The manufacturing sector maintained double-digit growths both in terms of volume and value in January, as the economy continued to recover from the impact of the global health crisis.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said in a report Wednesday the volume of production index grew 16.5 percent in January from a year ago, following the 21.3-percent increase in December.
Data showed that the expansion in VoPI was brought about by the positive growth rates of 16 industry divisions. “Of these, manufacture of tobacco products; and manufacture of wood, bamboo, cane, rattan articles and related products were the major contributing factors with growth rates of 88.4 and 86.8 percent, respectively,” the PSA said.
The value of production index for manufacturing posted a year-on-year increase of 21.3 percent in January, from a slightly faster annual growth rate of 22.1 percent in December.
“The growth in VaPI for January 2022 was contributed by the upturns in 19 of the 22 industry divisions. Among these, the top contributor was manufacture of tobacco with 88.1 percent annual growth rate. On the other hand, the remaining three industry divisions recorded decreases with manufacture of wearing apparel registering the fastest annual decline of -22.4 percent,” the PSA said.
It said the remaining six industry divisions recorded downturns, led by manufacture of wearing apparel with -24.2 percent annual rate.
The value of net sales index also registered an annual increment of 14.2 percent in January, although this was slower than the 21.5-percent expansion in December.
Based on responding establishments, the average capacity utilization rate for manufacturing sector in January was reported at 67.9 percent in January, higher than 67.4 percent in December.
The PSA said 20 of the 22 industry divisions had more than 50-percent average capacity utilization rate, led by manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (84.2 percent), manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations (79.0 percent), and manufacture of furniture (78.8 percent).
The proportion of establishments that operated at full capacity (90 percent to 100 percent) was 17.8 percent of the total number of responding establishments.
Meanwhile, 34.3 percent operated at 70-percent to 89-percent capacity, while 47.9 percent operated below 70-percent capacity.
