Demand seen driving manufacturing growth

MANILA, Philippines–The local manufacturing sector’s growth likely remained stable at the end of 2014, boosted by strong economic growth and robust domestic demand in December.

Think tank Moody’s Analytics said industrial production might have slowed slightly but growth stayed at a healthy pace in the last month of 2014.

“Industrial production in the Philippines grew strongly through the second half of 2014 and we expect this to continue in the December report,” Moody’s Analytics economist Glenn Levine said in a report.

“Robust domestic demand and improving export demand are driving a solid upturn in manufacturing.”

For December, Moody’s said factory output, in terms of volume, likely rose by 7.5 percent from November’s 8.1 percent.

The think tank, an affiliate of credit rating firm Moody’s Investor Service, took its cue from the fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers that were released at the end of January. The country’s economy grew by 6.9 percent in October to December, faster than the 5.3 percent posted in the previous quarter.

Data on factory output for December will be released this week.

Last November, the volume of factory output rose due to the positive increments in production, with printing influencing the biggest rise of 237.1 percent.

The other five major sectors that showed two-digit increases were the following: fabricated metal products (64.7 percent), beverages (46.6 percent), non-metallic mineral products (15.8 percent), paper and paper products (15.0 percent), and basic metals (14.8 percent).

By value, production rose by 7.5 percent with significant increases noted in the following: printing (237.1 percent), fabricated metal products (56.4 percent), beverages (49.1 percent).