Rio de Janeiro – Brazilian industrial output fell 0.8% from December 2018 to last January. This is the highest drop since last September (-1.9%) and came after an increase in December (0.2%), according to the Monthly Survey of Industry (PIM, acronym in Portuguese), released this Wednesday (13) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE, acronym in Portuguese).
The drop reached 2.6% compared to January 2018. Considering the quarterly average, this was a 0.2% drop. In the accumulated of 12 months, industry accumulates a 0.5% growth.
From December to January, industry decreased in three out of the four big economic categories, specially the capital goods: -3%. Intermediate goods also showed drops (0.1%) and consumer goods semi- and nondurable (-0.4%). On the other hand, durable consumer goods posted a 0.5% increase.
Thirteen out of the 26 industrial activities surveyed showed output drops from December to January, notably pharmachemical and pharmaceutical products (-10.3%), mining industries (-1%), and machines and equipment (-2.9%). Thirteen activities showed increases, and the main growths registered were in the segments of food products (1.5%), beverage (6.1%), and other chemical products (3.6%).
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
