Latin American high-yield bond issues have reached a five-year high, with more than half of the volume coming from Brazil’s state-owned energy company Petrobras.

New issues totaled $17.8bn in the first nine months of the year, up from $11.1bn in the same period of 2015, when volume sank to the lowest level in five years, Moody’s Investor Service said in a report.

Petrobras has accounted for roughly 55% of new high-yield bond issues so far this year, Moody’s said. In May, the company became the first corporate issuer from Brazil to tap the cross-border market in 2016, raising $6.75b in a two-part deal. The company sold a five-year bond for $5bn and 10-year bond for $1.75bn. Petrobras also retapped two bonds in July, adding $3bn and capitalizing on investors hunting for yield in an environment of low interest rates.

Excluding Petrobras, high-yield issue volume would have dropped to a new five-year low of $8bn, Moody’s said.

Bond market activity will likely “continue on a moderate, selective pace in the next few quarters as Latin America’s credit conditions evolve gradually and unevenly in 2017,” the rating agency said in the report.

“Economies in the region continue to adjust to sluggish global growth, while commodity prices are stabilizing and domestic political uncertainties seem contained,” Moody’s said. “But uncertainty about the pace of monetary policies in the US and European Union, as well as swings in global investor sentiment… along with softer economic growth rates in China affecting the global demand for commodities will continue to cause volatility for capital inflows to countries in the region.”

A total of 19 high-yield deals were carried out in the first nine months of 2016, most of them from 11 companies, Moody’s said. Petrobras, Argentina’s state-controlled energy firm YPF, and Brazilian companies Vale, Marfrig and Cosan have all tapped the market at least twice in 2016.

Issuers in the third quarter included Petrobras Argentina, Mexican lodging company Grupo Posadas, Brazilian cement producer Votorantim Cimentos, Argentine media and telecom company CableVision, Peruvian agriculture company Camposol and Argentine candy maker Arcor.