Sept. manufacturing output down; NEDA sees rebound in Q4

But NEDA Officer-in-Charge (OIC) and Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon is hopeful the manufacturing sector will recover on the back of higher consumer confidence and positive business sentiment. (Photo: UNDP Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is optimistic the manufacturing sector would rebound in the last quarter of 2017, even after its output declined on lower production of petroleum and export-oriented products in the third quarter.

Latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) indicated that the manufacturing sector’s Volume of Production Index (VoPI) declined by 3.7 percent in September, a reversal from an 11.2 percent rise last year.

The sector’s Value of Production Index (VaPI) also decreased by 4.3 percent in September.

This made the three-month moving average of VoPI and VaPI decline by 1.9 and 2.5 percent, respectively.

But NEDA Officer-in-Charge (OIC) and Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon is hopeful the manufacturing sector will recover on the back of higher consumer confidence and positive business sentiment.

“The Consumer Expectation Survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported high consumer outlook optimism for the fourth quarter, with respondents expecting additional income, employment opportunities, and improvement in the peace and order of the country,” Edillon said.

The 2017 APEC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Survey results also showed that Philippine top corporate officers and business specialists are “very confident” about their companies’ revenue growth in the next 12 months and are more likely to increase their investments in the country.

Edillon noted that efforts to enhance the ease of doing business in the country, as indicated in the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, need to be pursued to attract more investments in the manufacturing sector.

Such efforts include online application procedures and electronic processing of transactions.

“Elimination of redundancy in the process and lowering the cost of doing business are expected to attract new entry players and expand existing firms,” Edillon said.

Meanwhile, the decrease in the production volume of petroleum products in September 2017 is attributed to the lower production of coke and other fuel products, while the contraction in transport equipment follows lower imports of raw materials.

For export-oriented products, declines were seen in the production volume of textiles, footwear and wearing apparel, chemicals, rubber, plastic, and wood products.

Production continued to grow, however, in construction-related manufactures and food manufacturing.

MISSI is a report that monitors the production, net sales, inventories, and capacity utilization of selected manufacturing establishments to provide flash indicators on the performance of the manufacturing sector.