After a long and difficult period, the Brazilian industry is growing again. The third quarter started better than expected, and consultants are predicting a gradual recovery in the coming months. Proof of this is the constant growth presented in the last three years, in which the sector grew 16% between 2016 and 2019. The market of castings, according to the Brazilian Foundry Association (ABIFA), is driven in large part by the demand of the automotive industry, which in the first semester expanded production of vehicles by 2.8% compared to the same period in the previous year, as the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (Anfavea) points out.
The sustainable growth that is observed is felt by the most recent market figures
In the accumulated from January to June 2019, it produced 1,161,165 tons of castings, 4.2% more than the same period of 2018, when it registered 1,115,134 tons. Brazil has the capacity to produce 4 million tons annually. If the estimated production of 2.44 billion tons is maintained this year, the country remains among the ten largest foundry markets in the world, which is headed by China which produced in 2017 (49.4 million tons, followed by India (12,060,000), United States ( 9,670,000), Germany (5,480,000), Japan (5.4 million) Russia (4.2 million), Mexico (2,910,000), Korea (2,540,000), Italy (2,240,000) and Brazil (2,220,000). Of what the country produces annually, about 16.5% is destined for exports.
The foundry sector is the foundation of the entire industry and one of the main thermometers of the economy. According to ABIFA, Brazil has 1,170 foundry companies, where 40% of these working in iron Foundry, 21% aluminum and 14%, with steel. Another 25% of the companies work with non-ferrous metals, copper, zinc and magnesium. Together, they were responsible for generating a revenue of close to US $8 billion in 2018.
In 2019, a turnover of around $9 billion is likely.
"And we are very confident in achieving the goal, because the automotive industry, which represents more than 54% of the demands of our industry, has an optimistic prediction. According to Anfavea is expected growth of 9% in production, with a high of 11.4% in sales in the domestic market ", explains Roberto João de Deus, executive director of ABIFA.
The 6.9% growth rate projected for this year may even seem small, but it is very celebrated by ABIFA for the gradual remoteness of a period that will not miss.
Generation of jobs-another index that demonstrates the resumption of the sector is the generation of jobs that from 2016 to over here grew 11.6% in the sector. Today, the foundry Market employs about 56000 people. Minas Gerais leads the ranking with 16,794 jobs, followed by Santa Catarina with 16,393 and São Paulo comes in third place with 12,239.
18th edition of FENAF
To take advantage of this resumption of the foundry market, ABIFA promotes in September the largest trade fair in Latin America in the foundry sector, the 18th edition of FENAF-Latin American Foundry Fair-takes place from September 17th to 20th in São Paulo. The event brings together the biggest players in the market and also counts with ABIFA Foundry Congress (CONAF) and a day dedicated to the 9th BRICS International Foundry Forum in which the participating countries present new foundry technologies and discuss solutions to the problems affecting the sector.
