January 2012 data showed an improvement in Brazilian manufacturing sector business conditions, with both output and new orders rising since December 2011. Although only modest, the improvement in operating conditions was in contrast to the deteriorations reported in each of the past seven months.

On the job front, Brazilian manufacturers hired additional staff in January 2012, with growth the strongest in nine months. Meanwhile, output charges fell during the latest survey period, albeit only fractionally.

Commenting on the Brazil Manufacturing PMI survey, Mr Andre Loes chief economist at Brazil at HSBC said that "The HSBC Manufacturing PMI index rose to 50.6 in January 2012 good news is that after seven months in negative terrain, Brazil' manufacturing sector expanded for the first time since May. However, this is still a soft recovery, and is generally consistent with the view that the economy has essentially been moving sideways since 2H2011. Still, the latest PMI index and its breakdown reinforce the perception that the worse of last year’s slowdown is behind us."

(Sourced from www.wordpress.com)