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FACTORY output remained sluggish in November as manufacturers of
textiles, footwear and wearing apparel recorded weak production, the
National Statistics Office (NSO) said Friday.
In its Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected
Industries, the NSO reported that manufacturing output as measured
by the volume of production index (VoPI) dipped further by 2.9
percent, easing from the previous year’s 15.3 percent decline, but
worsening from October’s 1.8 percent drop.
The NSO said basic metals, rubber products,
publishing and printing, chemical products and paper and paper
products also contributed to the decline during the period.
On a monthly basis, VoPI increased by 2.6
percent from the revised 1.5 percent in October. “The rise was
fueled by the strong demand for petroleum products and fabricated
metal products which posted an increase of 19.1 percent and 10.2
percent, respectively, after recording negative growth rates in
October,” the NSO said.
The NSO said only 10.3 percent of the 100
manufacturing firms surveyed operated at full capacity in November.
Average capacity utilization of these factories stood at 80.6
percent.
Major sectors that registered more than 80
percent capacity utilization rates were machinery excluding
electrical, petroleum products, leather products, miscellaneous
manufactures, basic metals, electrical machinery, paper and paper
products, food manufacturing, rubber products, and chemical
products.
More than half or 56 percent of the
establishments operated at 70 percent to 89 percent capacity while
33.7 percent of the establishments operated below 70 percent
capacity.
The value of production index also went down by
0.8 percent in November. “Reductions in factory output were
observed in 12 major sectors, with two-digit decreases noted in the
following: basic metals, rubber products, textiles, footwear and
wearing apparel, and paper and paper products,” NSO said.
However, on a month-on-month basis, value
continued to increase at a slower rate of 0.6 percent during the
period owing to growth in production reported by 8 major sectors
with two-digit increase led by leather products at 16.7 percent.
The volume of net sales continued to slide by
2.3 percent in November, while value of net sales was also down by
4.2 percent.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
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