Over 30 Percent of Brazilian Companies Impacted by Coronavirus in March

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Over 30 percent of companies in all sectors felt the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on their business in March, according to a survey by the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV). The institution included special topics in its monthly surveys to research the impact of the crisis on companies and consumers.

In March, industry was the most affected sector, with 43 percent of companies reporting the impact of coronavirus on their business. Next came commerce (35 percent) and services (30.2 percent).

Moreover, the negative impacts are expected to increase in coming months, according to respondents: 68.5 percent in industry, 59.1 percent in commerce and 49.7 percent in services.

“In the case of services, companies may not have realized at the beginning of the period how the isolation policy would affect their business,” write the researchers from the Brazilian Institute of Economics (IBRE), FGV, Rodolpho Guedon Tobler and Viviane Seda Bittencourt, who sign the study.

They recall that the survey was conducted between March 1st and 25th – and that the restrictive measures in the country only started on March 15th.

In industry, the impacts were focused on Oil and Biofuels (88.3 percent) and Chemicals (61.4 percent), mentioning the risk of foreign demand reduction and lack of supply of imported supplies.

Regarding the impacts in the following months, 15 of the 19 segments surveyed by FGV showed that over 50 percent of companies projected negative impacts, particularly in machinery and electrical equipment (91.5 percent), oil and biofuels (90.5 percent), cleaning and perfumery (90.2 percent) and information technology and electronics (89.4 percent).

In trade, most impacts affected resellers of durable and semi-durable goods in March. The sectors most affected were vehicles, motorcycles and parts (46.4 percent), building supplies (39.9 percent) and fabrics, shoes and clothing (37.2 percent); in contrast, only 18.8 percent of hyper and supermarkets reported problems in the month.

In terms of future months, the sectors expecting the worst impacts are clothing and footwear (74.7 percent), motor vehicles (71.6 percent), and furniture and household appliances (71.5 percent).

In the services sector, the greatest impact in March was felt in information and communication services (35.9 percent), followed by family services (35.2 percent) and transport and auxiliary services to transport and mail (34.0 percent).

For the coming months, transportation services are expected to suffer the most negative impacts (62.9 percent), followed by household services (54.5 percent).