SOFOFA: Industrial production down 7.5% in March

SANTIAGO.- Industrial production registered a 7.5% decrease in March of this year, while physical sales dropped by 7.9%. Meanwhile, according to an announcement made today by the Chilean Federation of Industry (SOFOFA), internal sales reported a significant reduction of 9.6%.

The state owned organization indicated that there were 2 more workdays in March of this year (22) than in March of 2008 (20). After deseasonalizing the series, industrial production exhibited a decrease of 9.3% in relation to March of 2008, while sales in the sector fell by 8.6%.

When comparing the deseasonalized monthly levels, it is evident that the rate of decrease has dwindled in comparison to what had been reported at the end of 2008.

Within the destination sector, the most significant reduction in industrial production for March was noted amongst the industry's intermediate goods, which fell by 2.7 points – followed by intermediate construction goods, which reported a drop of 2 points. SOFOFA also reported that the production of durable consumption goods registered a total decline of 1.2 points.

With the latest figures, industrial production has accumulated a total decrease of 9.1% during the first quarter of 2009. Meanwhile, industrial sales fell by 8.4% and internal sales have accumulated a total drop of 10.5%.