GROWTH of the Philippine manufacturing sector accelerated in both value and volume terms in September, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday showed.
The Value of Production Index (VaPI) grew by a faster 12.7 percent from 10.0 percent in August. It was also a rebound from the 0.3-percent contraction recorded in September last year.
Volume of Production Index (VoPI) growth, meanwhile, accelerated to 9.0 percent from 6.6 percent month earlier. It also reversed from the 1.1-percent contraction during September 2025. These brought the year-to-date VaPI and VoPI growth to 9.3 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.
The faster VoPI growth was primarily attributed to the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products, which grew by 31.0 percent in September from 20.4 percent in August. The manufacture of basic metals, meanwhile, grew by 30.9 percent from 18.1 percent and the manufacture of transport equipment increased by 12.7 percent from 6.2 percent.
Of the 19 remaining industry divisions, 10 posted annual growth while nine had annual declines, the PSA said.The VoPI for the manufacture of food products, however, fell by a faster 4.5 percent in September from 1.3 percent in August. This was a reversal of the 14.9-percent gain in September 2025.
According to the PSA, this was due to the decline in annual growth rates in six out of the eight industry groups, led by the manufacture of prepared animal feeds that grew by a slower 3.6 percent from 16.0 percent a month earlier.
Meanwhile, the accelerated VaPI growth was mainly attributed to the faster increase in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products, which grew by 39.6 percent during the month from 25.0 percent in August. It contributed 34.2 percent to VaPI growth and had the fourth-heaviest weight in the computation of VaPI for manufacturing.
Aside from the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products, other major contributors to the faster VaPI growth were increases in the manufacture of basic metals at 37.1 percent in September from 24.6 percent in August and the manufacture of transport equipment at 16.1 percent from 9.1 percent.
Out of the 19 remaining industry divisions, 13 showed annual increases, while six had declines.
The VaPI for the manufacture of food products declined by 2.9 percent in September from 0.3 percent growth during the previous month. It was also a slide from the 15.8 percent growth in the VaPI for the manufacture of food products in September last year.
The PSA said the drop in the VaPI for the manufacture of food products was mainly due to a downtrend in six of the eight industry groups. This was led by prepared animal feeds, which decelerated to 5.8 percent in September from 17.9 percent in August.
Average capacity utilization also declined in September, falling to 78.4 percent from 78.7 percent in August. However, this was higher than the 77.4 percent recorded in September last year.
All industry divisions reported over 65.0 percent capacity utilization rates for the month. The top three industry divisions in terms of capacity utilization were the manufacture of tobacco products (99.5 percent), the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (85.6 percent), and other manufacturing and repair and installation of machinery and equipment (88.3 percent).
Among responding establishments, 36.0 percent operated at full capacity (90 percent to 100 percent), 38.6 percent operated at 70 to 89 percent capacity, and 25.5 percent operated below 70 percent capacity.
