Brazil’s industrial output registered a drop of 0.8% in September compared with the previous month, deepening the decline of 0.6% seen in August, according to data published by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
In year-on-year terms, manufacturing activity in September was 2.5% below the level recorded in the same month last year. However, in the cumulative total up to the ninth month of the year, industry advanced by 0.4%, while the balance for the last twelve months showed a slight increase of 0.2%.
By sector, the consumer goods category fell back by 0.8%. Within this, semi-durable and perishable goods declined by 1.2%, while non-durable goods rose by 0.7%. In turn, capital goods recorded a drop of 1.9% and intermediate goods posted a decline of 0.7%.
In the comparison with September of the previous year, the IBGE highlighted the sharpest declines in the pharmaceutical and chemical sector (-17%), in machinery and equipment (-8.9%) and in food (-5.9%). On the opposite side, the automotive industry (7.3%) and the extractive industry (4.4%) accounted for the largest advances within the industrial sector as a whole.