Manufacturing seen sustaining growth in Q4

Strong consumer demand and an optimistic business outlook will sustain the growth of factory output for the rest of the year, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said yesterday.

The Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) of the Philippine Statistics Authority for October 2018 reported that manufacturing’s Volume of Production Index (VoPI) rose by 3.9 percent while the Value of Production Index (VaPI) climbed by 3.3 percent.

Both VoPI and VaPI have been on positive territory for 10 consecutive months since January this year.

Increases in the production of petroleum, export-oriented products and non-metallic mineral products drove the expansion of manufacturing output in October.

NEDA expects that manufacturing of construction-related products, such as iron and steel and cement, will be driven up by government’s spending on infrastructure and other capital outlay, and the sustained growth in private construction activities.

“Over the near-to mediumterm, we see that the Build, Build, Build program and the recently signed Regular Foreign Investment Negative List (RFINL) will help in raising the productivity of the manufacturing sector,” Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning Ernesto M. Pernia said.

Aside from increasing foreign participation in contracts for construction and repair of locally funded public works, the RFINL allows foreign-owned training centers that specialize in skills development, upgrading the proficiency of the local workforce.

MISSI is a monthly report that monitors the production, net sales, inventories, and capacity utilization of selected manufacturing establishments to provide flash indicators on the performance of the manufacturing sector.