Factory output drops in November

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s factory output contracted in November due to declines in the production of food, transport equipment, as well as computer and electronic products, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Preliminary results of Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries showed the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) for manufacturing posted a 4.2-percent contraction in November from a 0.7-percent growth in October.

VoPI registered a 2.1-percent increase in November 2023.

The latest VoPI result brought the average VoPI growth for the January to November period to 1.1 percent.

The PSA attributed the downtrend in VoPI growth in November mainly to the 0.8-percent decline in the manufacture of food products in November from the 5.3-percent increase in October.

Likewise, the production of transport equipment also saw a 0.4-percent decline in November from a 9.6-percent uptick in the previous month.

The manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products posted a bigger drop of 5.6 percent in November from the 1.2 percent decline in October.

“Based on responding establishments, the average capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing section in November 2024 was reported at 75.6 percent from the 75.8 percent average capacity utilization rate in the previous month,” the PSA said.

Average capacity utilization rate was at 74.8 percent in November 2023.

According to the PSA, all industry divisions had capacity utilization rates above 60 percent in November last year.

“The top three industry divisions in terms of reported capacity utilization rate were manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products at 83.7 percent, manufacture of textiles at 82 percent, and manufacture of machinery and equipment except electrical at 80.4 percent,” the PSA said.

Of the responding establishments, 31.7 percent operated at full capacity at 90 percent to 100 percent.

Meanwhile, 44.9 percent were running at 70 to 89 percent capacity and 23.4 percent operated below 70 percent capacity.