Philippines' manufacturing output increases in August

Manila, Oct 7 (IANS) The Philippines' manufacturing output increased in August, with the value of production index (VaPI) rising 2 per cent year-on-year, following a decline of 1.9 per cent in July, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.

The volume of production index (VoPI) also increased by 1.4 per cent in August from a decline of 1.8 per cent in the previous month, the PSA said.

The PSA attributed the uptrend in the annual growth rate of VaPI for manufacturing in August to the faster yearly increase in the manufacture of food products, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The manufacture of food products contributed 46.3 per cent to the uptrend in the annual growth rate of VaPI for the manufacturing sector in August, the PSA said.

Out of the 22 industry divisions for the manufacturing section, the manufacture of food products was the industry division with the highest weight in the computation of VaPI for manufacturing.

The PSA said the uptrend in the year-on-year growth rate of VoPI for manufacturing in August was primarily driven by the manufacture of food products, the manufacture of basic metals, and the manufacture of machinery and equipment except electrical.

Of the remaining 19 industry divisions, the PSA said that nine reported annual increases in their VoPI for manufacturing in August.

Meanwhile, the Philippines' year-on-year headline inflation quickened to 1.7 per cent in September from 1.5 per cent in August, due to higher transport and food costs, the PSA said.

In a news conference, PSA Chief Dennis Mapa said that the uptrend in overall inflation in September was primarily driven by the annual increase in the transport index, which rose to 1 per cent from a yearly decline of 0.3 per cent in August.

Also contributing to the uptrend in overall inflation was the higher annual increment in the food and non-alcoholic beverages index, at 1 per cent in September, compared to 0.9 per cent in the previous month.

Mapa said that the September inflation rate brings the national average inflation from January to September 2025 to 1.7 per cent. In September 2024, the inflation rate was higher at 1.9 per cent.

Core inflation, which excludes selected food and energy items, slowed down to 2.6 per cent in September 2025.

In September 2024, the core inflation rate was noted at 2.4 per cent.

--IANS

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