09/26/2008 09h02
Consumption of machines continues high
Valor Econômico - 09/26/2008
The Brazilian machinery and equipment industry continues showing expressive results in 2008. And the situation may improve even more when the effects of the dollar valuation compared to the real are felt in the importations, which should happen at the end of the year. The sector's forecast is that the sales will grow between 15% and 17% in comparison to 2007, when it exceeded R$ 61 billion (US$ 31.6 billion). From January to August, the apparent machinery consumption in the country grew 32.7% compared to the same period in 2007, totaling R$ 61.6 billion (US$ 37.8 billion). The indicator reflects the local production, adding importations and discounting exportations. According to data of the Brazilian Association of the Machinery and Equipment Industry (Abimaq) released yesterday, the sales of the companies installed in Brazil reached R$ 49.94 billion (US$ 30.6 billion) until August, a 24.9% high. As a comparison, in last year's first eight months the sector's sales had grown 11.7% over the same period of 2006 and the apparent consumption had grown 17%. The entity's president, Luiz Aubert Neto, although recognizing the moment as a favorable one, criticized the increase of importations again, which, in his opinion, is due to the overvalued real. Abimaq's figures in August showed that the importations grew 48.8% in this year's accumulated and reached US$ 14.4 billion, while exportations summed US$ 7.4 billion, 14.9% over 2007. Now, with the recent high in the dollar rate caused by the crisis of the American economy, Aubert believes that the first impact will be felt in importations. For him, exportations will only be positively affected in a two to three-year horizon. The entity's forecast for the sector's trade balance in 2008 is of a US$ 12 billion deficit. "We are not complaining, we just want isonomic conditions", he said. According to Aubert, this would happen with the exoneration of the capital goods production and better financing conditions. As for the disbursements of BNDES to the machinery sector, the executive affirmed that there were cases of delays of up to 90 days in the release of funds via Finame. On its turn, BNDES, through its press services, informed that it met all requests, although there were some isolated delays. According to the bank, there are no holdovers in the release of funds. In September, R$ 3 billion (US$ 1.84 billion) was granted.
