Brazil’s Industrial Production Rose by 0.7 Percent in February

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s industrial production rose in February in sixteen of the 26 sectors surveyed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), with an overall increase in industrial production of 0.7 percent. Some analysts however are not optimistic about the results.

“What the industry gained in February barely made up for its decline in January,” said the Institute of Studies for Industrial Development (IEDI) in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the IBGE the sectors which boosted the indicator included motor vehicles (+6.7 percent), food products (+3.2 percent) and coke, petroleum products and biofuels (+4.3 percent).

On the other hand, among the declining sectors, the most relevant one was that of the extraction industries (-14.8 percent), pressured by the decline in iron ore production, after the rupture of a dam in the Brumadinho region of Minas Gerais state.

Other significant negative impacts came from tobacco products (-8.5 percent) and clothing (-4.8 percent).

In the accumulated index for January-February 2019, the industry fell by 0.2 percent in comparison to the same period last year.

In comparison to February 2018, the industrial sector grew by 2.0 percent, with positive results in three of the four major economic categories.

The improvement in Brazil’s industrial production was also seen in another survey, conducted by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI). Indicators from a CNI survey released on Tuesday points to a recovery of activities in Brazil.

For CNI specialists, if improvement is seen in sales results and employment data results in the coming months, the country may be able to register an increase in consumption and investment and, consequently, promote a greater acceleration of industrial activity.

Others however are not as optimistic.

“Since the end of last year had already been negative, it is clear that the industry has stopped,” argued IEDI in a statement released on Tuesday.

According to the organization the country’s production may be going through a less adverse period, and even a stabilization phase, but the institute says that the hypothesis that February production only reacted due to the fact that it was restoring its inventory should not be discarded.

“One way or another, what we cannot say with certainty is that we are seeing a return to industrial growth,” concluded IEDI analysts.