Factory output contracted by 6.3 percent in September, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
According to the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries, the manufacturing sector nearly reversed gains recorded in September a year ago as well as in the previous month, when it expanded by 9.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
Year-to-date, the average growth rate of the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) for manufacturing is at one percent.
The downtrend in the year-on-year growth rate of VoPI for manufacturing in September was primarily driven by the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products, which posted a 12.8 percent annual decline from 13.6 percent annual increase in August; beverages, 8.5 percent year-on-year drop from a double-digit annual increase 12.4 percent in the previous month; and basic metals, 35.1 percent contraction from its annual decline of 18.4 percent in August.
Seven out of the 19 remaining industry divisions exhibited annual declines during the period.
The Value of Production Index (VaPI) for the manufacturing section also registered a year-on-year fall of 7.6 percent in September from an annual increase of 0.01 percent in August.
This brings the average growth rate of VaPI for manufacturing from January to September to 0.03 percent.
The VaPI for manufacturing recorded an annual increase of 9.2 percent in the same period a year ago.
