FACTORY output growth turned negative in September, with both value and volume of production contracting from a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday.
The Value of Production Index (VaPI) came in at -7.6 percent, down from 0.01 percent in August and 9.2 percent a year ago, while the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) also decelerated to -6.3 percent from 1.2 percent and 9.5 percent a month and a year earlier, respectively.
Year to date, VaPi was up 0.03 percent and VoPI by 1.0 percent.
The VaPI result, the PSA said, was mainly due to a double-digit annual decline in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products industry division of 15.6 percent from a 10.0-percent rise in August.
“The manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products contributed 31.9 percent to the downtrend of VaPI for the manufacturing section in September 2024,” the agency noted.
It also had the fourth highest weight among 22 industry divisions in the computation of the VaPI.
A 5.2-percent drop for beverages manufacturing, from the previous month’s double-digit annual increase of 14.6 percent. and a 34.2-percent plunge in the manufacture of basic metals — from -17.9 percent — also contributed to the VaPI slowdown.
Of the remaining 19 industry divisions, eight recorded declines and the rest posted increases, the PSA said.
Electrical equipment manufacturing grew the most by 45.0 percent.
As for the VoPI, September’s decline was again primarily driven by the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (-12.8 percent from 13.6 percent), manufacture of beverages (-8.5 percent from 12.4 percent), and manufacture of basic metals (-35.1 percent from -18.4 percent)
Seven of the remaining 19 industry divisions contracted and 12 gained.
Average capacity utilization, meanwhile, was slightly lower at 75.3 percent from 75.4 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 — 29.9 percent or 169 of the 565 establishments that participated in the PSA survey — said they operated at full capacity, defined as 90 to 100 percent.
Meanwhile, 41.0 percent (232 firms) said they operated at 70- to 89-percent capacity, while 29.1 percent (164 firms) reported operating below 70 percent.
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