Factory prices, as measured by the producer price index for manufacturing, posted a slower growth in July 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Wednesday.
The PSA said in a statement posted on its website PPI grew by a mere 0.1 percent in July, slower than 0.8 percent in June and 8.2 percent a year ago.
“The deceleration in the annual growth rate of PPI in July 2023 was primarily brought about by the slowdown in the annual increase in manufacture of food products industry division at 1.9 percent in July 2023 from 2.9 percent in June 2023,” the PSA said.
It said the manufacture of food products contributed 28.8 percent to the slower annual growth rate of the PPI in July 2023. It said of the 22 industry divisions for manufacturing, manufacture of food products has the highest weight in the computation of PPI.
Other main contributors to the slower annual growth of PPI in July were the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products with slower annual growth rate of 1.2 percent during the period from 2.4 percent in the previous month, and manufacture of transport equipment with a faster annual drop of -4.6 percent in July 2023 from -3.5 percent in June 2023.
The PSA said of the remaining 19 industry divisions, 11 exhibited annual declines, while eight industry divisions registered annual increases. The highest annual increment was observed in the manufacture of beverages at 9.0 percent.