*Brazil’s national statistics institute (Ibge) has released its latest figures for the country’s industrial production, showing a monthly increase of 0.9% in March. This rise follows stagnant production figures from the previous month. The first quarter of 2024 showed negligible change from the preceding quarter. The accumulated industrial production for the 12 months until March 2024 registered a 0.7% increase from the previous 12-month period. However, in year-on-year terms industrial production was down 2.8% in March compared with the same month in 2023. Of the 25 product categories measured, only five saw monthly increases in March, with the highest rises in production registered in printing & recording equipment (+8.2%) and textile products (+4.5). The categories with the greatest monthly drop were smoking products (-13.6%) and computer equipment, electronic and optical products (-13.3%).