Brazilian industry production fell 0.3% in February this year. It is the second month in a row of declines. In January, the performance was -1.5%. The data comes from the Monthly Industrial Survey, released this Wednesday (03/04) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Over the past 12 months, the national industry has grown by 1%, despite two consecutive falls. In January 2024, this annual accumulation was 0.4%. The current level of Brazilian industrial production is 1.1% below the pre-pandemic level of February 2020, and 17.7% below the maximum point in the series, reached in May 2011.
In comparison, February with January this year, ten of the 25 industrial sectors surveyed showed a reduction in production. The most important negative influences were in the items chemical products (-3.5%), extractive industries (-0.9%) and pharmochemical and pharmaceutical products (-6.0%).
Among the activities that showed progress, motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (6.5%) and cellulose, paper and paper products (5.8%) had the main positive impacts.
In terms of the major economic categories, the intermediate goods sector fell 1.2%, having been the only negative rate of the four groups surveyed.
The durable consumer goods segment stands out, which increased 3.6% and recorded the strongest growth this month, after also advancing in January (1.5%) and December 2023 (6.6%). Capital goods (1.8%) and semi- and non-durable consumer goods (0.4%) also recorded positive results.
When comparing February 2024 with February 2023, there was an increase of 5%. In this type of comparison, month with the same period of the previous year, this was the seventh increase in a row and the most significant since June 2021, when the result was 12.1%, in a hiccup of partial recovery from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Covid-19.
The manager of the Monthly Industrial Survey, André Macedo, explains that the calendar influenced rates. “The February result had a widespread profile of positive rates and was the highest since June 2021 (12.1%), being influenced not only by low basis for comparison, but also due to the calendar effect, since February 2024 had 19 working days, one more than February 2023”.
Information: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics; Brazil Agency
