Industrial production down 6.6% in 2015
Brazil's industrial production has decreased a cumulative 6.6% in the first seven months of the year, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) announced today. There was a 1.5% decrease in July 2015 compared to June. Compared to July 2014, the production figures were 8.9% lower. The cumulative 12-month result was a 5.3% decrease.
According to the IBGE manager for industry statistics, André Macedo, the result in July shows that the downward trend for production data has become sharper. “Since September last year, the figures have been negative for eight months, with only three months of production growth. And even those positive figures were only slightly above zero,” he said, referring to the industrial production growth rates for October 2014 (0.1%), January 2015 (0.3%), and May 2015 (0.4%).
The decline in July against the previous month was reported in nearly all production categories: capital goods were down 1.9%, intermediate goods were down 2.1%, consumer goods were down 1.1%, semidurables and nondurables were down 3.4% compared to June.
The decline in industrial production was reflected in 14 of the 24 industries surveyed by the IBGE. The food industry was the main downward influence on the overall result, reporting 6.2% lower production levels.
Macedo listed a number of factors that have driven production down, including lower business confidence (which reduces investment), lower consumer confidence (which reduces demand), a deteriorating labor market, rising unemployment, and credit shortages.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Industrial production down 6.6% in 2015
