THE growth of the country’s manufacturing output quadrupled in March 2022, according to the latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The PSA data showed the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) surged 336.3 percent in March 2022 on the back of growth in 15 industry divisions.
The data showed that VoPI posted a growth of 75.5 percent in February 2022 while it contracted 73.3 percent in March 2021.
“Of the 22 industry divisions, 15 reported positive growth which was led by the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products with a 2,175.6 percent annual growth rate,” the PSA added.
The data showed the remaining seven industry divisions recorded annual decreases in their production. The manufacture of electrical equipment had the fastest annual decline of 36.5 percent.
The PSA said the Value of Production Index (VaPI) also skyrocketed 358.2 percent in March 2022 on the back of high growth in 15 industry divisions.
The data showed the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products was also the major contributing factor with a 2,583.3 percent growth rate.
PSA said the VaPI posted a growth of 82.9 percent in February 2022 and a contraction of 74.1 percent in March 2021.
Capacity utilization
Meanwhile, PSA said the average capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing sector in March 2022 was reported at 70.4 percent, from 69.7 percent in the previous month.
“Almost all the industry divisions reported capacity utilization rates of more than 50 percent except for manufacture of leather and related products, including footwear [40.8 percent],” PSA said.
The top 3 industry divisions in terms of reported capacity utilization rate were manufacturers of furniture, which posted an average capacity utilization rate of 85 percent.
This was followed by the manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products at 79.1 percent, and manufacture of machinery and equipment except electrical, at 76.4 percent.
The MISSI is a report that monitors the production, net sales, inventories, and capacity utilization of selected manufacturing establishments to provide flash indicators on the performance of the manufacturing sector.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes