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The Philippine manufacturing sector continued to grow in September
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This is even if more than half of the 22 industry divisions saw declines in performance
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The Value of Production Index increased at an annual rate of 8.9% while the Volume of Production Index improved 9.1% year-on-year
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The average capacity utilization rate was at 74.3%, slightly higher than the 74% of the previous month
The Philippine manufacturing sector continued to grow in September 2023 even as more than half of industry divisions saw declines in performance, according to latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The Value of Production Index (VaPI) for manufacturing went up by 8.9% in September 2023 based on the PSA’s latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries. This was faster than the 7.5% in August 2023 but slower than the 12.6% increase in September 2022.
The Volume of Production Index (VoPI) also improved 9.1% year-on-year in September, faster than the 6.8% growth in August 2023 and 4.5% in September 2022.
The VaPI increase was attributed to higher annual growth in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products, up by 66.9% in September 2023. This industry division contributed 49.7% to the annual uptrend of VaPI for the month.
Other main contributors were the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (2.9% growth), and the manufacture of basic metals (9.4% growth).
Out of the remaining 19 industry divisions, production in seven went up, and 12 dropped in September 2023. The manufacture of wearing apparel had the fastest annual drop of 36.4% during the period.
The top three industry divisions that contributed to the higher annual rate of VoPI in September 2023 were the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (78.6% growth), manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (2.9% growth), and manufacture of basic metals (14% growth).
Of the remaining 19 industry divisions, five increased year-on-year, while 14 had annual declines during the period. The highest drop was in the manufacture of wearing apparel at 35.8%.
The Value of Net Sales Index recorded a slower annual decrease of 0.4% in September 2023 compared with the 0.7% drop in the previous month but was in contrast to the double-digit annual increase of 22.8% in September 2022.
The Volume of Net Sales Index (VoNSI) also posted a slower year-on-year decrement in September 2023 at 0.2% compared to its annual decrease of 1.3% in August 2023. In September 2022, VoNSI recorded a double-digit annual increase of 14.1%.
The average capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing sector in September 2023 was reported at 74.3%, slightly higher than the 74% in the previous month.
All industry divisions reported capacity utilization rates of more than 50% during the month. The top three industry divisions in terms of reported capacity utilization rate were manufacture of machinery and equipment except electrical (81%), manufacture of rubber and plastic products (80.1%), and manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (79.4%).
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