Factory production expanded in April to its fastest pace in eight years, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported this morning.
Preliminary results of the PSA’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) showed that in April, factory output – as measured by the Volume of Production Index — grew 31.1% year on year.
This was higher than the revised 16.5% growth recorded in March and the 0.1% increase in April 2017. The last time factory output grew at this pace was in April 2010 when it also recorded 31.1%.
Factory output volume averaged 21.8% year-to-date, faster than the 9.3% recorded in 2017’s comparable four months.
Leading growth among sectors was printing at 182.8% followed by fourteen others that posted double-digit growth during the period. These are petroleum products (79.2%), miscellaneous manufactures (34.5%), machinery except electrical (34%), textiles (32.1%), beverages (31.7%), food manufacturing (31.4%), electrical machinery (26.8%), non-metallic mineral products (24.6%), chemical products (23.4%), leather products (22.2%), rubber and plastic products (21%), fabricated metal products (12.9%), wood and wood products (11.7%) and tobacco products (10%).
Average capacity utilization, which is the extent by which industry resources are being used in the production of goods, was estimated at 84.2% with 12 of the 20 sectors registering capacity utilization rates of 80% and above. — Carmina Angelica V. Olano

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