Capital goods grow 19.5%, three times the industry
O Estado de S.Paulo 01/08/2008
Investments continued in strong expansion in November, as shows the data concerning the industrial production released yesterday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The production of capital goods increased 1.2% in comparison with October, with an isolated expansion among the four categories surveyed and in the opposite to the 1.8% drop in the average in industry in the period. Last year, this category accumulated, from January to November, a 19.5%-expansion, more than three times the growth of the industry in general (6%). For the coordinator of the industrial sector of the IBGE Silvio Sales, the investments were the engine of the industry not only in November, but stood out as the main positive mark of the sector along all 2007. "Investments have grown in general, resulting in the increase of the productive capacity of the Country, providing some fuel for the debate on whether or not there is installed capacity to grow. If there is an increase of capital goods above the average of the industry, there is possibility of making room for meeting the demand with the increase of the capacity." The production of capital goods was also well above the industry in general in November, in relation to November of 2006, when it grew 24.3%, in comparison with an expansion of 6.7% in the average for the industrial sector in the period.