PH manufacturing books fourth consecutive month of triple-digit growth in July

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  • The Philippine manufacturing sector posted its fourth consecutive month of triple-digit increase in July 2021 against the same period last year
  • Of the 22 industry divisions, 14 recorded increases in volume and 15 in value
  • The manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products led growth sectors
  • Average capacity utilization rate for manufacturing sector dropped to 66.7% in July from 67.7% in the previous month

The country’s manufacturing sector recorded year-on-year triple-digit increases in volume and value in July 2021, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). This is the fourth consecutive month that the sector has grown against comparable figures last year.

The Volume of Production Index (VoPI) in July 2021 increased at an annual rate by 537.9%, higher than the 459% growth registered in June 2021 and a reversal from the 72.8% decline in July 2020, according to PSA’s latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries.

It must be noted though that the manufacturing sector in July 2020 was adversely affected by COVID-19-related restrictions in the country that started in March 2020 and resulted in low production and sales indices for the sector.

The growth in July 2021 was the fourth consecutive month of improvement in VoPI after 13 months of straight decline since March 2020.

Expansion in VoPI was observed in 14 out of 22 industry divisions. The fastest growth rate was reported in manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products at 3,525.6%.  The remaining eight industry divisions recorded decreases, with manufacture of tobacco products registering the fastest annual decline of 55.8%.

The Value of Production Index (VaPI) likewise rose by 528.1%, faster than the 444.6% increase registered in June 2021 and in contrast with the 74.1% decline recorded in July 2020.

This is VaPI’s fourth positive increase in a row since April 2019 and the highest annual growth in the 2018-based data series.

The upward trend in VaPI was contributed by annual increases in 15 out of the 22 industry divisions. Among these, the top contributor was manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products with 4,096.1% annual growth rate. The remaining seven industry divisions were, however, at a downward trend led by manufacture of tobacco products with 55.5% decline.

Based on the survey’s responding establishments, the average capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing sector in July 2021 dropped to 66.7% from 67.7% in the previous month.

Of the 22 industry divisions, 19 had more than 50% average capacity utilization rate which was led by manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (81.1%), manufacture of tobacco products (78.3%), and manufacture of furniture (74.1%).

More than one-fourth of the responding establishments operated at full capacity.

The proportion of establishments that operated at full capacity (90% to 100%) was 26.9% of the total number of responding establishments. Meanwhile, 34.2% operated at 70% to 89% capacity, while 38.9% operated below 70% capacity.