Factory output shrinks in July

Philippine manufacturing output contracted in July as some firms took a cautious stance amid the United States’ imposition of reciprocal tariffs.

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Preliminary results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries released yesterday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) for manufacturing posted a 1.1-percent decline in July from a 1.6-percent increase in June and a seven-percent growth in the same month last year.

From January to July, average growth in VoPI stood at 0.4 percent.

“The slowdown in the local manufacturing gauge could be largely attributed to Trump’s higher tariffs, trade wars and other protectionist measures that led to some wait-and-see attitude for some exports locally and in the global supply chains in terms of their production,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said in an email.

Ricafort said this was offset, however, by the frontloading of exports ahead of the reciprocal tariffs that took effect on Aug. 7.