Factory output drops to 4-month low in November

January 7, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s manufacturing output dipped to a four-month low in November last year due to slower increases in the production of food and refined petroleum products, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Preliminary results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries released by the PSA yesterday showed that the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) posted a 1.5-percent contraction in November 2025 from the one percent uptick in the previous month.

This was the lowest VoPI result seen since the 0.7 percent dip in July 2025.

Compared to the 4.5 percent drop posted in November 2024, the latest VoPI result was an improvement.

From January to November 2025, average VoPI growth was at -0.1 percent.

The PSA attributed the downtrend in VoPI growth to the manufacture of food products, which posted a slower increase of 4.2 percent in November 2025 from the previous month’s 8.1 percent.

It cited coke and refined petroleum products as another driver of the downtrend as the sector registered a faster decline of 11.4 percent in November last year from 2.7 percent in October 2025.

Beverage production also contributed to the decline in VoPI as it dipped by 2.8 percent in November 2025 from a 4.9-percent increase in the previous month.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said in an email that the probe on flood control corruption allegations could expand to other infrastructure projects, potentially slowing infrastructure spending and overall economic growth and affecting local manufacturing activities.

“However, if anti-corruption measures or reforms and other priority governance reform measures are taken seriously, this could help improve overall economic growth, as well as some improvement on local manufacturing activities,”he said.

The PSA said the average capacity utilization rate for manufacturing in November 2025 was at 77.4 percent, slightly lower than the 77.6 percent in October last year.

“All industry divisions reported capacity utilization rates of more than 60 percent during the month,” the PSA said.

The top three industry divisions in terms of reported capacity utilization rate were coke and refined petroleum products (83.9 percent), other manufacturing and repair and installation of machinery and equipment (82.9 percent) and computer, electronic and optical products (81.3 percent).

Around one-third of the total responding establishments operated at full capacity or at 90 to 100 percent.

Meanwhile, 43.1 percent operated at 70 to 89 percent capacity and 23.7 percent were at below 70 percent.