Manufacturing output dips in 2025

February 7, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s manufacturing output dipped in 2025 from the previous year as 10 industry divisions posted declines, 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 posted an annual average decline of 0.02 percent last year, indicating a downtrend from the 0.7 percent growth seen in 2024 and 4.9 percent growth in 2023.

Industry divisions which posted declines in 2025 are beverages (-one percent); wearing apparel (-3.9 percent); printing and reproduction of recorded media (-5.7 percent); coke and refined petroleum products (-5.8 percent); chemical and chemical products (-21.2 percent); rubber and plastic products (-1.9 percent); basic metals (-26.1 percent); fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (-7.2 percent); furniture (-2.4 percent); and other manufacturing and repair and installation of machinery and equipment (-1.7 percent). 

In December, the VoPI for manufacturing posted a one-percent increase, a reversal of the 1.1 percent decline in the previous month.

It also improved from the 0.5 percent increase in December 2024.

The uptrend in VoPI in December 2025 was primarily driven by other non-metallic mineral products, which posted a faster increase of 31.4 percent during the month from six percent in November 2025.

Also driving the uptrend in VoPI growth was the higher increase of 10.4 percent in food production in December last year from 7.6 percent in November 2025.

The machinery and equipment industry except electrical was cited as another contributor as it increased by 10.1 percent in December last year from a 10.7-percent decline in the previous month.

Based on responding establishments, the average capacity utilization rate for manufacturing in December 2025 was at 77.5 percent, up from 77.4 percent in the previous month and the 76.1 percent in December 2024.

“All industry divisions reported capacity utilization rates of more than 65 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 (84.9 percent); computer, electronic and optical products (83.2 percent) and other manufacturing and repair and installation of machinery and equipment (82.2 percent).

More than one-third of responding establishments operated at full capacity (90 percent to 100 percent) in December 2025.

Meanwhile, 42 percent operated at 70 to 89 percent capacity while 23 percent were running below 70 percent capacity.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said that while it welcomes the manufacturing output recovery in December, it remains cautiously optimistic for this year.

“Continued government infrastructure projects, strong domestic consumption and supportive monetary policy are expected to help sustain growth,” PCCI said.

It also emphasized the need to address challenges such as rising global prices, supply chain constraints and energy costs.