Manufacturing output up 3.1% in May

Manufacturing output rose by 3.1 percent in May due to substantial growth in three major sectors, according to the National Statistics Office.

The NSO report posted on its website Tuesday noted three-digit increases in the output of footwear and wearing apparel (124.7 percent), transport equipment (118.2 percent) and furniture and fixtures (103.4 percent).

Major sectors that grew at a double-digit pace were wood and wood products (39.3 percent), leather products (20.1 percent) and machinery except electrical (10 percent).

Other gainers include electrical machinery (7.7 percent), non-metallic mineral products (7.4 percent), rubber and plastic products (5.6 percent), food manufacturing (5.3 percent), publishing and printing (3.4 percent) and chemical products (1.5 percent).

On the other hand, a decline in production output was reported in tobacco products (51 percent), miscellaneous manufactures (32.5 percent), basic metals (29.5 percent), paper and paper products (18.9 percent), petroleum products (8.3 percent), beverages (7.4 percent), textiles (3.7 percent) and fabricated metal products (3.1 percent).

The NSO data also showed that the increase in output in May was slower than the 3.3 percent reported the previous month, the 8.9 percent in March and the 6.5 percent in February, but well above the 0.5 percent growth in January after contractions in the last quarter of 2011.

A private economist said that the slowdown in May was expected due to a sluggish global economic recovery.

“The slowdown was expected because the world economy and market conditions haven’t recovered significantly as expected,” said University of Asia and the Pacific’s Cid Terosa in a text message.

Terosa said that the deceleration in factory output could dent exports, which are among the country’s drivers of economic growth.

“But there are other growth drivers such as consumption and investments. That can take up the slack,” he said.

Meanwhile, average capacity utilization in May stood at 83.5 percent, with 11 of the 20 major sectors registering capacity utilization rates of at least 80 percent.