Yara Aquino
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília – Brazilian industrial production in the last quarter of 2005 was what it was in the second and third quarters: flat. The National Industrial Confederation (Confederação Nacional da Indústria) (CNI), which surveyed the sector, reports that the good news is that inventories were down for the first time in almost a year.

Renato Fonseca, the executive manager of the CNI survey, says that even with the downturn in the size of inventories there is still no room for an upturn in production. "We hope that will happen later in the first quarter of 2006," he declared.

But Fonseca reports that the survey found sector optimism regarding growth is the lowest since 1999. Even so, it is expected that at least the export sector will continue to turn in a solid performance for the first half.

Translation: Allen Bennett