Production and employment grow and sector already sees the crisis as surpassed
Valor Econômico
The quarterly survey of the National Industry Confederation (CNI) indicates the Brazilian industry resumed the growth of the production and of the number of people employed. After three quarters retreating, the improvement of the situation was mainly pulled by the optimism of the entrepreneur with the domestic market. The figures of the survey show the economic crisis has already been, to a great extent, surpassed by the sector, and there are only a few vestiges of the crisis in the segment of machinery and equipment, which has a slower reaction, connected to new investments, affirmed Flavio Castelo Branco, executive-manager of Economic Policy of the CNI.
Despite the resumption of the growth, production and employment still advance at a slower pace than a year ago, before the crisis, according to the study of the institution. According to the survey of the CNI, the financial position of the companies is better, but access to credit, in spite of having evolved positively, is still seen as a problem by the industry. The excessive stocks, increased throughout the crisis, have been, however, practically eliminated. "It is a good sign, because the increase of the demand will be entirely reflected in the production, strengthening the recovery of the economic growth", says the economist.
The use of the installed capacity continued growing, but it is still at comfortable levels, which do not cause inflationary pressure, says Castelo Branco. That means that at any sign of a greater heating of the demand, the investments may be resumed by the industry. The major disarrangement in the sector is in the comparison between different views regarding the domestic and the foreign markets. While the perception of the industry in relation to the national demand has leaped along the year, the expectation in relation to exportations continues fairly negative.
The CNI survey was made with 1,418 companies, 198 large-sized ones, 401 medium-sized ones and 819 small-sized companies. The perception of increase in production and employment is common to companies of all sizes, but the growth is more accelerated among bigger companies. Today, the main concerns of the companies, of all sizes, are the tight market competition, the exchange rate, the shortage of qualified labor and the high cost of the raw material.