The machinery and equipment sector had a 0.7% rise in 2019 net revenue compared to the previous year. According to the balance sheet released today (27) by the Brazilian Association of the Machinery and Equipment Industry (Abimaq), the net revenue of the capital goods industries was R $ 82.4 billion last year, reaching R $ 5.9 billion in December. Last month's result represented a 5% drop compared to December 2018.

Exports 

Exports fell by 7.2% in 2019, totaling US $ 9 billion. The drop was influenced by the 18.1% drop in sales to Latin America, with a sharp drop in purchases from Argentina (28.1%), Paraguay (23.8%) and Chile (9%). The region accounts for 33.7% of sales to foreign countries.

Exports to Europe also declined, with a 27.9% reduction in the year. While sales to the United States grew by 15% over the past year, with the country becoming the destination for 30.5% of the industry's exports.

Intern market 

Net revenue in the domestic market increased 7.1% in the year, with a volume of R $ 46.3 billion. According to the president of Abimaq, José Velloso, part of this expansion are companies that had to buy new equipment to replace those that were overtaken by the lack of investment in recent years.

Despite the improvement, the sector still registers a shrinkage of about 35% compared to the average revenue for the period from 2010 to 2013. In December 2019, the capital goods industries used about 71% of the installed capacity. For this year, Velloso estimates that sales in the domestic market should increase by approximately 10%, with a total sector growth of 3% to 4.5% in 2020.

Job 

The level of employment increased by 3% in 2019 compared to the previous year, with the opening of 1,500 vacancies. The machinery and equipment industry employed 302,300 people until the end of last year. In May 2013, the sector had 380 thousand employees.