Factory output up 8.8% in August 2018

MANILA, Philippines — Manufacturing firms churned out 8.8 percent more output in terms of volume and value last August, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.

Factory output, as measured by the Volume of Production Index (VoPI), rose 8.8 percent in August from a mere 0.3 percent growth in the same month last year.

Double-digit growth rates were seen in textiles, petroleum products, miscellaneous manufactures, beverages, paper and paper products, machinery except electrical, rubber and plastic products, non-metallic mineral products and electrical machinery.

Production value, as measured by the Value of Production Index (VaPI), likewise posted a year-on-year growth of 8.8 percent, reversing the 0.1 percent  contraction in the same period last year.

Double-digit growth rates were registered in the production values of petroleum products, textiles, beverages, machinery, paper and paper products, electrical machinery, as well as rubber and plastic products.

In August, factories operated at 84.3 percent capacity on the average, with facilities for petroleum products operating at the highest capacity.

Ten other industries had factories that operated at more than 80 percent capacity utilization rate.

These were: basic metals (89.0), non-metallic mineral products (86.3), machinery except electrical (86.1 percent), electrical machinery (85.1 percent), food manufacturing (85.1 percent), chemical products (84.9 percent), paper and paper products (83.8 percent), rubber and plastic products (83.5 percent), wood and wood products (81.6 percent), textiles (80.4 percent).