Manufacturing output likely expanded 15% in January

The manufacturing sector likely sustained a double-digit growth in January as global demand for electronics recovered, the research arm of Moody’s Corp. said.

“We expect Philippine manufacturing conditions to have remained strong in January, with industrial production growth of 15 percent year-on-year, down from December’s unsustainably high 23 percent,” Moody’s Analytics said in a report last Friday.

“Philippine producers are receiving a boost from stronger global demand. This is most visible in improvements in electronics production,” Moody’s Analytics said.

Electronics is the country’s top export commodity, accounting for half of total exports last year.

In 2016, manufacturing as measured by the volume of production index grew 14.4 percent, faster than 2015’s 2.5-percent expansion.

“The manufacturing sector is performing very well. Increases in the purchases of capital and durable goods contributed to the increase and further indicates that there is business and consumer confidence in the domestic economy,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said last month. The Philippine economy grew 6.8 percent in 2016, among the fastest across emerging Asian countries. —BEN O. DE VERA