Industry production drops 0.8% in September; 4th fall in five months

Brazilian industry production fell 0.8% from August to September. The result represents the fourth contraction in the five-month period.

The data is part of the Monthly Industrial Survey (PIM), released this Thursday (5) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

According to the Economic Policy Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance, September's data was below the median of market expectations (-0.4%).

In the last 12 months, industrial production increased by 0.2%. According to research analyst, André Macedo, the performance of Brazilian factories in recent months reveals “a clear reduction in the magnitude of growth”.

In the last five months, the accumulated loss reached 4.1%, which eliminates part of the 4.2% gain recorded in the first four months of the year.

With September's numbers, the industry is positioned 16.5% below the highest level ever recorded, which was in May 2011.

See the sector's behavior in recent months:

September: -0.8%

August: -07%

July: 0%

June: -1.6%

May: -1%

Widespread fall

Macedo details that between August and September, there was a “widespread profile of negative rates”, reaching three of the four major economic categories and 17 of the 25 industrial activities surveyed.

See the behavior by major economic category:

capital goods (machinery and equipment): -1.9%

semi- and non-durable consumer goods: -1.2%

intermediate goods (products used in the production of other goods): -0.7%

durable consumer goods: 0.7%

Among the activities, the main negative influences were coke (derived from coal), petroleum products and biofuels (-4.2%) and food products (-1.7%).

Macedo explains that the production of ethyl alcohol and sugar accounted for a large part of the losses.

“It is worth noting that these activities were pressured by the reduction in sugarcane processing, largely reflecting the impacts caused by the greater volume of rain.”

On the other hand, growth in extractive industries (1.7%) exerted the main positive influence on the industry average. "In this activity, the highlights were the greater extraction of crude petroleum oils, natural gas and iron ores", he analyzes.

Compared to September last year, industrial production fell 2.5%, the sharpest decline since March 2024 (-2.9%).