Factory output begun showing signs of recovery after registering slight improvements in June this year, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said yesterday.
Acting Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said that while the country’s manufacturing sector contracted in both volume and value of production terms in June, the level of declines was at a slower pace than the previous month.
Chua said the contraction was expected as economic activities remain limited due to quarantine controls.
Based on the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI), the year-on-year Volume of Production Index (VoPI) declined by 19.3 percent while the Value of Production Index (VaPI) fell by 22.5 percent.
Nonetheless, both of these indices performed better than the revised VoPI and VaPI of -28.5 percent and -31.2 percent recorded last May, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
Expansions in petroleum products, wood and wood products, and chemical products tempered the decline of total manufacturing production.
Moreover, the three-month moving average growth rate of VoPI (-28.9 percent) and VaP (-31.6 percent), is significantly lower compared to the previous month’s average of -24.9 percent and -28.1 percent, respectively.
“The declining trend has slowed down in June 2020, which reflected the gradual easing of quarantine restrictions,” Chua said in a statement.
The rate of decline for most of the construction-related manufactures was slower compared to the previous month.
“The easing of various community quarantine measures in many parts of the country permitted the continuation of several public and private construction projects,” NEDA said.
“Construction activities were also allowed to resume subject to minimum public health standards and social distancing measures in the workplace,” the agency added.
However, the country’s manufacturing performance is still expected to be adversely affected by the ongoing global pandemic in the near term, Chua said.
Starting August 4, 2020, Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan returned to a Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) for 15 days.
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.