In April 2024, industry prices changed 0.74% compared to March 2024, the third positive result in a row in this indicator. In this comparison, 20 of the 24 industrial activities had positive price changes. The cumulative result for the year was 0.99%, while the cumulative result in 12 months was -3.08%. In April 2023, the IPP had been -0.35%, in the same cumulative index over 12 months.

The Producer Price Index (IPP) for Mining and Quarrying and Manufacturing Industries measures “factory-gate” prices of products, without taxes and freight, and covers the broad economic categories.

The industrial prices changed 0.74% in April 2024 against March. Compared to the previous month, 20 out of 24 industrial activities investigated in the survey showed positive price changes. In comparison, 16 activities had shown higher average prices in March against the previous month, when the change in this same indicator had also been positive for the general industry.

The most significant price changes were in pulp and paper (3.99%); mining and quarrying industries (-3.58%); tobacco (2.49%); and pharmaceuticals (2.10%).

Food products were the most relevant in the composition of the aggregate result, compared to March. This activity was responsible for 0.19 percentage points (pp) of influence on the change of 0.74% in general industry. Other activities that also stood out were mining and quarrying industries (-0.19 pp), pulp and paper (0.12 pp) and petroleum refining and biofuels (0.08 pp).

The cumulative index in the year which compares prices in the reference month to those in December of the previous year, reached a change of 0.99%. In 2023, the cumulative rate up to April was -0.99%. This cumulative rate is the fourth lowest recorded for an April since the time series began in 2014.

In April 2024, among the activities with the highest change were: pulp and paper (7.55%), basic metals (5.81%), footwear and leather products (5.16%) and pharmaceuticals (5.01%). In the composition of the aggregate result for industry, from the perspective of this same indicator (cumulative over the year), the main influences recorded were: -0.35 pp, basic metals: 0.34 pp, petroleum refining and biofuels: -0.24 pp and other chemicals: 0.23 pp.

The cumulative index in 12 years was -3.08% in April. In the previous month, the rate was -4.13%. The sectors with the four highest price changes when comparing April with the same month of the previous year were: petroleum refining and biofuels (-9.65%); printing (7.54%); other chemical products (-7.08%); and fabricated metal products (-5.64%). The most influential sectors on the aggregate result in this same comparison were: petroleum refining and biofuels (-1.07 pp); food products (-0.94 pp); other chemical products (-0.58 pp); and basic metals (-0.33 pp).

Among the broad economic categories, the changes of prices in April compared to March 2024 were: 1.16% change in capital goods (BK); 0.59% in intermediate goods (BI); and 0.89% in consumer goods (BC), with 0.83% observed in durable consumer goods (BCD) and 0.90% in semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods (BCND).

Also in this indicator, the main influence was exerted by consumer goods, whose weight in the overall index was 36.87%, having accounted for 0.33 pp of change and 0.74% in mining and quarrying and manufacturing industries. Completing the list were intermediate goods, with an influence of 0.33 pp, and capital goods, with 0.09 pp. In the case of consumer goods, the influence registered in April was split into 0.05 pp, due to the changes in prices of durable consumer goods and 0.28 pp of semi and non-durable consumer goods.

As for the cumulative index in the year, changes were 1.12%, for capital goods; 0.41%, for intermediate goods; and 1.86%, for consumer goods - with durable consumer goods having a cumulative change of 1.07% and semi-and non-durable consumer goods, of 2.02%.

In terms of influence on the cumulative index in the year, capital goods accounted for 0.09 pp of the rate of 0.99% registered in the overall industry up to April this year. Intermediate goods, in turn, accounted for 0.23 pp, whereas consumer goods exerted an influence of 0.68 pp on the aggregate result of industry, split into 0.07 pp due to the changes in the prices of durable consumer goods and 0.61 pp caused by changes in semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods.

Considering the cumulative index in 12 months, the change of prices of capital goods was -0,99% in April 2024. The prices of intermediate goods, in turn, changed -4.67% in the period of one year and the change in consumer goods was -1.03%, with durable consumer goods having changed by 2.48% and semi- and non-durable consumer goods, -1.72%.

Concerning the influences in the aggregate result, capital goods, weighting 7.72% in the overall index, accounted for -0.07 pp of the cumulative change of -3.08% in industry for 12 months, in this month of reference. In the April 2024 result, there was, also, an influence of -0.37 p.p. from consumer goods and of -2.63 p.p. from intermediate goods.

The result of consumer goods was influenced in 0.15 pp by durable consumer goods and in -0.52 pp by semi- and non-durable consumer goods, the latter with a weight of 83.11% in the index of this broad category.

Mining and quarrying industries: for the second month in a row, month-on-month, the prices in this sector registered a negative average change, reaching -3.58% in April. As a result, the cumulative indicator remained positive, but fell from 5.41% in March to 1.64% in April. Finally, the cumulative rate in 12 months was -4.05%, being negative again after four months.

The highlight given to the sector was due to the fact that it was the second most intense change, in module, in the monthly index and, in the same comparison, the second influence (-0.19 pp, at 0.74%).

