Sale of building materials grows 27%
Folha de S. Paulo - 06/18/2008
The rhythm of sales of building materials continues strong in Brazil. The income of the manufacturing industry of basic products (such as cement, iron, pipes and connections) to finishing products (coating, faucets and fixtures, among others) grew 26.9% between January and May this year compared to the same period of 2007. In the comparison between May/2007 and May/2008, the sales increase reached 23.29%, according to data of Abramat (Brazilian Association of the Industries of Construction Materials) that releases, on a monthly basis, indexes that evaluates the sales' performance. The heating of the sector has been pressing prices. Sales in May increased the INCC (National Civil Construction Price Index) by 2.02%, one of the indexes the form the IGP (General Consumer Price Index) issued by the Getulio Vargas Foundation. From January to May, the INCC reached 4.40% and in 12 months it has already reached 8.06%. Abramat's direction expected deceleration in sales between April and, mainly, May, but the result took them by surprise, says Melvyn Fox, President of the association. According to him, two fund sources injected in the economy provide support for the good performance of this industry. The first one is funds from the savings and loans for housing financing that reached record levels in the beginning of this year. The second one is money from the PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), for housing and infrastructure works. The strong rhythm of growth may not compromise the offer of products, assures Fox. He affirms the industry still has idle capacity of 15% on the average. Besides new investments, the industry has cut down on exports to meet the need of the domestic market. The sales to the foreign market fell 21.27% from January to May this year compared to the same period of 2007.