PH factory output growth slows in June

THE Philippine factory output grew at a slower pace in June due to annual declines reported in 13 industry divisions during the month, government data released on Tuesday showed.

Preliminary results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) of the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the volume of production index (VoPI) expanded by 3.4 percent in June.

This is slower than the revised 7.7 percent in May but faster than the 0.04 percent contraction recorded in the same month of 2022.

The PSA attributed the deceleration to the annual declines in the manufacture of food products which contracted by 3.2 percent, fabricated metal products by 36.4 percent, and beverages by 7.7 percent.

“The annual drop of VoPI for manufacture of food products in June 2023 was mainly due to the annual decrement observed in manufacture of dairy products industry group,” the PSA said, with the industry division down 13.3 percent.

“Other main drivers to the annual decrease of VoPI for manufacture of food products were the annual declines in the manufacture of other food products… and the faster annual decline in the processing and preserving fish, crustaceans, and mollusks,” it added.

Declines were also seen in the manufacture of wearing apparel (-34.5.5%), furniture (-28.2%), machinery and equipment (-21.6%), tobacco products (-20.5%), leather and related products (-13.0%), other non-metallic mineral products (-8.4%), paper and paper products (-7.2%), computer, electronic, and optical products (-7.0%), rubber and plastic products (-4.7%), and textiles (-0.5%).

The divisions that reported expansions were the printing and reproduction of recorded media (34.6%), manufacture of transport equipment (30.6%), electrical equipment (29.5%), repair and installation of machinery (23.6%), basic pharmaceutical products (20.0%), coke and refined petroleum products (15.4%), basic metals (15.0%), wood, bamboo, cane, rattan articles (3.7%), and chemicals (0.6%).

Meanwhile, the value of production index (VaPI) expanded by 3.9 percent to reflect a slowdown from 9.9 percent in May, and 7.8 percent in June 2022.

Out of the 592 survey establishment respondents, some 26.5% operated at full capacity or 90% to 100% during the month. Some 36.7% operated at 70% to 89% capacity, while 36.8% operated below 70% capacity.

A similar survey by S&P Global showed that the country’s PMI stood at 50.9 in June, the weakest expansion in 10 months since July 2022. (GMA Integrated News)