MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Food industry is Brazil's main source of jobs, IBGE finds

Brazil's Southeast accounted for 61.1% of the country's Industrial Transformation Value (ITV)

The foodstuff industry accounted for the largest number of jobs (22.8%) in South America's largest country, according to a study released Thursday by Brazil's Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The clothing and accessories industry represented 7% of workplaces, and the manufacture of metal products (machinery and equipment not included), 5.9%.

In 2022, the number of industrial companies with one or more employees totaled 346,100, encompassing 8.3 million people (12.9% higher than in pre-pandemic 2019), most of whom worked in the manufacturing sector (97.3%). It was the largest number of companies in the historical series, which began in 2007.

As for labor, the percentage remained stable from 2013 when 97.5% of the workforce was employed in manufacturing and 2.5% in mining. These businesses generated net sales revenue of R$ 6.7 trillion (US$ 1.2 trillion), of which R$ 436.8 billion (US$ 79.4 billion) came from extractive industries and R$ 6.2 trillion (US$ 1.13 trillion) from the Manufacturing Industries. Food production grew 3.6 percentage points (from 18.9% to 22.5%) while manufacturing of motor vehicles, trailers, and parts fell from 11.3% in 2013 to 7.9% in 2022.

Brazilian industry generated R$ 2.5 trillion in Industrial Transformation Value (ITV) in 2022. The Southeast had a 61.1% share of the ITV, the highest level in ten years. The five main industrial activities accounted for 54.4% of the ITV.