Brasília, 7/23/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The latest survey by the National Industrial Confederation (CNI), for the first half of 2003, shows that the industrial sector has lost some of its enthusiasm regarding economic perspectives. Things looked brighter in the first quarter survey.

The numbers tell the story. And the most telling number is that industrial capacity utilization is now at 68%. As a result, the number of interviewees who believe in economic improvement fell from 60% in April, to 56%. Asked about their view of their own sector's prospects, 41.3% of the business leaders interviewed said they believed in growth in April; only 32.9% said the same now.

Although the export sector has been very strong so far this year, even it did not come out of the survey unscathed. In April, 56.3% of those interviewed said they were expecting further growth of exports. That number fell to 54.1%.

The survey shows that the much hoped for recovery of industrial activity has not occurred. Industrial production and sales are down, although comparatively they remain stable.

The industrial sector faces numerous problems, among them heavy taxes, high interest rates and sluggish demand. All this has caused an inventory backlog.

The facts and the numbers explain the lower level of expectations, although many interviewees in the survey said they still believed things would get better during the next six months. (AB)