São Paulo – Industrial production went up in Brazil in November 2018 after dropping for four months on end. The Monthly Industrial Survey made public this Tuesday (8) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) shows that output was up 0.1% compared with October and 1.5% year-to-date through November from a year ago. The IBGE also revised its October number from 0.2% to -0.1% relative to September.
Despite the marginal increment seen in November, IBGE research manager André Macedo explained that the result fell short of offsetting the combined 2.8% drop in the four previous months. “Out of the activities tracked, ten showed positive results and 16 saw production go down. This is an indication that much of the growth seen this month came from a handful of sectors,” Macedo explained in audio made public by the IBGE.
Out of four major economic categories, output climbed in one, dropped in two and remained flat in another. They are: intermediate goods, up 0.7% in November from October, durable consumer goods, down 3.4%, capital goods, down 2.7%, and semi- and non-durables, with no variation.
Foodstuffs fueled growth in November from October with a 5.9% increase. On the other hand, food production was down 5% year-on-year in October, and down 4.7% year-to-date through November.
Automobile production declined the most in November from October, by 4.2%, with output going up 2.3% year-on-year in November. “In November, activity was particularly impacted by a slowdown in automobile manufacturing. However, year-to-date activity is still stronger than a year ago, and it even showed the strongest hike out of all activities tracked,” pointed out Macedo.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum