The Brazilian industrial production has closed 2024 with an increase of 3.1 percent from 2023, according to the country’s geography and statistics institute, IBGE.
The main drivers for the increase were the automotive industry (up 12.5 percent), data processing, electronics and optical equipment (up 14.7 percent), machinery and electric materials (up 12.2 percent), food (up 1.5 percent), and chemical products (up 3.3 percent).
Other sectors with positive impact were rubber and plastics (up 5.1 percent), oil products and biofuels (up 1.2 percent), metal products (up 5.0 percent), metallurgy (up 2.7 percent), furniture (up 9.5 percent), machinery and equipment (up 2.8 percent), pulp and paper (up 2.8 percent ), and non-metallic minerals (up 3.9 percent).
On the negative side, the sectors of maintenance and repair of machinery and equipment (down 2.1 percent) and pharmaceutical products (down 1.2 percent) were the main influences of 2024.
When comparing December 2024 and the previous month, the industrial production declined by 0.3 percent, while comparing December 2024 and December 2023, the industrial production increased by 1.6 percent.
With these results, the Brazilian industrial production now stands 1.3 percent above the pre-pandemic level of February 2020, although it still remains 15.6 lower than the all-time record of May 2011.