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The Philippine manufacturing sector slipped in March 2024 as more than half of the 22 industry divisions recorded decreases
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The value of production index registered a year-on-year reduction of 1.7% while the volume of production index dropped 0.8%
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The downtrend was due to the annual decrease in the manufacture of food products and the slower increases in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, and coke and refined petroleum
The Philippine manufacturing sector slipped in March as more than half of the 22 industry divisions recorded decreases, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The value of production index (VaPI) for manufacturing registered a year-on-year reduction of 1.7% in March 2024 from an annual increase of 5.7% in February 2024 and 9.1% in March 2023.
This brings the average growth rate of VaPI for the first quarter of the year to 1.8%, according to PSA’s latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI).
The volume of production index (VoPI) likewise dropped 0.8% in March 2024 after an increment of 7.2% in February 2024 and 6% in March 2023. With this, VoPI’s average growth rate for the first quarter is 3%.
The decline in VaPI was mainly attributed to the annual decrease in the manufacture of food products at 7.2%. Out of the 22 industry divisions for the manufacturing section, food products had the highest weight in the computation of VaPI.
Other primary contributors to the downtrend were the slower annual increases in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products at 7.5%, and manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products at 9.4%.
Furthermore, 12 other industry divisions exhibited decreases in their indices during the period, while seven industry divisions posted annual increases.
The highest year-on-year growth in March was noted in the manufacture of chemical and chemical products at 26.4%.
The manufacture of food products; computer, electronic and optical products; and coke and refined petroleum products likewise drove the downtrend in VoPI in March.
Manufacture of food products shrank 8.1% while increases in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, and coke and refined petroleum products slowed at 5.3% and 10.2%.
Twelve industry divisions declined in VoPI for March, while seven posted growths with the manufacture of chemical and chemical products recording the highest growth at 29.1%.
The value of net sales index (VaNSI), meanwhile, declined faster at 5% in March 2024, bringing the average growth rate of VaNSI for the first quarter to -4.1%.
The volume of net sales index (VoNSI) also fell 4% in March. This brings the average growth rate of VoNSI from January to March 2024 to -3%.
Based on MISSI’s responding establishments, the average capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing section in March 2024 was reported at 75.3% from 75.1% in the previous month and 73.6% in March 2023.
All industry divisions reported capacity utilization rates of more than 60% during the month.
The top three industry divisions in terms of reported capacity utilization rate were machinery and equipment except electrical (83.9%), other non-metallic mineral products (80.9%), and rubber and plastic products (80.5%).
