Consumption of machines increases 30% this year
Valor Econômico
Brazilian companies are strongly investing in modernization and increase of the productive capacity this year, encouraged by the positive perspectives for the demand and the favorable financing conditions. From January to May, the domestic consumption of capital goods increased 30.1% compared to the same period in 2009, according to estimates of the BNDES (National Development Bank). More expressive rates appear in the supply of machines for the civil construction sector, with an increase of 156% in the first five months of the year, and for infrastructure, with a 46.9% increase.
Domestic consumption is calculated by the sum of the production and the imports, excluding the exports, and the data suggest that both the local production and the imports of machinery is increase rapidly. The investment in new machinery increases the productive capacity of a company and, consequently, increases the growth potential of the country in the future.
Released yesterday, the Survey on Investments of the Industry made by the FGV indicates this movement tends to grow: 40% of the companies surveyed say the "increase of the productive capacity" is the main reason leading them to invest in fixed capital, well above the 24% of 2009. Another relevant point is that only 20% of the companies point to "uncertainties on the demand" as a factor limiting inversions - that percentage amounted to 50% last year. The power of the domestic market, in a setting of high income and employment, is the main reason for the investment in machinery and equipment, says the head of the area of economic research of the BNDES, Fernando Puga. The good moment of the labor market boosts the building of homes, also benefited by the low interest rates", he says.
Besides the perspective of strong growth, the increase of the Level of Use of the Installed Capacity (Nuci) in the industry helps explain the increased demand for capital goods, believes the Chief Economist of Rosenberg & Associados, Thaís Marzola Zara. In the case of the building material sector, for instance, the Nuci reached 91.7% in June, after the seasonal adjustment, the highest level of the series of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) started in January 1993. The exhaustion of idleness induces companies to invest in the increase of production so as to meet the greater demand rather than lose slices of the market for the competition, says the Economist Edgard Pereira, of Edgard Patel & Associados (Edap).
From January to may, the domestic consumption of capital goods "without wheels" (that exclude transportation equipment such as trucks and buses) had an increase of 32%, slightly higher than the total of 30.1%. The numbers of capital goods "with no wheels" show more clearly the investment made on the purchase of machines intended to improve the efficiency and increase the productive capacity in the industry. Puga highlights the evolution of the domestic consumption of capital goods aimed at infrastructure. The local production of such goods increased 46.3% in the first five months of the year, while the imports had a 30.7% increase. For him, the investments in the sector will continue strong in the coming years, both on behalf of sporting events such as the 2014 FIFA Soccer World CupTM and the 2016 Summer Olympics, and on the needs of investments in areas such as sanitation.