Factory output down in December

The Philippine manufacturing sector posted a 7.8 percent year-on-year drop in production in December 2011, according to the National Statistics Office.

“The weight of social, political and economic events outside the country events bore heavily on our economic indicators such as factory output and trade,” Cid L. Terosa of the University of Asia and the Pacific said in a text message.

Nine major sectors contributed to the decline in production, with double-digit decreases noted in the following: machinery except electrical (-27.6 percent), food manufacturing (-27.3 percent), paper and paper products (-18.7 percent), basic metals (-17.9 percent), fabricated metal products (-17.3 percent), leather products (-14.5 percent) and textiles (-10.5 percent).

Month on month, factory output posted a slight increase of 0.9 percent in December 2011. Ten major sectors posted significant growth: footwear and wearing apparel (49.8 percent), publishing and printing (17.7 percent), wood and wood products (15.3 percent) and rubber and plastic products (11.4 percent). The gains posted by these sector were offset by the contraction in other industries such as miscellaneous non-metallic minerals (-24.6), tobacco (-23.5 percent), fabricated metal products (-12.5), glass and glass products (-12.2) and paper products (-9.5).

Capacity utilization in December 2011 for total manufacturing sector averaged 83.3 percent.

Ten of 20 major sectors registered capacity utilization of more than 80 percent, namely: Basic metals, petroleum products, food manufacturing, electrical machinery, nonmetallic mineral products, chemical products, rubber and plastic products, paper and paper products, and machinery except electrical.