Food products: after three consecutive months of negative price changes compared to the previous month, April 2024 showed a positive change of 0.80%. As a result, the cumulative index of the year fell from -2.19% in March to -1.41% in April. Comparing April 2024 with April 2023, the change was -3.85% (in April 2023 it was -0.80%). Although still negative, this result is the least severe in the past four months (-3.94% in January, -4.47% in February and -4.34% in March). In terms of index numbers, the April 2024 figure, 171.54, is 9.22% lower than the peak observed in July 2022, 188.97.

The sector is highlighted for being among the four biggest influences in the three indicators calculated: first in the month (0.19 pp, at 0.74%); also first in the cumulative index in the year (-0.35 pp, at 0.99%); and second cumulative index in the 12 months  (-0.94 pp, at -3.08%).

Of the products with the major influence on the monthly result, “semi-milled or wholly milled rice, whether or not polished or glazed”, had a negative change, a trend in line with the grain's harvest period. The greater demand for soybeans, coupled with the depreciation of the real against the dollar (3.0% in April compared to March), explains the positive change in the prices of its derivatives, in this case “margarine” and “crude soybean oil, whether or not degummed”.

Pulp and paper: the activity showed the highest result in the industry compared to the previous month, 3.99%. With this, the activity also consolidated the highest cumulative index in the year, of 7.55%. In relation to the last 12 months, the activity's result was 1.27%.

International pulp prices maintained their upward trend after a series of events such as strikes and unscheduled stoppages in world production, which reduced the availability of the fiber on the global market and contributed to maintaining stocks at levels still below what is considered adequate. The depreciation of the real against the dollar (3.0% from March to April) should also be added to this.

Petroleum refining and biofuels: for the third month in a row, the sector's prices, when compared to the previous month, showed a positive average change of 0.79%. As a result, the cumulative index in the year fell from -3.06% in March to -2.29% in April (in April 2023, it was -8.55%). The cumulative rate in 12 months was -9.65%, the lowest in the sequence of 14 consecutive months of negative results for this indicator, which began in March 2023 (-10.42%).

In addition to being the highest change, in module, in the comparison of April 2024 against April 2023, the activity was the highlight in terms of influence on the three indicators: the fourth in the monthly comparison (0.08 pp, in 0.74%); the third in the cumulative rate in the year (-0.24 pp, in 0.99%); and the first in the cumulative rate in 12 months (-1.07 pp, at -3.08%).

The four products that most influenced the result accounted for 0.81 pp, in 0.79% (in other words, the influence of the other six products is negative). It is worth noting that of the four products highlighted, two are not petroleum-derived: “ethyl alcohol (anhydrous or hydrated)” and “biodiesel”, both made from products whose prices have risen: sugar cane (beginning of the harvest, but still without a downward effect on prices) and soybeans (under pressure from demand and the 3.0% depreciation of the real against the dollar).

Other chemicals: in April, chemicals were sold at prices 0.97% higher than in March at the factory gate. The increase is the third in a row in the month-on-month comparison, taking the cumulative rate in the year for the sector to 3.03%, making it one of the highlights of general industry in terms of influence on the aggregate result - with the third highest weight in the calculation of the IPP, the chemical industry contributed with 0.23 pp to the 0.99% change in the general index (the fourth most intense influence in the cumulative rate in the year).

Petrochemicals were mainly responsible for the positive change in the sector in April compared to March, while pesticides, with lower average prices, were the highlight in terms of offsetting this rise in the aggregate. In the pesticides market, it can be seen that the reduction in the price of insecticides and herbicides prevailed over the increase in the price of fungicides, which led to the average result for the economic group.

In 12 months, the chemical industry recorded a 7.08% drop in prices, the third most intense rate recorded among the sectors investigated by the IPP in this indicator (M/M-12) and also the third most intense influence on the cumulative overall, -0.58 pp, in -3.08% of cumulative change on average for the mining and quarrying and manufacturing industries. The figure for April maintained the pattern of deflationary deceleration seen in the sector since the second half of 2023, with fertilizers and pesticides having an important influence on this longer-term result.

Basic metals: in April, the activity's price change was 1.25% compared to the previous month, the fifth consecutive positive result in this indicator. As a result, in the first four months of 2024, the activity has increased by 5.81%, standing out as the second highest change and second most important influence on this indicator (0.34 pp in 0.99%) among all the sectors analyzed. In the cumulative rate in 12 months the activity also stands out, but this time with a negative result. The sector accumulated a fall of 5.29% in the period, and had the fourth highest influence (-0.33 pp in -3.08%).

Of the four products with the highest influence on the monthly change, three showed positive results, with the main impact coming from “gold for non-monetary uses”, which has been following the rise in the price of gold in the international market. The other notable products are: “flexible tubes and drawn tubes of iron and steel”, with a negative change, and “copper and copper alloy bars, profiles and rebars” and “aluminum oxide (calcined alumina)”, the last two with a positive impact on the indicator. These four products with the greatest influence on the monthly change impacted the result of the activity by 1.22 pp, while the other 20 products analyzed accounted for 0.03 pp.