Factory gate prices sustain rise in June

MANILA, Philippines — Factory gate prices continued to rise in June, driven by increases in the prices of tobacco, petroleum, and beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The Producer Price Index (PPI) for manufacturing grew by 1.3 percent in June, reversing the two percent decline in the same period last year. This was also faster than the index growth of 0.9 percent in May.

Factory gate prices have been growing steadily since the beginning of the year with a respite only in March.

In June, several industry sectors registered double digit growth. These include tobacco (49.5 percent), petroleum products (19.5) percent and beverages (14.9 percent).

Other sectors that registered growth in producer prices were electrical and non-electrical machinery, basic metals, miscellaneous manufactures, non-metallic mineral products, furniture and fixtures, leather products, paper and paper products, and textiles.

Eight sectors, meanwhile, registered decreases in producer prices: rubber and plastic products, food manufacturing, fabricated metal products, chemical products, transport equipment, printing, footwear and wearing apparel, as well as wood and wood products.

The June 2018 Producer Price Survey had a response rate of 80.8 percent which corresponds to the retrieval of the reports of 607 establishments out of the 751 sampled for the survey.