Rio de Janeiro – Brazilian industrial production declined by 2.1% in March compared with the same month of last year, as informed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) this Tuesday (3rd). Quarter-on-quarter, this is the first decline since October 2009.
Compared with February this year, production grew by 0.5%. In the first quarter, the increase reached 2.3%, and in the last 12-month period ended March, 6.8%.
The IBGE highlights that March 2011 had two days less than in 2010. According to the institute, the slowdown of industrial activity reflects a decline across nearly all categories of use, 17 of 27 categories of activity, 40 of 76 sub-sectors and 53% of the 755 products surveyed by the institute.
Products whose production declined the most include herbicides, paint and varnish for construction; books of various genres and newspapers; and cotton fabrics and swimsuits. The chemical products sector, for instance, recorded a slowdown of 8.6%, editing and printing saw a 12.9% decline, and the textile sector output dropped by 15.7%.
Sectors that contributed positively to the indicator were oil refining and ethanol production (13.8%), basic metallurgy (2.6%), medical and hospital equipment, optical and otherwise (14%), and ‘other transport equipment’ (5.7%).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
