By Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian industrial production was up by 0.3 percent from March to April this year. The growth came after a fall of 1.4 percent from February to March. The data is from the Monthly Industrial Survey, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), released today, June 4th.
According to the survey, however, there were decreases in April in four other comparative statistics: 3.9 percent compared to April 2018, 0.1 percent in the quarterly moving average, 2.7 percent year-to-date and 1.1 percent over the prior 12 months.
Between March and April, there were rises in three of the four largest economic categories: durable consumer goods (3.4 percent); capital goods, or machinery and equipment (2.9 percent); semi-durable and non-durable consumer goods (2.6 percent).
On the other hand, intermediate goods, or industrial supplies used in the manufacturing sector fell 1.4 percent from March to April.
Among the 26 industrial activities surveyed, 20 had increases in production. Several sectors, motor vehicles (7.1 percent), machinery and equipment (8.3 percent), chemical products (5.2 percent), and nutritional goods (1.5 percent), all reversed decreases registered in March.
Of the six activities which had fallen, mining operations stand out, as it decreased by 9.7 percent, marking the fourth consecutive negative monthly result in the sector, giving a loss of 25.7 percent over the four months.