MANILA – The Philippines’ factory output grew in December 2024, marking a rebound from the previous month’s decline, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The PSA’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI), released on Friday, reported a 0.4 percent increase in the value of production index (VaPI), compared to a -3.5 percent contraction in November. However, the growth was slower than the 3.7 percent increase in December 2023.
Key contributors to the positive trend were the production of computer, electronic, and optical products, which rose by 8.6 percent in December after a 2.5 percent decline in November. Additionally, the manufacturing of coke and refined petroleum products grew by 5.2 percent, reversing the previous month’s -11.7 percent drop. The transport equipment sector also showed improvement, with a 7.2 percent growth from a modest 1.9 percent increase in November.
The volume of production index (VoPI) also rose by 0.2 percent in December, a reversal from the previous month’s -3.9 percent. The increase was largely driven by the same sectors: electronics, petroleum, and transport equipment.
Manufacturing capacity utilization averaged 75.5 percent in December, slightly down from 75.7 percent in November but higher than the 74.6 percent reported in December 2023. The top-performing sectors in terms of capacity utilization were textiles (81.4 percent), machinery and equipment (81.1 percent), and non-metallic mineral products (80.7 percent). All industry divisions saw capacity utilization rates above 60 percent during the month.
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