Factory gate prices continue to drop

MANILA, Philippines — Factory gate prices continued to decline at a softer pace in May, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.

The Producer Price Index (PPI)) for Manufacturing continued to decline at a softer pace of 3.1 percent in May from the revised rate of 3.3 percent in April.

This compares with the revised annual declines of 4.5 percent in March, 4.7 percent in February and 5.2 percent in January.

Month-on-month, the decline in the PPI for manufacturing was also slower in May at 0.5 percent compared with 0.6 percent in April.

Food manufacturing also continued to register a positive annual growth rate of 0.7 percent in May, faster than the revised 0.4 percent in April and coming from declines in January until March.

PSA attributed the continued annual downtrend in the PPI in May to the declines in the indices of 14 industry groups led by still double-digit declines in leather products, as well as wood and wood products.

Other industry groups that registered negative growth in May were electrical machinery, transport equipment, petroleum products, chemical products, basic metals, machinery except electrical, footwear and wearing apparel, rubber and plastic products, non-metallic mineral products, miscellaneous manufactures, and textiles.

Along with food manufacturing, five other major industry groups registered positive growth in May included beverages, tobacco products, furniture and fixtures, fabricated metal products, and printing.

The imposition of community quarantines in various parts of the country since mid-March restricted the mobility of people, goods and services.

Beginning June 1, the National Capital Region, as well as other areas, were placed under general community quarantine, the less severe version of the previous quarantine modes.