Brazil's quarterly industrial production hits 10-year low

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The international financial crisis has led to a sharp fall in the Brazilian industry production indicator in the first quarter of this year, which hit a 10-year low, the country's National Industry Confederation (CNI)announced Wednesday.

According to a study released by the CNI, the indicator which measures Brazil's industry's production fell to 36.1 points in the quarter, lower than the previous quarter's 40.8 points and 52.2 percent in the first quarter of 2008.

The indicator goes from zero to 100. Any figure under 50 indicates a contraction in the activity, which means that production is downward.

The sharp decrease was a result of the expanded and intensified international financial crisis, said the CNI.

Out of the 27 sectors analyzed by the study, 26 registered a shrink in the production with the pharmaceutical industry as the sole exception.

The woodwork industry registered the most significant drop, whose indicator declined to 21.2 points.

The shrink in the industrial production led to a worse employment situation. According to the CNI, all 27 sectors registered decreases in the employment indicator.

Brazil's industrial employment indicator fell to 39.2 points in the quarter, down from 44 points in the previous quarter and 53.1 points in the same period of 2008. It was the worst picture since the CNI began the study in 1999.

The CNI said that Brazilian companies are still facing difficulties in obtaining financial support. Though the first quarter's indicator of access to credit reached the same 32.4 points as that of the fourth quarter in 2008, the figure is lower than the 47.6 points of the same period last year.

The level of satisfaction with the current economic situation also fell to 43.3 points from the previous quarter's 46.4 points. It was the indicator's third consecutive drop.

Despite the above bad figures, optimism still remained for the upcoming six months. The demand perspective indicator rose to 48.3points from the previous quarter's 39.7 points, while the employment perspectives indicator increased to 44.8 points from 40.5 points.

The CNI study surveyed 1,329 companies all over the country from April 1 to April 27.