Industrial output up in 11 of 15 locations surveyed
Industrial production rose in 11 of the 15 locations surveyed by the Regional PIM (Monthly Industrial Survey) in February, when Brazil’s national index was up 0.7 percent, following a 2.2 percent decline in January mainly due to collective vacations, very common this time of year. The results was released today (Feb. 8) by Brazil’s official statistics agency IBGE, in Rio de Janeiro.
The sharpes surges in February were reported in the states of Pará (23.9%) and Pernambuco (10.2%). Mato Grosso faced the most significant reduction, down 4.4 percent.
According to research analyst Bernardo Almeida, Pará stood out chiefly as a result of the positive performance of the extractive sector. “This is a compensatory movement from the previous month, since the large rainfall in January impacted the production and outflow of iron ore. This growth in Pará is the strongest since April 2019, when it reached an increase of 54.8 percent. The state is emerging from two months of negative results with an accumulated loss of 17.6 percent, now compensated for by the February growth,” he declared.
In the negative arena, from January to February, Mato Grosso leads as the main negative influence on the national result, down 4.4 percent, after four consecutive months of growth in production, a period in which it showed an accumulated surge of 32.8 percent.
According to IBGE, the reduction stems from the food sector, which in previous months had been bringing growth following the end of China’s embargo on Brazilian meat imports. “In February, we saw only a decline in production aimed at strategically bringing supply and demand in line with each other,” said Almeida.
Year to date, a fall was observed in nine of the 15 locations, chief among them Ceará (-20.1%) and Pará (-14.5%). “It is still early to look at the rest of the year, but we can see a slowdown in output,” the analyst noted.
