Rio de Janeiro – Brazilian industrial output was down 3.5% in December from November. Year-to-date, however, the indicator was up 1.2% according to figures released this Tuesday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The positive annual result partly offsets the losses incurred by the industry in 2012, which saw a 2.5% decline, and exceeds the 0.4% growth rate of 2011.
To the research coordinator André Macedo, the year of 2013 was marked by deceleration in the second half, particularly in December: "On breaking down the year into halves, we had a 2.2% increase over the first half. In the second half, the pace diminished significantly, at 0.3%. And in December, it became clear that second-half output was much more moderate,” he explains. He ascribes part of the decline seen in December to the year-end shutdown.
The decline in December 2013 was the highest since December 2008, when output was down 12.2%. Industrial output was also down in December 2013 from December 2012, though by a lower rate: -2.3%. As a consequence, Q4, 2013 results were down 0.3% from Q4, 2012, and down 0.8% from Q3, 2013.
Output declined in December across 22 out of 27 sectors surveyed. The auto industry saw the sharpest decline, at 17.5%, mostly due to the year-end shutdown. Other industries whose production dropped significantly were machinery and equipment (-6.2%), pharmaceuticals (-11.7%) and oil refinement and ethanol manufacturing (-4.3%).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
