For the sixth consecutive month, the production of the national industry registered growth in October, of 1.1%, if compared to September. With the accumulated result of 39% in six months, the sector is 1.4 percentage points above the level of February - before the covid-19 pandemic. In the accumulated result for the year, production is still negative (-6.3%), with a 5.6% drop in the last 12 months. Compared to October 2019, production rose 0.3%. In comparison with the record level of production reached in May 2011, the industry is still 14.9% below the peak. The data are from the Monthly Industrial Survey (PIM), released today (2) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

“The data shows that it has some degree of recovery. The emergency measures were important, but there is still space to be considered ”, said the research manager, André Macedo.

According to the data, two of the four major economic categories showed growth, with emphasis on capital goods, which increased 7% from September to October; and durable consumer goods with an increase of 1.4%. These categories also had the sixth consecutive month of expansion in production, with accumulated 111.5% and 506.7%, respectively. Capital goods are 3.5% above the level of February, while consumer durables are still 4.2% below.

The category of intermediate goods fell by 0.2% and semi and non-durable consumer goods by 0.1%. The setbacks interrupted five consecutive months of growth in production, with accumulated gains of 26.6% and 30.4%, respectively.

For the manager, the growth in October reflected a different behavior from the last few months, which came with widespread advances among the branches. Now, 15 of the 26 branches surveyed showed an increase in production. In September, it was 22 out of 26. According to André Macedo, the effect of the pandemic was evident in the sector, mainly in the months of March and April, with stricter social distance measures.

"Even with this sequence of highs and the recovery at the level of February, the accumulated result for the year is still negative," he said.

Activities 

The most relevant influence between activities from September to October was that of motor vehicles, trailers and bodies, which rose 4.7%. The industry was severely affected in the critical months of the pandemic and accumulated an expansion of 1,075.8% in the last six months. Even so, it is 9.1% below the February level. "The losses were very sharp in March and April," said the manager.

Metallurgy (3.1%), pharmochemical and pharmaceutical products (4.5%), machinery and equipment (2.2%), metal products (2.8%) also had a positive leather, travel goods and footwear (5.7%), non-metallic mineral products (2.3%), clothing and accessories (5.0%) and rubber and plastic products (2, 1%).

The main negative impacts between the activities were in food products (-2.8%), which came from three months of highs followed by accumulated of 4.3%. The extractive industries sector also contributed negatively (-2.4%), which had the second consecutive month of decline and an accumulated loss of 7.0%. According to the survey, there were significant decreases in coke, petroleum products and biofuels (-1.2%), Tobacco products (-18.7%) and Other chemical products (-2.3%).

For the 0.3% increase compared to October 2019, positive results contributed in two of the four major economic categories, 16 out of 26 branches, 45 out of 79 groups and 50.8% out of 805 products surveyed. This occurred despite the fact that October 2020 had two working days less than the same month of the previous year.