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Factory gate prices accelerated at a slower pace in March 2025, due to the slowdown in the price hike for computer, electronic, and optical products, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.
Preliminary data from the PSA revealed that the producer price index (PPI), which reflects the year-on-year increase in prices of manufactured goods, slowed by 0.6 percent in March from the previous month’s 0.8 percent price increase growth.
This brings the first-quarter inflation to an average rate of 0.6 percent, reversing the deflation seen in the same period last year at an 1.2 percent.
This higher producers’ inflation likewise reversed the slight deflation of 1.2 percent in March of last year.
According to the PSA, the production of “computer, electronic and optical products industry division was the main driver to the deceleration of the annual rate of PPI for manufactured goods.”
The annual growth rate of price increases for computer, electronic, and optical products slowed to 1.3 percent in March from 2.1 percent in February.
The manufacture of these products accounted for nearly 37 percent of the slower inflation. This industry division holds the second-highest weight among the 22 manufacturing sectors in the PPI calculation.
Other key contributors to the slower producers’ inflation in March were the reduced price increases in coke and refined petroleum products, which eased to 1.6 percent from 2.9 percent, and in machinery-related manufacturing and repairs, which also slowed to 1.6 percent from three percent.
Among the remaining 19 industry divisions, 14 posted annual increases, while five recorded annual declines in March 2025.
Food production, the third-largest contributor to industry inflation, posted a 0.4 percent year-on-year increase in March, slightly up from 0.3 percent in February.
This was mainly driven by higher growth in five of the eight industry groups. Leading this was the smaller annual drop in fish, crustaceans, and mollusk processing, which eased to 0.03 percent from a 1.1 percent decline in February.
But measured against last year’s inflation, this month’s movement was a bit slower than the 0.5 percent in March last year.
