Importation of capital goods increases 57% until last February
Folha de S. Paulo - 03/10/2008
The cheap dollar has encouraged Brazilian companies to replace the domestic purchase of capital goods with the importation of machines and equipment. In the two first months, the value of the importation of capital goods grew 57.7% compared to the same period of 2007, whereas the increase of the internal production of capital goods must have stayed around 15%, based on the result from January. The conclusion is included in the study made by Iedi (Institute for Studies in Industrial Development) entitled "The high points of the great growth of the importations". Its objective was to identify the sectors that led the growth of the foreign purchases. The sectors that most stood out in terms of the daily average growth rate in the first two months were the following: consumer durables (74.1%), capital goods (57.7%), and intermediate goods (53.2%). These three sectors stayed above the growth of the total of imports in the period, which was 50.7%. On the other hand, non-durable consumer goods, with 24% growth, and fuels and lubricants, with an increase of 37.5%, had growth rates below the average and below of the pace of evolution in 2007 (32.2% and 32.1%, respectively). According to Júlio Sérgio Gomes de Almeida, from Iedi, the acceleration of the growth of the sectors of capital goods and of consumer durables reflects the dynamism of investment and consumption. Regarding the sector of capital goods, the study draws attention to the increase of 78.1% of the purchases of the sector of industrial machinery. This segment alone contributed with 38.7% in the growth of the importations of the category. It is a sign that the industry is going through a process of strong increase of its productive capacity, which is positive for the preservation of the inflation control. Nonetheless, irrespective of this positive sign, the Iedi study draws attention to the possibility of a process of substitution of the domestic production by the importation in the sector of capital goods. According to Júlio Sérgio Gomes de Almeida, there are two reasons for it: the strong valuation of the Real in relation to the Dollar and the fast growth of the economy.