Industry shows sign of resumption
O Estado de S. Paulo - 04/12/2009
The Brazilian industry starts giving signs of recovery in the first quarter of this year, after a generalized fall in the orders received in December. A mapping done based on the Survey of the Processing Industry issued by Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) shows the resumption of the demand is concentrated in the production of goods whose consumption depends on the income of the worker, such as foods, and on the car industry, which was favored by the renewal of the cut on the Excise Tax (IPI).
The survey shows the industry of cars, furniture, foods, textiles, clothing and footwear, pulp, paper and cardboard and plastic products, of which the two last ones are suppliers of packaging for the food sector, reacted in the first quarter. In March 271.4 thousand vehicles were sold in the Country, 16.9% more than in the same month of 2008. After two months of fall, the industry of motorcycles also presents a slight recovery. "The domestic market is holding the fall", affirms Sérgio Amoroso, president of Grupo Orsa, one of the large companies of the sector of pulp, paper and cardboard for packaging. He says that, between December and February, his company registered falls above 10% in the domestic demand compared to the same months of the previous year. In March, the fall in the domestic demand for packaging produced by the company reached 7.5% compared to March, 2008. "The market today is not as recessionary as we thought", affirms the president of the Brazilian Furniture Industry Association (Abimóvel), José Luiz Diaz Fernandez. He says the sector projected a fall of 50% in the demand in this first quarter. Even though the numbers are not closed yet, he says the recession remained below what was projected. The sector of foods is a separate case among the sectors analyzed by the study. Braga, of the FGV, says the index of global demand of the food industry in March stayed above the average of the last 14 years. Among the sectors with the lesser recovery in the first quarter are the sectors of steel, the industry of chemicals, mechanics, non-metallic minerals, electric and communication material, among others. Braga observes that, in March, the level of global demand of these sectors remained well below the average of the last 14 years.