Factory production saw its fourth straight month of contraction last December, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

In its latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI), the PSA said that factory output — as measured by the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) — fell 9.7% year on year.

Sectors that saw declines were: chemical products (-67.3%), footwear and wearing apparel (-42.9%), tobacco products (-31.8%), textiles (-30.5%), electrical machinery (-1.1%), machinery except electrical (-1.0%), transport equipment (-1.0%) and wood and wood products (-7.4%).

On the other hand, gains were observed on the following: petroleum products (26.3%), basic metals (55.1%), printing (79.2%), non-metallic mineral products (27.9%), beverages (12.3%), furniture and fixtures (55.7%), fabricated metal products (27.2%), food manufacturing (1.8%), miscellaneous manufactures (8.5%), rubber and plastic products (5.3%), paper and paper products (7.5%) and leather products (11.6%).

Average capacity utilization, the extent by which industry resources are being used in the production of goods, stood at 84%.

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