Factory production expanded in May, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported this morning.
Preliminary results of the PSA’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) showed that factory output, as measured by the volume of production index, went up annually in May by 19.8%.
This was a reversal from the revised 0.6% decline in the same month last year but slower than the 29% uptick logged in April.
The May figure marked the fifth straight month that manufacturing stayed in the double-digit positive territory.
Growth in manufacturing was driven by increases in production of printing (117.8%), petroleum products (33.3%), food manufacturing (32.5%), miscellaneous manufactures (19.2%), textiles (18.8%), electrical machinery (17.4%), and rubber and plastic products (12.6%).
Average capacity utilization, which is the extent by which industry resources are being used in the production of goods, was pegged at 84.2% with 12 of the 20 sectors registering capacity utilization rates of 80% and above. — Mark T. Amoguis

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