The manufacturing sector grew at a faster rate of 4.9 percent in May, following a 4.3-percent increase in April, on the back of higher food production, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Tuesday.
Data showed that the latest tally was also higher than the 4.2-percent growth in the volume of production index in May 2024.
The PSA said the acceleration in the year-on-year growth rate of VoPI for manufacturing in May 2025 was primarily driven by three industry divisions including food products with faster annual increment of 15.7 percent from 11.2 percent in April 2025; transport equipment with higher annual increase of 13.5 percent from 7.4 percent in the previous month; and chemicals and chemical products with slower annual decline of 13.8 percent from 23.8 percent annual drop in April 2025.
“For manufacture of food products, the annual growth rate of VoPI accelerated to 15.7 percent in May 2025 from 11.2 percent in April 2025. In May 2024, VoPI for manufacture of food products posted an annual increment of 3.1 percent,” the PSA said.
Meanwhile, the value of production index posted a faster annual increase of 4.5 percent in May 2025 from 4.3 percent in April. In May 2024, the VaPI for manufacturing recorded an annual increase of 3.3 percent.
The PSA said the acceleration in the annual rate of VaPI for manufacturing in May 2025 was attributed to the faster annual increase in the manufacture of food products at 16.4 percent during the month from 11.9 percent in the previous month.
The manufacture of food products contributed 37.1 percent to the uptrend in the annual growth rate of VaPI for the manufacturing section in May 2025.
Based on responding establishments, the average capacity utilization rate for manufacturing in May 2025 was reported at 76.9 percent, up from 76.7 percent in the previous month. In May 2024, the average capacity utilization rate was recorded at 75.2 percent.
