PSA: Philippines’ manufacturing falls for 13th straight month

Philippine manufacturing fell for the 13th straight month in December, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday showed.

Preliminary results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) showed that the factory output or Volume of Production INdex (VoPI) fell 10.1% in December 2019.

"Petroleum products and basic metals, with 47.9% decrement, contributed largely to the decrease of VoPI in December 2019," the PSA said.

Other major industries that noted two-digit decrements were furniture and fixtures (-30.4%), and miscellaneous manufactures (-10.5%).

Other drops were recorded in textiles (-9.1%), transport equipment (-3.4%), rubber and plastic products (-1.2%), and paper and paper products (-1.1%).

In terms of the Value of Production Index (VaPI), the MISSI showed an annual drop of 9.5% in December 2019 versus the 9.1% decline the same month in 2018.

"The decline in VaPI was mainly influenced by the decreases in the indices of nine major industry groups led by basic metals (-50.6%), petroleum products (-48.8%) and textiles (-11.9%)," said the PSA.

Declines were also recorded in registered in miscellaneous manufactures (-9.9%), transport equipment (-8.3%), paper and paper products (-4.6%), electrical machinery (-3.6%), wood and wood products (-1.9%), and food manufacturing (-0.7%).

The latest figures brought full-year manufacturing to a drop of 8.6% for the VoPI, and 7.1% for VaPI, reversing the positive growth in 2018. 

"We encourage industries to capitalize on innovation to reach their growth potential in this era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. To this end, the government needs to formulate and implement policies and programs to stimulate innovation in the country," Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said in response.

"The Philippines also needs to improve its reputation concerning intellectual property protection. This will attract foreign companies to locate sensitive technologies and product operations in the country," added Pernia.

The Cabinet official also called for the improvement in the local transport and logistics sectors to boost manufacturing.

"To support manufacturing growth, there is a need to strengthen the transport and logistics sectors by building quality and climate-resilient infrastructure," he said.

"In this regard, a proposed bill to amend the Contractor’s License Law will open up the country’s construction sector to eligible and qualified domestic and foreign contractors," elaborated Pernia. — RSJ, GMA News