Factory output dropped by 10.8% in Nov.

The volume and value of goods churned out by the country’s factories shrank at a faster pace in November last year as the majority of domestic manufacturing subsectors produced fewer items amid a pandemic-induced recession, the government reported on Tuesday.

The Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) preliminary Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries report for November 2020 showed that the volume of production index (VoPI) reverted to a double-digit drop of 10.8 percent year-on-year from a 9.3-percent decline in October.

The PSA blamed the bigger contraction in VoPI—a proxy for factory output—to the year-on-year decline in production reported by 16 industry groups.

The biggest production declines in terms of volume were posted in the sectors of petroleum products (down 61.9 percent year-on-year), tobacco products (down 58.6 percent) and printing (down 51.5 percent).

PSA data showed that only four industry groups posted gains in output volume that month: miscellaneous manufactures (up 14.7 percent year-on-year), basic metals (up 12.1 percent), chemical products (up 5.1 percent) and wood and wood products (up 2.9 percent).

The value of production index also fell by a faster 13.8 percent year-on-year in November from October’s 12.3-percent fall.

In terms of output value, the same three industries recorded the largest drops: petroleum products (down 66 percent year-on-year), tobacco products (down 56.9 percent) and printing (down 50.8 percent).

Only three sectors registered year-on-year growth in production value, namely: miscellaneous manufactures (up 11.7 percent), basic metals (up 7.7 percent) and chemical products (up 1.6 percent). INQ