Brazil's industrial production down 1.7 percent in October

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 2 (Chinese media) -- The international financial crisis

caused Brazil's industrial production to fall 1.7 percent in October, after

increasing 1.7 percent in September, a monthly study said Tuesday.

It was the sharpest fall in the country's industrial production since the

2.1 percent decrease registered in November 2007, according to the Brazilian

Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

In the first 10 months of 2008, Brazil's industrial production increased

5.8 percent, down from 6.4 percent in the same period of 2007.

Decreases were seen in 15 of the 27 sectors analyzed by the study in

October, compared with September, according to the IBGE. The most significant

decreases were registered in chemical products, ethanol production and oil

refinery and machinery and equipments, with declines of 11.6 percent, 9 percent

and 5.2 percent respectively.

In the automotive sector, the production fell 1.2 percent in October as

several car manufacturers giving collective vacations to thousands of employees.

Food products and transportation led the sectors that registered production

increases in October, with increases of 0.7 percent and 2 percent respectively.