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MANILA – Factory output both in volume and value grew at a faster pace in April, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has said.
Results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) released Thursday showed that the Value of Production Index (VaPi) went up by 10.7 percent in April from 6.0 percent in March.
It was also higher than the 5.0 percent in April last year.
"The faster annual growth of the VaPI in April 2023 was mainly contributed by the higher annual upturn in the manufacture of food products industry division at 19.7 percent in April 2023 from 10.0 percent in the previous month," the PSA said.
Other contributors to the higher VaPI growth during the month were the faster annual increases in the manufacture of transport equipment at 35.8 percent from 23.1 percent in the previous month, and manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products which went up by 19.1 percent from 7.7 percent in 2022.
The Volume of Production Index (VoPi), on the other hand, also went up by 8.2 percent, faster than the 3.4 percent expansion in March.
It was also a turnaround from the -1.3 percent seen in April last year.
The PSA said the faster annual growth of VoPI in April 2023 was mainly brought about by the higher annual rates of manufacture of food products which grew by 14.7 percent from 4.3 percent in March.
The expansion in the manufacture of transport equipment and manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products also contributed to the faster VoPi growth during the month.
The PSA said the average capacity utilization for manufacturing section in April 2023 was reported at 72.4 percent from 73.2 percent in the previous month.
"All industry divisions reported capacity utilization rates of more than 50 percent during the month. The top three industry divisions in terms of reported capacity utilization rate were manufacture of machinery and equipment except electrical (82.7 percent), manufacture of transport equipment (82.5 percent), and manufacture of rubber and plastic products (76.6 percent)," it said. (PNA)
