MANUFACTURING output accelerated in July, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday, with both volume and value growth registering increases.
The Value of Production Index (VaPI) came in at 4.7 percent and the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) hit 5.3 percent, up from 3.3 percent and 3.6 percent a month earlier, respectively.
The latest figures are also higher than the 3.5 percent and 3.6 percent recorded in July last year.
Year-to-date, both indices remained positive with growth 1.3 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.
The VaPI increase, the PSA said, was due to double-digit growth in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products industry division to 14.4 percent from 5.6 percent.
“The manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products contributed 34.4 percent to the uptrend of VaPI for the manufacturing section in July 2024,” the agency noted.
It had the second highest weight among 22 industry divisions in the computation of the VaPI.
Fourteen industries posted higher growth during the month while eight declined, PSA data showed.
The manufacture of furniture recorded the fastest growth of 40.7 percent during the period, higher than the 28.9 percent seen in June, while the manufacture of basic metals incurred the biggest drop of -19.1 percent — unchanged from a month earlier.
As for the VoPI, July’s increase was also driven by the faster growth in the manufacturing of computer, electronic, and optical products, which hit 12.5 percent compared to June’s 1.9 percent.
Fourteen of the 22 divisions again posted increases, while eight declined.
Furniture manufacturing remained the biggest gainer at 41.4 percent from 29.8 percent a month earlier and basic metals was still the biggest loser, down 20.2 percent from -19.4 percent in June.
Average capacity utilization, meanwhile, was slightly higher at 75.6 percent from 75.3 percent a month earlier.
“All industry divisions reported capacity utilization rates of more than 60.0 percent during the month,” the PSA said.
Over a quarter — 30.2 percent or 174 of the 577 establishments that participated in the PSA survey — said they operated at full capacity, defined as 90 to 100 percent.
Meanwhile, 41.5 percent (239 firms) said they operated at 70- to 89-percent capacity, while 28.4 percent (164 firms) reported operating below 70 percent.
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