Output in November decreased 2.4 percent from the previous month after a revised 0.6 percent decline in October, the national statistics agency said Thursday. The biggest slip since December 2013 was more than twice than the median 1 percent drop in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. From a year earlier, industrial production fell 12.4 percent, and hasn't registered year-on-year growth since the first half of 2014.

"This adds to evidence that the recession deepened in the fourth quarter," said Edward Glossop, emerging market economist at Capital Economics.

Industry output was one of the weakest areas of the Brazilian economy last year, as falling business confidence and surging prices offset the benefits a weaker currency had on exports. Policy makers are said to be discussing strategies to revive businesses such as automakers and builders in order to prevent the recession from worsening in 2016.