Factory output grows at slowest pace in 7 months

MANUFACTURING OUTPUT growth fell to a seven-month low in November, weighed down by weak domestic consumption and sluggish export demand.

- - Lourdes O. Pilar

Preliminary results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries showed factory output, as measured by the volume of production index, fell by 1.5% year on year in November, a reversal from the revised 1% growth in October.

Year on year, the decline slowed from the 4.5% drop in November 2024.

The November reading was the slowest output growth in seven months or since the 2.4% decline in April 2025.

On a monthly basis, November’s output contracted by 2.8%, reversing the 5% growth in October.

Stripping out seasonality factors, it slipped by 3.5%.

Year to date, factory output fell by 0.1%, a reversal from the 0.7% growth in the same period in 2024.