Philippine manufacturing expands in July

Source: Xinhua | 2018-09-06

Philippine manufacturing expanded in July, with double-figure growth in both the volume of production index (VoPI) and value of production index (VaPI), the government said on Wednesday.

Citing the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the VoPI for manufacturing expanded 11.8 percent in July 2018, higher than the 5.1 percent recorded in July 2017.

The authority said seven of the 14 major sectors that pulled-up the VoPI include fabricated metal products, petroleum products, textiles, beverages, miscellaneous manufactures, basic metals and machinery except electrical.

The authority also said the VaPI for manufacturing continued to increase, registering a 12.2 percent increase in July 2018 compared with the 6 percent recorded in July 2017.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said he expects manufacturing growth to be sustained throughout the third quarter of 2018 after the sector's performance yielded positive results in July.

"We expect this strong performance of the manufacturing sector this year as we continue to see stable domestic demand, as well as robust investments due to heightened infrastructure projects and consumer spending," Pernia added.