Factory gate price growth slowed further in April, driven mainly by weaker output in the computer, electronic, and optical products sector, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Preliminary data from the PSA revealed that the producer price index (PPI), which reflects the year-on-year increase in prices of manufactured goods, slowed further by 0.1 percent in April from the previous month’s 0.6 percent growth in price increase.

This lower producer’s inflation also reversed the slight deflation of 0.7 percent in April of last year.

According to the PSA, the production of “computer, electronic and optical products industry division” was the main driver of the deceleration of the annual rate of PPI for manufactured goods.

The growth rate of the manufacture of computer, electronic, and optical products industry division declined by 1.3 percent in April from 0.9 percent annual increase in March 2025.

This division contributed 59.3 percent to the slower annual growth rate of the factory gate price hike during the month. Among the 22 industry divisions for manufacturing, this division holds the second-highest weight in calculating the index.

Other major contributors to the slower annual producers’ inflation in April were the slowdown in the annual growth rate of the manufacture of transport equipment, which eased to 0.3 percent in April from a 1.5 percent annual hike in March.

Aside from this, there was also an annual 0.9-percent decline in the price increase in the production of basic metals, faster than March’s 0.1-percent decrease.

Meanwhile, the production of coke and refined petroleum products was the main contributor to the overall rate of annual producers’ inflation. Joining this is the production of food products and beverages.

Factory gate prices for food products accelerated by 0.9 percent year-on-year in April, up from 0.4 percent in March. This was also higher than the 0.5-percent increase recorded in April last year.

Higher growth rates mainly drove this in seven out of eight industry groups. Leading the increase was the dairy products sector, which posted a 2.5 percent annual growth, up from 1.2 percent in March.