Business Business News Manufacturing growth slows down
Manufacturing growth slows down
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 18 July 2012 00:00
- Written by ANGELA CELIS
By A Web design Company
Philippine manufacturing output grew at a slower pace in May, increasing 3.1 percent compared with 3.3 per cent in April, according to data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO).
The latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) showed production as measured by the volume of production index in May was better than the 1.9 percent growth recorded in May 2011, but slower than the 3.3 percent annual expansion in April 2012.
More than half of the 20 major sectors were running at 80 percent or more of their capacity.
These are food manufacturing, petroleum products, basic metals, electrical machinery, machinery except electrical, non-metallic mineral products, miscellaneous manufactures, rubber and plastic products, chemical products, paper and paper products, and wood and wood products.
More than 19 percent of the manufacturers reported full capacity utilization
Based on the NSO labor force survey for January 2012, the manufacturing sector employed 8.4 percent, of the 37.841 million employed individuals in the Philippines.
In the first quarter of 2012, the manufacturing sector grew 5.7 percent, slower than the 8.1 percent growth recorded during the same period in 2011.
Top contributors to manufacturing growth during the period were food manufactures, furniture and fixtures, and apparel.
Factory output went up because of the more than doubling (125 percent) in the manufacture of footwear and garments, transport equipment (118.2 percent) and furniture and fixtures (103.4 percent).
Production of wood products went up 39 percent, followed by leather products (20.1 percent), and machinery except electrical (10 percent).
All these growth, however, was pulled down by the 51 percent drop in tobacco products, miscellaneous manufactures (-32.5 percent), basic metals (-29.5 percent), and paper and paper products (-18.9 percent).
The production of petroleum products, beverages, textiles, and fabricated metal products also recorded single-digit drops compared wth last year.
On a monthly basis, production output accelerated 4.9 percent, as against the 9.1 percent month-on-month drop in April 2012.
The NSO said that five major sectors significantly contributed to the growth, namely footwear and wearing apparel (23.1 percent), fabricated metal products (22.2 percent), petroleum products (19.2 percent), machinery except electrical (13.8 percent) and leather products (12.5 percent).
The value of production index also increased at a slower rate of 4.7 percent in May, compared with the 4.9 percent expansion in April 2012.
The NSO attributed the slower growth to the diminished production values in furniture and fixtures and publishing and printing, which grew 54.9 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively, slower than the expansions posted during the month of April.
Four sectors also posted double-digit declines. These were tobacco products (-51.3 percent), basic metals (-35.9 percent), miscellaneous manufactures (-33.1 percent), and paper and paper products (-19.3 percent).
The preliminary data, however, showed that the 4.7 percent growth in the value of production was pushed by a three-digit increase in the production values of transport equipment (128.8 percent) and footwear and wearing apparel (121.8 percent).
On a monthly comparison, the value of production grew 4.6 percent, an improvement from the 9.6 percent decline in April this year.
The growth was influenced by the increase in 18 major sectors, with two-digit increases noted in the following: footwear and wearing apparel (23.1 percent), fabricated metal products (20 percent), machinery except electrical (14.7 percent), petroleum products (13.4 percent) and leather products (12.5 percent).
