Industrial activity grew in the 1st quarter
DCI - 04/29/2008
The industrial activity continued expanding in the first three months of this year, as evaluated by the National Confederation of Industry (Confederação Nacional da Indústria - CNI). « The production volume and the number of employees increased, contradicting the historycal trend of cooldown of industrial activity in the first quarter of the year », said the CNI's manager of the Research Unit, Renato Fonseca. According to the Industrial Survey published yesterday, the production volume indicator remained in 52.2 points, over 2007's 51 points in the first three months, but inferior to the 59 points of last year's last quarter. However, CNI emphasized that, historically, the first quarter production is smaller than the fourth quarter's of the previous calendar year. It also added that, since 2000, this was « the second time that the indicator of the first quarter is not below 50 points ». The indicators range from zero to 100, and the results above 50 express positive evolution. Also in the first three months of this year the level of utilization of the installed capacity dropped to 75%, five points less than the previous quarter, but ended above 73% from 2007's January to March. Once again CNI explained that the utilization of the capacity diminishes in the first quarter, but the improvement of the indicator compared to the beginning of the last year « confirms the good moment of the industrial activity » in the beginning of 2008. It called the attention to the fact that the reduction of 5 points in the level of utilization of the capacity between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first three months of this year was more dramatic than the one seen in the first quarter of 2007, compared to 2006's fourth quarter, of 3 points. « It is necessary to stress that the reduction in the utilization of the capacity between the fourth and first quarters occurred simultaneously to the increase of production and employment», pointed out CNI.