According to the latest survey by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), the month of February showed an improvement in industry confidence, reaching a positive position in most industrial sectors evaluated in the Industrial Entrepreneur Confidence Index (ICEI). In the previous month, January, the predominance had been of lack of confidence in the industrial market.
Confidence advanced in 21 of the 29 evaluated sectors, which puts 19 of the industrial sectors in a state of confidence again. The Expectations index points to an optimistic view among 22 sectors for the next six months, which caused general confidence in the industry to rise to a higher level. In contrast, the Current Conditions index revealed that 27 of the 29 sectors assess market conditions worse than those of the last six months.
The most trusted sectors are pharmochemicals and pharmaceuticals, with a score of 60.4; cleaning, perfumery and personal hygiene products; electrical machines, appliances and materials; and extraction of non-metallic minerals.
The least confident sectors, according to ICEI data, were wood products; non-metallic mineral products; manufacture of clothing and accessories; and furniture. These sectors scored between 43.3 and 47. Sectors with less than 50 points are considered with little confidence by the survey, which reaches a maximum of 100 points.
In the manufacturing industry segment, the sectors that lead the confidence index are food products, beverages and textile products. When evaluated by region, companies in the North and Northeast are the most confident, reaching 54.2; and 54.4 points, respectively. In the south, despite a slight improvement in relation to January, the industrial sectors are still not confident.
When divided by size, only large industries, with more than 250 employees, showed positive confidence in February, changing the previous picture, which was without confidence. Compared to the same month in 2022, large industry fell 4 points on the ICEI.
For Thiago Leão, director of Nomus, specialized in industrial management, the competitive market makes managers review the factory’s internal processes so that they can reach better results. “In an adverse scenario, the entrepreneur must restructure his plan of action and seek solutions to optimize his processes, such as retraining the team and adopting technologies to gain productivity”, he comments.
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