Industrial production fell once again in March, down 0.5%, compared to February. This was the seventh consecutive monthly decrease in the industrial sector. Although there was an increase of 1.3% in February, there is now a cumulative drop of 3% in industrial production for the year.
Compared to March 2011, output in March 2012 was down 2.1%.
According to the government statistical bureau (“IBGE”), industrial sector output in March was down in 18 out of the 27 segments it surveyed.
One of the nine segments where there was growth was automobiles, which is heavily weighted in the survey. It was up 11.5% in March, and cumulatively up 26.2% in February and March, but had fallen 31.2% in January.
Automobile segment production in March 2012, when compared with March 2011, was down 7.5%.