The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Tracy Cabrera
DILIMAN, Quezon City — With valued contributions from the vibrant food sector, domestic manufacturing output turned positive both in terms of volume and value in August, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Based on official data, the volume of production (VoPI) and value of production (VaPI) indices respectively rebounded to 1.4 percent and 2.0 percent from negative 1.8 percent and negative 1.9 percent a month earlier.
PSA likewise reported that current conditions have also improved from the year-earlier 1.3 percent and negative 0.01 percent, respectively. Year to date, the value and volume of production, however remained positive at 0.9 percent and 0.5 percent.
Faster annual growth in food manufacturing to 21.0 percent from 12.0 percent was cited as the main driver of the VaPI rebound. It had the highest weight out of 22 industries in the computation of the index.
“The manufacture of food products contributed 46.3 percent to the uptrend in the annual growth rate of VaPI for the manufacturing sector in August 2025,” the PSA said.
Other major contributors to the VaPI growth were smaller declines in the manufacture of basic metals (negative 7.8 percent from negative 26.5 percent) and coke and refined petroleum products (negative 6.8 percent from negative 11.4 percent).
As for the VoPI, PSA disclosed that the manufacture of food products was again the primary contributor as growth surged to 20.2 percent from 11.4 percent in July 2025.
“The acceleration in the annual growth rate of VoPI for manufacture of food products in August 2025 was brought about by the uptrend in the annual growth rates of VoPI for 6 out of 8 industry groups,” it cited.
“This was led by the faster annual increase in the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats at 35.4 percent in August 2025 from 6.5 percent in the previous month,” it added.
Other contributors included the manufacture of basic metals, which recorded a smaller annual decline of 9.6 percent from 26.8 percent, and the manufacture of machinery and equipment (excluding electrical), which grew by 6.7 percent after a 3.1-percent drop.