The Value of Production Index (VaPI), which measures changes in the monthly output of the manufacturing sector, decelerated in December from November due to slower production of transport equipment, and computer, electronic and optical products, as well as the contributed contraction in the manufacture of basic metals.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that while growth in December was still double digit at 10.1 percent, it was still lower than the 12.5 percent growth registered in November and the 19.6% in December 2021.
December figures brought the average VaPI growth for 2022 at 22.5 percent, significantly lower than the 49.2 percent growth in 2021, when the economy was starting to recover from the dramatic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gross domestic product, as earlier reported by the PSA, expanded a slower 7.2 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter from 7.6 percent in the third quarter.
For the month of December alone, the manufacture of transport equipment, which contributed nearly 40 percent to the slowdown in the VaPI, decelerated to an annual growth of 3.2 percent from 20.5 percent in November.
The production of computer, electronic and optical products rose 24.1 percent in December compared 32.3 percent in November while the manufacture of basic metals contracted a wider 36 percent from a year-on-year decline of 27.2 percent in November.
The Volume of Production Index, which measures the amount of goods produced in a month, increased 4.8 percent in December, also slower compared with the annual growth in November of 5.9 percent. VoPI rose 19.2 percent in December 2021.
PSA said the slower growth of VoPI in December was due to the 1 percent contraction in the manufacture of transport equipment, slower albeit double-digit growth of 21.3 percent in the production of computer, electronic and optical products from 25.8 percent in November, and the sharper contraction of 37.5 percent from 29.2 percent posted in November for the manufacture of basic metals.
The statistics office also noted slowdown in the annual growth of the indices for eight industry divisions, including food products.
The Value of Net Sales Index for manufacturing, the PSA said, continued to increase but at a slower rate of 17.6 percent in December compared with the 17.8 percent increase seen in November and the 21.9 percent in December 2021.
