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Louella Desiderio - The Philippine Star
March 9, 2025 | 12:00am
Photo shows workers at a textile factory in Manila.
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — The manufacturing sector started the year strong with output growing at a faster pace in January, driven mainly by increased food production, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Preliminary results of the PSA’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries showed that the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) for manufacturing registered a faster increase of 3.2 percent in January from a 0.4-percent increment in December 2024.
In January last year, the VoPI for manufacturing registered a 0.3-percent contraction.
The PSA said faster VoPI growth was primarily driven by the manufacture of food products, which posted a 9.4-percent increase in January from a 0.3-percent decline in December last year.
Also driving the faster VoPI growth was the manufacture of basic metals, which registered a smaller decline of 2.4 percent from 19.5 percent in the previous month.
Another main driver was the production of machinery and equipment, with a growth rate of 62.1 percent in January from the previous month’s 40.9 percent.
Of the remaining 19 industry divisions, 11 posted increases in January: electrical equipment; chemical and chemical products; wood, bamboo, cane, rattan articles and related products; beverages; tobacco products; fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment; textiles; rubber and plastic products; furniture; leather and related products, including footwear and wearing apparel.
Meanwhile, those with negative growth rates are computer, electronic and optical products; other manufacturing and repair and installation of machinery and equipment; basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations; coke and refined petroleum products; transport equipment; other non-metallic mineral products; printing and reproduction of recorded media and paper and paper products.
The Value of Production Index (VaPI) also registered a faster increase of four percent in January from a 0.4-percent uptick in December last year.
In January 2024, the VaPI registered a 1.4-percent contraction.
“The acceleration in the annual rate of VaPI for manufacturing in January 2025 was mainly attributed to the annual increase in the manufacture of food products at 9.3 percent during the month from an annual increase of 1.4 percent in the previous month,” the PSA said.
Other primary contributors to the faster VaPI growth were the slower decline in the manufacture of basic metals at 1.2 percent in January from the previous month’s 18.4-percent contraction and the manufacture of machinery and equipment except electrical, which registered a 65.7-percent growth from the previous month’s 45-percent increase.
The average capacity utilization rate for manufacturing in January was at 75.9 percent, up from the previous month’s 75.6 percent and 74.5 percent in the same month last year.
“All industry divisions reported capacity utilization rates of more than 60 percent during the month,” the PSA said.
Industry divisions with the highest reported capacity utilization in January were printing and reproduction of recorded media at 83.3 percent, other non-metallic mineral products at 82 percent and other manufacturing and repair and installation of machinery and equipment at 80.7 percent.
The PSA said 26.5 percent of the total number of responding establishments operated at full capacity (90 percent to 100 percent) while 43.2 percent operated at 70 to 89 percent capacity. Meanwhile, 30.3 percent were at below 70 percent capacity.
