Industrial production showed no change (0.0%) from December 2024 to January 2025. Compared to January 2024, there was an increase of 1.4%. In 12 months, the industry has accumulated an expansion of 2.9%.

This month's result interrupted a three-month period of consecutive negative rates, a period in which it accumulated a loss of 1.2%, being -0.2% in October, -0.7% in November and -0.3% in December 2024.

From December to January, three of the four broad economic categories and 18 of the 25 sectors surveyed showed an increase in production. The positive highlights were machinery and equipment (6.9%) and motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (3.0%).

According to André Macedo, survey manager, these activities had negative behavior at the end of 2024, influenced, to a large extent, by collective vacations during this period. “There is a movement of greater dynamism for production in January 2025 due to this return to production, which eliminates the loss recorded in December 2024,” explains Mr. Macedo.

Other relevant positive contributions to the total industry came from rubber and plastic products (3.7%), leather goods, travel goods and footwear (9.3%), pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical products (4.8%), miscellaneous products (10.0%), electrical machinery, appliances and materials (4.3%), furniture (6.8%), maintenance, repair and installation of machinery and equipment (5.0%) and food products (0.4%).

On the other hand, among the six activities that showed a reduction in production, mining and quarrying industries (-2.4%) had the main impact in January 2025 and interrupted two consecutive months of growth in production, a period in which it accumulated a gain of 0.5%. It is also worth highlighting the negative contributions recorded by the sectors of coke, petroleum products and biofuels (-1.1%), pulp, paper and paper products (-3.2%) and wearing apparel and accessories (-4.7%).

Mr. Macedo explains that the activity of mining an quarrying industries was influenced by the negative behavior of its two main items: oil and iron ore. “Another important point that should be considered to explain the drop this month is the fact that this industrial sector showed growth in the last two months of 2024. In the petroleum and gas activity, some stoppages on platforms are observed due to scheduled or unscheduled shutdowns”, concluded the PIM manager.

Industry grows 1.4% compared to January 2024

Compared to the same month of the previous year, the industrial sector expanded 1.4% in January 2025, with positive results in three of the four braod economic categories, 17 of the 25 sectors, 56 of the 80 groups and 58.8% of the 789 products surveyed.

Mr. Macedo explains that this result “is the eighth consecutive positive result, but it is the lowest positive rate in this sequence, along with the result of December 2024 (also 1.4%), with the main positive impacts coming (once again) from motor vehicles and machinery and equipment”.

Among the activities, the main positive influences on the industry total were recorded by motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (13.4%), machinery and equipment (14.1%) and electrical machinery, equipment and materials (14.5%), driven, to a large extent, by the increased production of the items cars, auto parts, tractor trucks for trailers and semi-trailers, vehicles for the transportation of goods, trailers and semi-trailers and trucks, in the first; wet Christmas trees for petroleum pipelines, wall, window or transportable air-conditioning units (including those of the “split system” type), loaders-transporters, agricultural tractors, machinery or equipment for the agricultural sector, pressure-reducing safety expansion valves, motor graders and centrifugal pumps, in the second; and batteries or electric accumulators for motor vehicles, refrigerators or freezers for domestic use, alternating or direct current electric motors, fans for domestic use, kitchen stoves for domestic use, household electrical appliances, wires, cables and electrical conductors, electrical or electronic static converters and washing machines or dryers for domestic use, in the third.

Other important positive contributions were noted by the sectors of pharmaceutical products (11.9%), textiles (17.5%), basic metals (4.1%), metal products (6.6%), chemical products (2.4%), rubber and plastic products (3.8%), maintenance, repair and installation of machinery and equipment (7.7%), non-metallic mineral products (4.2%), miscellaneous products (10.3%) and furniture (9.1%).

More about the survey

PIM Brazil has been producing short-term indicators since the 1970s regarding the behavior of real output from the mining and quarrying and manufacturing industries. Starting in March 2023, the publication of the new series of monthly industrial production indexes began, after reformulation to: update the sample of activities, products and informants; develop a new weighting structure for the indexes based on more recent industrial statistics; update the base year of reference for the survey; and incorporate new Federation Units in the publication of the regional results of the survey. These methodological changes are necessary and seek to incorporate the economic changes in society. 

The next publication, for February 2025, will be on April 2. The survey results can also be consulted in the Sidra database.