Facebook Blogging

Edward Hugh has a lively and enjoyable Facebook community where he publishes frequent breaking news economics links and short updates. If you would like to receive these updates on a regular basis and join the debate please invite Edward as a friend by clicking the Facebook link at the top of the right sidebar.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Brazil Industrial Output April 2008

Brazil's industrial output in April expanded at the fastest pace since last October, leading to speculation that the central bank may raise interest rates more than expected when policy makers meet tomorrow. Industrial production jumped 10.1 percent in April, up from a revised 1.5 percent increase in March, the government said today. However the early calendar date of easter has undoubtedly been a factor here.




As the press release from the statistics office, apart from the fact there were two less working days in March 2008 than in March 2007, and also a transport strike affected the production of ethanol and petrol refining, so in some ways the upsurge in output in April is only the corrolary of the declone in March.

Na comparação março 2008/março 2007, o setor registrou um acréscimo de 1,3% marca bem abaixo das observadas em meses recentes. Essa redução acentuada no ritmo do índice mensal pode ser explicada pelos seguintes fatores: menos 2 dias úteis em março de 2008 em relação a março de 2007, forte queda na atividade de refino de petróleo e produção de álcool e, em menor medida, as dificuldades no fluxo de matérias-primas importadas para consumo industrial, em função do movimento grevista dos auditores da Receita Federal iniciado em 18 de março. O menor ritmo também se confirma no índice de difusão (percentual de produtos em crescimento), que após chegar aos 65,6% em fevereiro recua para 44,1% em março, seu menor nível desde abril de 2006 (40,0%).



Of the 27 industrial sectors tracked by the statistics office, 16 showed growth from the previous month, led by a 7.3 percent increase in oil and ethanol output. In March, oil and ethanol production had fallen 10 percent.

Production of pharmaceuticals rose 8.1 percent in April, automobile output increased 2.3 percent and production of foodstuffs expanded 2 percent.

In broader categories, output of capital goods such as machinery increased 1.6 percent, expanding for the fourth straight month. Production of consumer goods fell 1.9 percent and output of intermediate goods slipped 0.2 percent.

Industrial output rose 7.3 percent in the first four months of the year and 7 percent in the 12 months through April, up from growth of 6.6 percent in the 12 months through March.

No comments: