Industrial prices changed -0.62% in March 2025 over February 2025, the second drop in a row. In this comparison, ten out of 24 industrial activities had their prices reduced. The cumulative index in the year was -0.59%, whereas the cumulative indicator in 12 months stayed at 8.37%. The IPP had been 0.35% in March 2024.

The Producer Price Index (IPP) of the Mining and Manufacturing Industries measures the evolution of the prices of products "at the factory gate", free from taxes and freight, and encompasses the broad economic categories.

In March 2025, the industrial prices changed -0.62% over February 2025 (-0.12%). Ten out of 24 industrial activities surveyed recorded negative changes in price against the immediately previous month. On the other hand, 12 activities had recorded lower average prices in February against the previous month.

The four activities with the highest changes were: mining and quarrying industries (-3.61%); printing (2.15%); basic metals (-1.96%); and wood (-1.94%). In terms of influence, food was the industrial sector that mostly stood out in the composition of the aggregated result, in the comparison between the prices in March and February. That activity accounted for -0.34 percentage points (p.p.) of influence on the change of -0.62% of the overall industry. Still in this topic, other activities that also stood out were mining and quarrying industries, with -0.16 p.p. of influence, basic metals (-0.13 p.p.) and petroleum refining and biofuels (-0.06 p.p.).

The cumulative index in the year changed -0.59%. The most intense changes were mining and quarrying industries (-8.26%), basic metals (-4.50%), other chemicals (4.16%) and wood (-3.45%).

In terms of influence on the cumulative result in the year, the highlights were food (-0.77 p.p.), mining and quarrying industries (-0.40 p.p.), other chemicals (0.33 p.p.). and petroleum refining and biofuels (0.32 p.p.).

By comparing the prices of March 2025 with those of March 2024, the cumulative change in 12 months was 8.37% in this reference month. The sectors with the four highest price changes in the comparison between March and the same month last year were: basic metals (18.17%), other chemicals (14.21%), tobacco (13.21%) and other transportation equipment (13.13%). Still in this comparison, the sectors that mostly influenced on the aggregated result were: food (3.1 p.p.), other chemicals (1.11 p.p.), basic metals (1.11 p.p.) and petroleum refining and biofuels (0.84 p.p.).

Among the broad economic categories, the price changes in March over February 2025, which was -0.62% in the overall industry, were the following: 0.10% in capital goods (BK), -0.84% in intermediate goods (BI), and -0.44% in consumer goods (BC), being the change reported in durable consumer goods (BCD) of -0.11% and that in semi and non-durable consumer goods (BCND) of -0.50%.

In the overall result of the monthly indicator, the main influence among the major economic categories was exerted by intermediate goods, whose weight in the overall index was 54.95%, and it accounted for -0.46 p.p. out of the change of -0.62% in the mining and manufacturing industries.

Consumer goods, with an influence of -0.16 p.p. and capital goods, with 0.01 p.p. completed the list. In the case of consumer goods, the influence noticed in March was -0.01 p.p. due to the change in the prices of durable consumer goods, and -0.16

Considering the price movements in March, the cumulative change in the year (reference month against December last year) of the broad economic categories reached -0.06%, in the case of capital goods; -1.10% in intermediate goods; and 0.07% in consumer goods, in which durable consumer goods accumulated a change of 1.27%, whereas semi and non-durable consumer goods, -0.15%.

In terms of influence on the cumulative result in the year, capital goods accounted for 0.00 p.p. out of the rate of -0.59% registered in the overall industry up to March this year. Intermediate goods, in turn, accounted for -0.61 p.p., whereas consumer goods exerted an influence of 0.03 p.p. on the aggregate result of industry, an influence that splits into 0.07 p.p. due to price changes of durable consumer goods and -0.05 p.p. caused by changes of semi and non-durable consumer goods.

Considering the cumulative index in 12 months, the change of prices of capital goods was 7.17% in March 2025. The prices of intermediate goods, in turn, changed 7.31% in the period of one year and the change in consumer goods was 10.22%, in which durable consumer goods changed 4.70% and semi and non-durable consumer goods, 11.34%.

Weighting 54.95% in the calculation of the overall index, intermediate goods accounted for 4.05 p.p. out of 8.37% of cumulative change in 12 months in industry, in this reference month. In the result of March 2025, consumer goods also influenced 3.76 p.p. and capital goods, 0.54 p.p.

The result of consumer goods was especially influenced by 0.29 p.p. by durable consumer goods and by 3.47 p.p. by semi and non-durable consumer goods, the latter with a weight of 83.95% in the index of that broad category.

Mining and quarrying industries: the first quarter of 2025 ended with a cumulative change of -8.26% in the year, as a result of three negative monthly changes, being March (-3.61%) the most intense of them. In the annual change, the rate of -8.61 was the most intense figure since September 2024 (-9.22%).

The highlight in the sector was due to the fact that it accounted for the major change in March over February (negative) and in the cumulative indicator in the year (negative. It was also the second biggest influence on the change between these two months (-0.16 p.p. out of -0.62%) and on the cumulative index in the year (-0.40 p.p, out of -0.59%).

Under the perspective of the monthly comparison, products registered a negative change, including those with higher weights, like iron ore and crude petroleum oil, though crude or processed copper ore and its concentrates did not. The different behavior of that product - in a month in which the real appreciated 0.3% against the dollar (and 5.7% in the year) - reflected the increase in the foreign market, partly explained by the closure of some important mines abroad.

Food: for the third month in a row, the prices in this sector changed negatively when compared with the previous month: -1.35% in March, the most intense one since June 2023 (-3.30%). Considering this figure, the cumulative rate in the year changed from -1.65% in February to -2.98%. Having changed 12.89%, the lowest change in the first quarter of 2025, the cumulative index in 12 months remained on the positive side.

This sector stood out as it influenced the most in three indicators: monthly (-0.34 p.p. out of -0.62%), cumulative index in the year (-0.77 p.p. out of -0.59%) and annual (3.11 p.p. out of 8.37%).

The four most influential products accounted for -0.75 p.p. out of -1.35%, which meant that the net influence from other 39 selected products was negative as well (-0.60 p.p.). Three out of four products recorded a negative change: "cooled or fresh beef" (as previously mentioned, the recent period was marked by a high availability of cattle head for slaughtering), "semi-milled or wholly-milled rice, even polished or glazed” (harvest period) and "frozen pork" (supply surpassing demand as well). As has been happening over the last months, "roasted and ground coffee" increased its prices, due to the low supply in the foreign market previously mentioned. The chart below shows these four products and those with the highest change in this indicator and others.

Petroleum refining and biofuels: after four consecutive months of increases, the prices in this sector negatively changed in March (-0.58%) in the month against previous month comparison. As a result, the cumulative index in the year retreated from 3.89% in February to 3.28% in March. On the other hand, the cumulative index in 12 months stayed at 8.11%, the lowest one in the quarter (8.14% in January and 9.75% in February).

This sector stood out due to its influence, the fourth one in three indicators: monthly (-0.06 p.p. out of -0.62%), cumulative index in the year (0.32 p.p. out of -0.59%) and cumulative index in 12 months (0.84 p.p. out of 8.37%).

Other chemicals: the chemical industry stood out in March due to its results over the long term. With the third highest weight in the calculation of the IPP (8.26%), this sector reported the most intense positive influence on the cumulative indicator in the year, as well as the second highest change and influence on the cumulative figure in 12 months.

In March 2025, the average prices of the chemical industry changed 0.06% over February, marking the fifth consecutive month of increasing prices. With this result, the cumulative indicator in the year rose 4.16%, whereas the cumulative index in 12 months stayed at 14.21%.

The change in the average prices of this activity (0.06%) was followed by two out of three dissemination groups investigated, highlighted by the advance of 3.88% in "manufacture of agricultural defensives and household disinfectants" and of 0.80% in "inorganic chemicals". On the other hand, the average prices of "manufacture of resins and elastomers" retreated 2.59% in March. In general, changes in the costs of acquisition of raw material, competitive raises or discounts, and changes in the demand for chemicals were among the main reasons mentioned by companies for the price changes this month.

The change of 0.06% in the average prices shown in March, the following products stood out in terms of influence: "herbicides for agricultural use", high-density polyethylene (HDPE)", "low-density polyethylene (LDPE)" and "dyes and varnishes for printing".

In the perspective of the products that mostly influenced on the result of 4.16% in the cumulative index in 2025, "NPK-based manure or fertilizers", "herbicides for agricultural use", "chemical/mineral manure/fertilizer with nitrogen and potassium" and "odoriferous substances, excluding beverage industry" stood out, as they were more expensive at the gate factory in 2025.

Basic metals: in March, the price change in this activity was -1.96% in relation to the previous month, the third consecutive negative figure, being the most intense drop since August 2023 (when it changed -2.57%). It stood out as the third most intense change in the monthly indicator among all the sectors surveyed, as well as the third major influence on the overall indicator (-0.13 p.p. out of -0.62%). As a result, this activity accumulated a retraction of 4.50% in the first quarter of 2025, also standing out as one of the major changes and influences among the sectors surveyed. However, the prices in March 2025 were still, on average, 18.17% higher than those of March 2024 in the cumulative index in 12 months. In other words, this sector stood out in this indicator among the other activities surveyed with a positive figure, being the most intense change and the third major influence (1.11 p.p. out of 8.37%).