the manufacturing sector experienced an accelerated growth in February 2024, driven by increased production of food and electronics, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The PSA’s monthly integrated survey of selected industries showed that the volume of production index (VaPI) grew by 8.9 percent in February, up from 6.2 percent in January. Similarly, the value of production index increased by 7.5 percent, compared to 5.0 percent the previous month.
This brings the average growth rate of VoPI from January to February 2024 to 7.5 percent. In February 2023, VoPI went up 2.6 percent.
“The expansion in the annual growth of the VoPI for manufacturing in February 2024 was mainly due to the double-digit annual increase in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, at 13.4 percent in February 2024 from an annual decline of 1.4 percent in the previous month,” the PSA said.
Computer, electronic, and optical products contributed 45.2 percent to the higher annual increment of VoPI for the manufacturing sector in February.
Other significant contributors to the higher year-on-year growth of VoPI were the manufacture of food products, which grew by 9.2 percent in February, higher than the 5.2-percent increase in the previous month, and the double-digit annual increase observed in the manufacture of chemical and chemical products, at 25.9 percent from an annual increment of 8.1 percent.
The PSA said that among the remaining 19 industry divisions, 10 registered year-on-year increases in February 2024, while nine industry divisions posted annual declines. The highest annual drop was observed in “other manufacturing” and “repair and installation of machinery and equipment,” at 23.7 percent.
The top three industry divisions contributing to the overall year-on-year growth of VoPI in February 2024 were the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products; coke and refined petroleum products; and food products.
“The VoPI for the manufacture of food products continued to increase at an annual rate of 9.2 percent in February 2024. This was faster compared to its annual growth of 5.2 percent in the previous month. On the contrary, the manufacture of food products recorded an annual decline of 1.1 percent in February 2023,” the PSA said.
This growth was driven by the acceleration in the annual increment of the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats, at 23.0 percent during the month, from its annual increase of 8.2 percent in the previous month.
Other primary contributors were the double-digit annual increases noted in the manufacture of prepared animal feeds, at 16.4 percent in February 2024 from an annual increase of 2.3 percent in the previous month, and in the processing and preserving of meat, at 27.7 percent during the month from an annual increase of 12.7 percent in January.