By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, March 11 (PNA) — Output of the domestic manufacturing industry in the start of the year went up by 7.2 percent, which grew slowly from a six-month double digit growth, data of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) of the Philippines Statistics Authority-National Statistics Office (PSA-NSO) disclosed Tuesday.
Starting July 2013, volume of production index (VoPi) increased by 14.5 percent, followed by 18.6 percent increase in August, 20.1 percent increment in September, 22.2 percent growth in October, 19.9 percent hike in November, and 25.2 percent growth in December last year.
Manufacturing growth in the first month of this year was led by furniture and fixtures sector with strong growth of 237.4 percent.
Other sectors contributing to production output growth in January of this year are tobacco products which increased by 68.9 percent; publishing and printing up by 52.1 percent; machinery except electrical grew by 44.5 percent; textiles increased by 31.5 percent; fabricated metal products with an increment of 23.8 percent; leather products went up by 21 percent; chemical products with a positive growth of 15.8 percent; electrical machinery increased by 13.1 percent; and non-metallic mineral products which grew by 11.2 percent.
Likewise, value of production index (VaPi) manifested a slight growth in January of this year which increased only by 7.3 percent from a five-month double digit increment.
The country’s statistics body explained that this slower yearly growth in VaPi can be attributed to lower manufacturing output of chemical products as it only went up by 15.5 percent in January 2014 from December 2013’s growth of 218.5 percent.
The double digit growth in production value started in August 2013 with an increase of 10.8 percent; 11.9 percent increment in September; 15.2 percent in October; 14.1 percent in November; and 20.2 percent in December – its highest monthly increase last year.
Moreover, average capacity utilization of manufacturing facilities in January 2014 posted at 83.2 percent with 11 out of 20 major industries registered capacity utilization rates of more than 80 percent.
These industries include: petroleum products at 88.8 percent capacity utilization; basic metals at 87.1 percent; non-metallic mineral products at 86 percent; food manufacturing at 84.5 percent; machinery except electrical at 84.2 percent; electrical machinery at 84.4 percent; chemical products at 83.1 percent; rubber and plastic products at 82.7 percent; paper and paper products at 82.7 percent; wood and wood products at 81.1 percent; and publishing and printing at 80 percent.
Only food manufacturing was stable in terms of capacity utilization while the remaining sectors had a slight negative growth. (PNA)