Industrial production recovered in April following 13 straight months of falling output, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported this morning. 

Preliminary results of the PSA’s latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries showed factory output, as measured by the volume of production index (VoPI), surged by 162.1% year on year in April. This marked a reversal from the 73.3% annual decline recorded the previous month as well as the 64.8% drop in April 2020. 

April’s growth snapped the 13th consecutive month of contraction in manufacturing output. 

So far, factory output averaged a 19.6% drop this year. 

The capacity utilization — the extent to which industry resources are used in producing goods — inched up to 63.6% in April from 63% recorded the previous month. 

Eighteen out of 22 industry divisions averaged a capacity utilization rate of at least 50% in April, led by the manufacture of furniture (81.3%), non-metallic mineral products (80.9%), and electrical equipment (75.2%). — B. T. M. Gadon

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