Value of Production

In December 1999, the value of production index (VaPI) of 532.7 increased by 24.7 percent from 427.1 in December 1998. Year-on-year increases were observed in 11 out of 16 major sectors (See Annex 1-A). Double digit increases were shown in the following sectors: transport equipment (49.9%), rubber products (45.4%), other manufacturing (41.9%), tobacco (44.1%), electrical machinery (39.8%), petroleum refineries (32.3%), paper &am p; paper products (32.5%), furniture & fixtures (27.1%), food manufacturing (22.6%), and beverage (11.1%).

On the other hand, sectors that decreased were basic metals (-45.0%), wood & wood products (-31.9%), textile (-10.1%), wearing apparel (-6.7%) and non-metallic mineral products (-3.2%).

 
Volume of Production

The volume of production index (VoPI) for total manufacturing grew by 15.6 percent to 145.7 from 126.0 of the same month last year. Ten out of 16 sectors posted year-on year increases led by other manufacturing with 54.3 percent (See Annex 1-B). Other sectors which contributed to the positive performance were tobacco (47.2%), transport equipment (44.8%), electrical machinery (34.7%), food manufacturing (27.2%), rubber products (25.5%), f urniture & fixtures (23.6%), paper & paper products (12.7%), chemicals (1.9%) and petroleum refineries (0.2%). The improvements in these sectors can be attributed to resumption of operations of some establishments and improved demand of these products for the local and export markets.

On the other hand, sectors with decreased volumes of production were basic metals (-46.2%), wood & wood products (-30.7%), textile (-23.0%), non-metallic mineral (-21.9%), wearing apparel (-12.8%) and beverage (-4.4%). Decreases in these sectors can be attributed to low demand for these products and some labor problems which led to partial shutdown of machines.

 
Value of Net Sales

The value of net sales for December 1999 increased by 23.4 percent compared to last year. Twelve out of 16 sectors posted increases led by petroleum products with a year-on-year growth of 67.1 percent (See Annex 2-A). Other sectors that recorded double-digit increases were miscellaneous manufactures (73.1%), beverages (31.8%), paper & paper products (31.0%), transport equipment (27.0%), food manufacturing (21.3%), electrical machine ry (21.2%), non-metallic mineral products (18.8%), and chemicals (17.0%).

On the other hand, basic metals had the biggest decline of 21.7 percent. Other sectors with lower values of net sales were textile (-10.6%), wearing apparel (-9.3%) and furniture & fixtures (-1.5%).

 
Volume of Net Sales

The volume of net sales for December 1999 increased by 12.1 percent over the same month last year. Increases were observed in 11 out of 16 sectors led by petroleum products which increased by 26.6 percent (See Annex 2-B). Other sectors that posted double-digit year-on-year growths were miscellaneous manufactures (88.2%), food manufacturing (25.8%), transport equipment (22.7%), electrical machinery (16.8%), paper & paper products (11.4% ), beverage (13.4%) and chemicals (10.4%).

On the other hand, decreases were observed in 5 out of 16 sectors led by textile which decreased by 23.5 percent. Other sectors that declined were basic metals (-20.9%), wearing apparel (-15.3%), rubber products (-7.2%), and furniture & fixtures (-4.2%).

 
Capacity Utilization

The proportion of responding establishments that operated below 70 percent capacity was 42.0 percent in December 1999, which was slightly higher by 1.1 percentage points to the 40.9 percent in December 1998. Also, about 16.1 percent operated at full capacity (90%-100%) compared to 15.4 percent a year ago.

The December 1999 average capacity utilization rate for manufacturing was estimated at 79.4 percent, which was up by 2.2 percentage points to the 77.2 percent last year (See Annex 3A). Of the 16 major sectors, twelve sectors posted higher capacity utilization rates as compared to a year ago. Electrical machinery had the highest capacity utilization rate at 89.4 percent. Other sectors with more than 80 percent capacity utilization were petroleum refineries (84 .8%),%), paper & paper products (83.7%), chemicals (82.6%), non-metallic mineral (81.0%), miscellaneous manufactures (80.7%), and furniture &fixtures (80.5%).

Capacity utilization is defined as the ratio of output to the maximum rated capacity of the plant.

 
Response Rate

These results were based on the response of 432 sample establishments, which comprised 78.1 percent of the total number of establishments covered by the survey.

Source: National Statistics Office
Manila, Philippines