São Paulo´s industry activity go up and breaks record in the 1st quarter
Folha de S. Paulo
The industrial activity in Sao Paulo reported new highs in March, according to a study released yesterday by Fiesp. The INA (Activity Level Indicator) showed an increase of 18% in March compared to February in the data without seasonal adjustment, the biggest variation for the month since 2004. With adjustment, there was an increase of 2.8%. In the first quarter, the growth was 18.2% compared to the same period last year, presenting the best performance of the historical series, initiated in June 2001.
From the 17 sectors analyzed by Fiesp, 11 are already above the pre-crisis level. In February, there were only six. On the average, the activity is still 0.9% below that recorded in September 2008. According to Paulo Francini, director of Depecon (Department of Macroeconomic Research) of Fiesp, the forecast is that the INA should return to the pre-crisis level in February. Previously, Fiesp estimated that this would occur only in May.
The Fiesp sensor, which points the perception of entrepreneurs about the prospects of the economy, registered fall from 57.7 in March to 55.9 in April, influenced by the employment and sales items. The sensor varies from zero to one hundred points above 50, is optimism. According to Francini, the two cuts may signal an accommodation in the level of activity. The level of the utilization of the installed capacity was 81.3%, although Fiesp has released research that says that that figure could drop to 69%, considering that companies can open 3rd shifts and expand production without physical expansion.