SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s industrial production fell 0.9% in May from April, government statistics agency IBGE said on Wednesday, narrower than the 1.7% decline analysts polled by Reuters had expected.
Still, Brazilian factories reported their second consecutive month-on-month decline, with a cumulative decline of 1.7% in the period.
Output in May fell 1.0% from a year earlier, also better than the 1.7% decline analysts had expected, but significantly lower than the 8.4% annual increase in April.
Brazil’s industrial production in May was affected by historic rainfall and flooding in the country’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, according to André Macedo, research manager at IBGE.
Brazil’s industrial production is now 1.4% below pre-pandemic levels, down 17.8% from its record high of May 2011, according to IBGE.
The biggest factors weighing on output in May were the automotive sector, which fell 11.7% from April, and the food sector, which fell 4.0%.
(Reporting by Luana Maria Benedito; Editing by Kylie Madry)
