Manufacturing sustains rise well into 3Q

PHILIPPINE factory output continued to expand by double digits in August, with imports of raw and intermediate goods keeping pace for the period, according to data released by the government on Tuesday. The National Statistics Office (NSO) said the volume of production index (VoPI) rose 25.6 percent year-on-year in August, accelerating from the revised 22.1-percent growth in July.

A year ago, VoPI contracted by 13.3 percent.

The NSO said 12 of 16 major sectors recorded two-digit growth in production output.

These were machinery except electrical, petroleum products, electrical machinery, transport equipment, miscellaneous manufactures, basic metals, beverages, fabricated metal products, leather products, non-metallic mineral products, rubber and plastic products and paper and paper products.

The losers were tobacco products, footwear and wearing apparel and furniture and fixtures.

On a monthly basis, the VoPI went up by 2.3 percent in August.

The NSO said 16.6 percent of the 100 manufacturing firms surveyed operated at full capacity in August.

The average capacity utilization of these factories stood at 83.3 percent.

The NSO said sectors that posted more than 80-percent capacity utilization rates were basic metals, electrical machinery, petroleum products, machinery except electrical, non-metallic mineral products, paper and paper products, food manufacturing, miscellaneous manufactures, chemical products, rubber and plastic products and leather products.

More than half or 61.8 percent of the establishments operated at 70-percent to 89-percent capacity and 21.6 percent of the establishments operated below 70-percent capacity.

The NSO said the value of production index (VaPI) expanded by 16.2 percent year-on-year in August from 15.4 percent in July.

On a monthly basis, VaPI registered positive growth with an increase of 1.4 percent.

In a separate statement, the NSO said merchandise imports rose 22 percent to $4.412 billion in August mainly due to higher purchases of electronics and cereal products.

In the first eight months, imports had risen 26.1 percent to $35.324 billion from $28.023 billion last year.

Given this, the country’s balance of trade in goods in August registered a surplus of $347 million compared with last year’s deficit of $144.00 million. For the first eight months, the Philippines incurred a deficit of $2.341 billion, lower than the $4.012 billion in the same period last year.

Electronics, which accounted for 37.3 percent of the total import bill, went up by 27.2 percent to $1.645 billion in August.

On a monthly basis, purchases of electronics grew by 0.7 percent.

The NSO said rice imports surged 272.71 percent in August to $87.6 million from $23.5 million last year.

Imports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials grew 0.7 percent to $634.75 million.

Purchases of transport equipment amounted to $216.26 million, up 0.4 percent from its previous year level of $215.41 million.

Industrial machinery and equipment imports reached $189.33 million, an increase of 43.7 percent from last year’s $131.72 million.

Imports of cereals and cereal preparations accelerated by 67.9 percent to $152.48 million from its year ago level of $90.82 million.

Payments for the country’s top 10 imports reached $3.385 billion in August, or 76.7 percent of the total import bill.

Japan was the Philippines’ biggest source of imports for August at $600.53 million from $454.81 million last year.

The US followed with $460.29 million, while Singapore came in third with $442.76 million.

Payments for imports from the top 10 sources amounted to $3.405 billion, or 77.2 percent of the total. –DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER, Manila Times