BUMABA ang manufacturing output ng bansa sa ikalawang sunod na buwan noong Oktubre, ayon sa Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Lumitaw sa preliminary results sa latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) ng PSA na ang factory output, na sinusukat ng volume of production index (VoPI), ay bumaba ng 1.8% year on year noong Oktubre mula 5% pagbaba noong Setyembre. Isa itong reversal mula 1.4% paglago noong nakaraang taon.
Sa month-on-month basis, ang VoPI ng manufacturing sector ay tumaas ng 2.8%, isang turnaround mula sa 2.5% contraction noong Setyembre.
Aalisin ang seasonality factors, ang output ay bumaba ng 0.4%, mas mabagal kumpara sa 3.6% contraction sa naunang buwan.
Mula Enero hanggang Oktubre, ang paglago ng VoPI ay may average na 1.7%, mas mabagal sa 5.4% sa kaparehong panahon noong nakaraang taon.
Kung ikukumpara, ang manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) ng S&P Global para sa naturang buwan ay bumagal sa 52.9 mula 53.7 noong Setyembre.
Ang PMI reading na mababa sa 50 ay isang contraction sa manufacturing sector, habang ang 50 ay isang expansion.
Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said that that VoPI has a slower decline due to inclement weather, which decreased of the production dates prompted by the suspension of the working days.
“The slower decline (in VoPI) was due to the typhoons (that entered) in the Philippines. There were work disruption in heavily hit areas. They were not able to work because the production and manufacturing facilities were closed,” Mr. Ricafort said in a phone call.
The PSA attributed the slower decline in October’s factory output growth to the annual growth rate of manufacture of beverages industry division at 6.8% from an annual drop of 8%. The beverages industry division account for fifth-largest weight (6.7%) of total manufacturing, after coke and refined petroleum products (7.6%).
