Brazil’s industrial output down for 3rd month in a row in February
2023.04.19 11:37
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An employee carries copper hoses at the Sociedade Paulista de Tubos Flexiveis (SPTF) metallurgical company which manufactures flexible metal hoses, in Sao Paulo April 20, 2012. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Industrial production in Brazil fell for the third consecutive month in February, government statistics agency IBGE said on Wednesday, with the sector still below pre-pandemic levels as it struggles to gather steam.
Output dropped 0.2% in February from January, below the median estimate of a 0.1% decline in a Reuters poll of economists.
Production in February also retreated 2.4% from a year earlier, IBGE added, missing market forecasts of a 1.9% fall.
“Industrial production had some improvement at the end of last year, but the start of 2023 shows a drop in output, which remains far from recovering losses from the recent past,” IBGE’s research manager Andre Macedo said in a statement.
Industrial output in Latin America’s largest economy is now 2.6% below pre-pandemic levels of February 2020, according to the statistics agency, and 19% below its May 2011 all-time high.
