Brazilian industrial production drops 0.6% in August

Brazilian industry production fell 0.6% in August this year, compared to the previous month. Data from the Monthly Industrial Survey were released this Friday (2), by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

In July, the industry had registered a positive change of 0.1%. However, the sector suffered losses of 1% in May and 1.6% in June.

Compared to August last year, the industry fell 1.2%. In the quarterly moving average, the loss is 0.7%. However, in the year and 12 months, industrial production shows increases of 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.

Sixteen of the 25 industrial sectors surveyed by IBGE fell from July to August this year, with highlights being the activities of tobacco products (-23.4%), pharmochemical and pharmaceutical products (-5.5%) and extractive industries (-0.7%).

Among the nine activities that showed an increase in production, food products (1%), miscellaneous products (8.4%), chemical products (0.9%) and metallurgy (0.8%) stand out.

The industry's four major economic categories declined from July to August this year. The main drops were observed among semi- and non-durable consumer goods (-1.7%) and durable consumer goods (-1%).

Capital goods, that is, machinery and equipment used in the productive sector fell 0.6%, while intermediate goods, that is, industrialized inputs used in the productive sector fell 0.2% in the period.