soybean extraction” had a positive influence. The influence of the four products together was of -0.42 pp, which means the other 39 selected products had a small positive influence (of 0.02 pp).

The cumulative result, in which the sector stands out, is marked by the positive influence of products that have a direct impact on the exchange market (with the depreciation of the real nearly at 19%) as is the case of the soybeans derivatives and "concentrated orange juice", together with the "Sterilized/UHT/Long Life milk", whose prices are influenced by the off-season period.

Beverages: the prices of the beverages represent a positive change of 3.95% in August 2018 in comparison with July mostly due to the highest prices of "beer and draft beer". This figure reinforces the recovery of the prices registered in the previous month, when the sector recorded an increase of 0.14% in the same indicator, after seven months of drop. New prices for "beer and draft beer" were the main cause of the increase.

In the cumulative of the year, the sector recorded a change of -3.73% in August, decreasing the negative rates of this same indicator in the previous months, a period in which it even achieved a change of -7.39% (July). In the comparison with the same month a year ago, the change was of 0.25%.

The change of prices seen in the sector caused it to have the second biggest influence in the MoM calculation of the mining and quarrying industries and manufacturing industries, so the sector of beverages accounted for 0.10 pp of the change of 0.83% of the general industry.

Petroleum refining: The average price change observed between July and August was 0.13%, keeping a positive sequence since March, the highest in the series, 7.36% May). The current change is the lowest ever. The cumulative change up to August was 16.32%. In comparison with the same month of the previous year, the most recent variation, 33.92%, is lower than the previous month (42.41%), which, in turn, was the highest in the series (started in December of 2010).

The highlight of the sector is the fact that it is the third largest variation in accumulated indicators and M / M  _-12 , the second largest influence on the accumulated index (1.87 pp in 10.75%) and first in the comparison August 2018 / August 2017 (3.55 pp in 16.51%).

Among the products with the greatest influence (-0.05 pp in 0.13%), there were two negative variations, among them the higher weight, "diesel oil and other fuel oils" (the other, which is not among the four largest weight ratio, is "ethyl alcohol (anhydrous or hydrated)"). As then the influence of the four products highlighted is negative, this means that 0.18pp was the influence of the other four products selected for the sector.

Other chemicals:  in August, the chemical industry showed an average variation of 2.19% in July, the fourth highest variation among all activities analyzed by IPP, completing twelve consecutive months of price increases. With this, there was a positive variation of 23.28% in the accumulated of the year (the highest one occurred in August, since the beginning of the series in 2010) and 34.91% in the last 12 months (greater variation reached for this activity in the whole series), a situation quite different from that which occurred in August 2017, when, for example, the accumulated in 12 months was 0.32%.

The figures reported this month were linked to international prices, the costs of the imported raw material, to the prices of petroleum derivatives – especially naphtha, to the valuation of the US dollar in relation to the Real, which hit 2.6% this month; 19.4% in the cumulative rate in the year; and 24.7%, in 12 months. Finally, it is worth mentioning that in August, of the 32 products analyzed in the sector, 14 had price increases, so most products presented a downward movement.

In relation to the four products with the greatest influence, three presented positive values, "fertilizers based on NPK", which at that time of the year usually presents prices with this behavior, "HDPE", "polypropylene (PP)" and only "sulfate of ammonium or urea "dropped.

Basic Metals:  when comparing August 2018 prices against July 2018, there was a variation of 1.10%, 11 positive changes in the last 12 months (in January 2018 the variation was -0.06%), in this way, the activity accumulated in the year a variation of 14.74% and in the last 12 months 24.42% (higher variation achieved for this activity, in these two indices since the beginning of the IPP series). An analysis of the index-numbers of the series indicates that, between December 2013 (base of the series) and March 2018, the prices of the sector had a cumulative change of 49.70%.

Among the four products that had the largest price variations considering the month against the previous month, accumulated in the year and accumulated in the last 12 months, all the results were positive, except for the results of the product "crude aluminum alloys" in the month from August to July.

Those four products represented 0.81 pp in the month, i. e., 0.29 pp is the influence of the other 18 products. The four products are: "Carbon steel ingots, blocks, billets or plates", "unwrought aluminum alloys", "coils or plates of stainless steel, including strip" and "uncoated carbon steel coils".

Motor vehicles: in March, in March, the change seen in the sector was of 0.82%, when compared to the previous month. With such a result, the cumulative change of the year reached 4.95%. Just for the sake of comparison, in August 2017, the cumulative index was 2.99%. In the last 12 months, the sector accumulated a change of 6.54%.

It is worth highlighting that the monthly change represented the twelfth consecutive positive result and the 24^th one over the last 25 months, as the only negative change was recorded in August 2017 (-0.08%). The period between August 2016 and June 2018 posted a cumulative change of 12.80%.

Among the four products that mostly influenced the M/M-1, all of them positively impacted on the index: "biofuel, gasoline or ethanol passenger car of any engine power output", motor vehicle engine pieces", "vehicles for gasoline or alcohol goods with capacity below 5t" and "motor vehicle gearboxes". The first two products are among the industry's top four products. The influence of those four products that most had an impact on the monthly change was of 0.69 pp, i. e., the other 21 products of the activity contributed just with 0.13 pp.