São Paulo – From January until May 2010, machinery and equipment industry exports have gone from US$ 3,124.97 million to US$ 3,330.83 million, representing growth of 6.6%. During that same period, imports went from US$ 7,921.23 million to US$ 8,703.91 million, growth of 9.9%.
According to Luiz Aubert Neto, chairman of the Brazilian Machinery Manufacturers Association (Abimaq), the organization is not against imports per se, but rather against imports that do not lead to technological improvement. “China, for instance, already ranks third in the industry’s import list, whereas India, which did not appear in the stats until recently, now ranks tenth,” said Neto in a press release issued by the association.
Even though imports of Brazilian machinery and equipment by the United States have dropped by 11.4%, the country still tops the ranking, with purchases totalling US$ 537 million in 2010, and is also the leading country of origin of Brazilian imports, with a 26% share and growth of 3.5% during the period.
Germany’s share of overall Brazilian imports dropped by 1.6%, and the sales volume decreased by 2.7%, whereas China’s shipments of machinery and equipment grew by 50.6%.
More employment
The number of jobs in the machinery industry also grew in May 2010, by 4.4% in comparison with May 2009, and has gone from 323,200 to 242,331 people employed by the industry.
The use of installed capacity increased by an average of 2.3% during the period, and went from 80.1% to 81.9%. “However, we cannot forget that this was only a period. We still have lots of room for growth,” he claimed.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
