Industrial activity grows for second month in a row, says CNI

Brazilian industrial activity grew for the second consecutive month in June, according to data released on Wednesday (5) by the CNI (National Confederation of Industry).
The research shows that there was an increase of 9.3% in real revenue, 8.8% in the wage mass, 8.1% in the average real income of the worker, 6.8% in the hours worked in production and 0.2% in employment.
Employment growth, albeit small, halts a sequence of four falls. All data are from June this year compared to the previous month.
Despite the results in June compared to May, growth has not yet been enough to reverse the decline accumulated by the sector in March and April.
CNI says that "real revenue is 10% below that recorded in February and hours worked fell 10.5% on the same comparison basis."
The UCI (Utilization of Installed Capacity) increased 1.8 percentage points in June, compared to May, reaching 72%. The index had accumulated a drop of 11.8 percentage points in March and April and grew 3.3 percentage points in May.
The index is 6.7 percentage points lower than in February.
Industrial activity was negative in the first half of 2020, as it has not yet recovered the April tumble, at the height of social isolation, due to covid-19.
Between January and June, real revenue shrank 7.1% and average income fell 3.5%. Hours worked were 9.1% lower and employment fell 2.4%.
The Executive Manager of Economics, Renato da Fonseca, says that industrial indicators identify, monthly, the short-term evolution of industrial activity, more specifically the manufacturing industry.
The states surveyed account for more than 90% of the Brazilian industrial product.