In 2025, seven states in the country saw industrial production grow at a faster pace than the national average, with emphasis on Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo.
While Brazilian industry advanced 0.6% in 2025 compared to 2024, Espírito Santo jumped more than 10%, and Rio, more than 5%.
The data is part of the Regional Monthly Industrial Surveyreleased this Tuesday (10) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
To measure the performance of the national industry annually, IBGE collects information in 18 locations. The research includes 17 federation units (UF) that have a share of at least 0.5% in the total national industrial sector, and the Northeast as a whole.
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See where there was annual growth above the country’s average (0.6%) in 2025:
- Espírito Santo: 11.6%
- Rio de Janeiro: 5.1%
- Santa Catarina: 3.2%
- Rio Grande do Sul: 2.4%
- Goiás: 2.4%
- Minas Gerais: 1.3%
- Pará: 0.8%
Engines
Due to its weight of 11.38% of the total national economy, Rio de Janeiro exerted the greatest positive influence on the national average, just ahead of Espírito Santo.
The research analyst, Bernardo Almeida, points out that Rio de Janeiro was driven by the extractive sector, with an increase in the extraction of oil and natural gas. Neighboring Espírito Santo, due to the growth in the extraction of oil, iron ore and natural gas.
“Santa Catarina appears as the third biggest influence, driven mainly by the food sectors and electrical machines, appliances and materials”, he points out. In relation to food, he mentions frozen meat and poultry offal, prepared and preserved fish, and pork sausages.
Three states saw the industry grow last year, but below the national average:
- Bahia: 0.3%
- Paraná: 0.3%
- Amazon: 0.1%
In eight locations surveyed, industrial production declined, with a negative highlight for Rio Grande do Sul.
- Ceará: -0.6%
- Northeast Region: -0.8%
- São Paulo: -2.2%
- Pernambuco: -3.8%
- Maranhão: -5.1%
- Mato Grosso: -5.8%
- Rio Grande do Norte: -11.6%
- Mato Grosso do Sul: -12.9%
Explanations
As São Paulo has the greatest weight of all Brazilian industry – it accounts for a third of everything produced in the country’s factories – the drop in performance in 2025 (-2.2%) exerted the greatest negative pressure in 2025.
According to Bernardo Almeida, among the sectors that contributed most to this negative performance in São Paulo are petroleum derivatives, with drops in the production of ethyl alcohol, diesel oil, automotive gasoline, petroleum asphalt and naphtha.
The researcher also adds the pharmaceutical sector, with a reduction in the manufacture of medicines.
In the two states with drops exceeding double digits, the culprit is the manufacture of coke, petroleum derivatives and biofuels.
In Rio Grande do Norte, the 23.2% decline was driven by diesel and gasoline; in Mato Grosso do Sul, depression of 61.5% was caused by low production of ethyl alcohol.
