Brazil's industrial production fell 1 percent in June compared to May, the third consecutive decrease in the year, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said on Tuesday.
Compared to the same period in 2009, however, the industrial production was up 11.1 percent in June. Despite the falls, in the second quarter of 2010, the industrial production was up 1.4 percent from the first quarter and 14.3 percent from the same period in 2009.
In the first half of this year, the industrial production accumulated an increase of 16.2 percent compared to the same period in 2009. In the July 2009 to Jun 2010 period, the industrial production was up 6.5 percent from the previous 12-month period.
According to the IBGE, the decrease registered in June reached 20 out of 27 sectors included in the study.
The most significant falls were registered in chemical products (4.4 percent), computer products and office supplies (11.6 percent), and food products (1.6 percent). The most significant production rises were registered in oil refining (2.6 percent), publishing (2.9 percent), and beverages (2.6 percent).
The production of capital goods was down 2.1 percent in June, while the production of intermediate goods was down 0.7 percent. The durable and non-durable goods' production was down 3.2 and 0.8 percent respectively./.