The country’s manufacturing output in July posted a triple-digit growth, reversing the contraction posted a year ago due to the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) monthly integrated survey of selected industries for July 2021 released yesterday, the volume of production index (VoPI) surged by 537.9 percent.
This is higher than the 459 percent increase registered in the previous month.
In July 2020, the VoPI dropped 72.8 percent.
The PSA said expansion in VoPI for the manufacturing sector in July 2021 was observed in 14 out of 22 industry divisions.
The fastest growth rate was reported in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products at 3,525.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the value of production index (VaPI) for manufacturing accelerated at a rate of 528.1 percent in July 2021 from its previous month’s increase of 444.6 percent.
The year-on-year growth rate in July 2021 was the highest annual growth rate in the 2018-based data series, the PSA said.
The PSA said that the upward trend in VaPI for manufacturing sector in July 2021 was contributed by the annual increases in 15 out of the 22 industry divisions.
Among these, the top contributor was manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products with 4,096.1 percent annual growth rate.
Michael Ricafort, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist, said that on top of the lower base, the faster triple-digit year-on-year growth in manufacturing volume of production continued to be magnified by the further re-opening of the economy from tighter quarantine standards.
Ricafort also mentioned the resumption of the refinery operations of Petron since June 2021, after temporarily shutting down for four months, would also add to the growth in manufacturing activities.
“Going forward, the relatively large year-on-year growth in manufacturing could still continue even until August 2021, when the base a year ago would remain relatively lower, though could be offset by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ)/modified ECQ in NCR in August 2021 that could have reduced economic activities including some manufacturing activities especially non-essentials,” Ricafort said.
“Quantitatively, the year-on-year growth would start to normalize lower thereafter especially starting September 2021 as the low base fizzles out, as economies globally and locally re-started since June 2020,” he added. –Angela Celis
