Philippine manufacturing output picks up in September

By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Senior Reporter

Factory output grew at a faster pace in September, driven by increased production of petroleum products, basic metals and transport equipment, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Results of the PSA’s latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) showed factory output, as measured by the volume of production index (VoPI), rose by 9% year on year in September.

This reversed the 1.1% contraction in September 2025 and marked an acceleration from the revised 6.6% growth in August.

The PSA downwardly revised August’s output growth to 6.6% from the initially reported 11.8%.

September’s growth was also the fastest since the revised 11.3% expansion in June.

The PSA attributed the faster growth mainly to increased production of coke and refined petroleum products, basic metals, and transport equipment.

Production of coke and refined petroleum products expanded by 31% in September, a turnaround from the 1.2% decline in September 2025 and accelerating from the 20.4% growth in August.

Basic metals output rose by 30.9%, reversing the 23.3% contraction a year earlier and accelerating from 18.1% in August.

Transport equipment production grew by 12.7%, faster than the 10.3% growth in September 2025 and 6.2% in August.

Of the remaining 19 industry divisions, 10 posted annual increases in production volume, while nine recorded declines.

The industries that contributed the most to overall manufacturing output growth were coke and refined petroleum products; computer, electronic and optical products; and basic metals.

Meanwhile, food production contracted by 4.5% in September, reversing the 14.9% growth in September 2025 and marking a steeper decline than the 1.3% recorded in August.

“The faster annual decline of VoPI for manufacture of food products was brought about by the downtrend in the annual growth rates of VoPI in six out of the eight industry groups,” the PSA said.

“This was led by the deceleration in the annual growth rate of the manufacture of prepared animal feeds at 3.6% during the period from 16.0% in August 2026,” it added.

Average capacity utilization, or the extent to which industry resources are used in producing goods, stood at 78.4% in September, higher than 77.4% a year earlier but slightly lower than 78.7% in August.

All industry divisions reported capacity utilization rates of more than 65% during the month.

The highest rates were recorded in tobacco products at 99.5%; coke and refined petroleum products at 85.6%; and other manufacturing and repair and installation of machinery and equipment at 83.3%.