Factory output growth picked up pace in July

MANILA  -The growth of the volume of factory output in the Philippines picked up pace to 5.7 percent in July from a 3.6-percent decrease in the same month last year.

The latest results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries show that the increase in output volume also revved up from 3.4 percent last June.

In July, the PSA saw higher yearly growth rates in production of beverages, coke and refined petroleum products, and food products.

READ:  Manufacturing sector further expanded in June

The volume of beverage output turned around to an increase of 12.6 percent in July from a drop of 11.4 percent in June.

Food manufacturing also turned around to increase by 1.2 percent from a decrease of 3.1 percent in the previous month.

At the same time, the growth in output of refined petroleum surged to 36.2 percent from 15.9 percent.

Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said many manufacturers and producers ramp up importation, production, inventory building, and eventually distribution to the domestic and export markets in preparation for the increased demand in the fourth-quarter holiday spending season.

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Ricafort said the opening of the new school year and preparations for which also partly led to some pick up in production activities.

“The storm damage since the latter part of July 2023 also led to some repair activities on facilities and infrastructure, especially in hard hit areas, thereby leading to some pick up in production activities,” he added.

In July, the 576 firms that were surveyed were operating at an average of 73.5 percent of capacity, a slight improvement from 73.3 percent in June.

All of the 22 manufacturing industries monitored were observing capacity utilization rates at more than 50 percent in June.

The busiest factories were those that make computer, electronic and optical products (81 percent); rubber and plastic products (80.7 percent), and non-electrical machinery (80.4 percent).