Brazil's industrial production slipped 0.2% in May 2026 from the previous month, defying market expectations for a 0.3% increase and registering the first monthly decline of the year after a 0.7% rise in April. The weakness was broad-based: three of the four major industrial categories and 8 of the 25 surveyed sectors recorded contractions.
The sharpest negative contributions came from coke, refined petroleum products and biofuels (-6.1%), as well as extractive industries (-2.6%). There were also notable declines in food products (-1.3%), textiles (-4.0%), printing and recorded media (-8.1%), and computers, electronic and optical products (-2.0%).
Among the 16 industries that expanded, the strongest advances were seen in pharmaceuticals (13.1%), motor vehicles (4.1%), and chemicals (3.1%). These were followed by solid gains in metallurgy (2.3%), apparel (4.7%), other transport equipment (4.7%), electrical machinery (2.6%), and machinery and equipment (1.2%).
On a year-on-year basis, industrial production in May 2026 was up 0.2% compared with May 2025.
