Factory Output Growth Accelerates in January

The manufacturing sector started the year strong with output growing at a faster pace in January, driven mainly by increased food production, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

- — Louella Desiderio

Preliminary results of the PSA's Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries showed that the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) for manufacturing registered a faster increase of 3.2 percent in January from a 0.4-percent increment in December 2024.

In January last year, the VoPI for manufacturing registered a 0.3-percent contraction.

The PSA said faster VoPI growth was primarily driven by the manufacture of food products, which posted a 9.4-percent increase in January from a 0.3-percent decline in December last year.

Also driving the faster VoPI growth was the manufacture of basic metals, which registered a smaller decline of 2.4 percent from 19.5 percent in the previous month.

Another main driver was the production of machinery and equipment, with a growth rate of 62.1 percent in January from the previous month's 40.9 percent.