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Volume of Production Index declined at a slower rate of 8.4% year-on-year in September 2020 compared with 9% decrease in August 2020
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Value of Production Index also on downtrend at an annual rate of -11.9% in September 2020, from faster decline of 13.3% in previous month
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Average capacity utilization rate for manufacturing sector in September 2020 slightly increased to 67.6% from 67.2% in previous month
The Philippine manufacturing sector continued to record slower declines in September 2020, helped along by increases in basic metals and food manufacturing sectors.
The Volume of Production Index (VoPI) declined at a slower rate of 8.4% year-on-year in September 2020 compared with the 9% drop in August 2020, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI).
Contributing mainly to the slower decline in VoPI in September 2020 were the two-digit expansions observed in basic metals and food manufacturing with annual increases of 14.4% and 10.2%, respectively. The slower drop in the indices of 10 industry groups also tapered off the rate of decline in the manufacturing index.
This was still, however, the seventh consecutive month of decline for VoPI after it recovered in February 2020 to break 14 months in a row of decreases.
The Value of Production Index (VaPI) likewise continued to exhibit a downtrend at an annual rate of -11.9% in September 2020, from a faster decline of 13.3% in the previous month.
The September 2020 figure was also the seventh consecutive month that VaPI had a negative growth and the fifth straight month it was declining at a slower rate, PSA noted.
The slower downturn in VaPI was influenced by increases in indices of four industry groups, namely, basic metals (12.3%), food manufacturing (11.6%), chemical products (5.6%), and miscellaneous manufactures (1.6%). Contributing further to the slower drop in September 2020 for the sector was the slower decreases in the indices of 10 industry groups.
Based on responding establishments, PSA said average capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing sector in September 2020 slightly increased to 67.6% from 67.2% in the previous month.
In the same month, eight of the 20 industry groups had at least 80% average capacity utilization rate which was led by machinery except electrical (92.0%), followed by furniture and fixtures (88.4%), and paper and paper products (86.8%).
Almost 20% of responding establishments operated at full capacity.
The proportion of establishments that operated at full capacity (90% to 100%) was 17.7% of the total number of responding establishments with responses on capacity utilization. Further, 40.3% operated at 70 to 89% capacity, while 42% percent operated below 70% capacity.
